30 Mar 2006
OFFENBACH: La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
Los Angeles Opera opened the 2005-6 season with a staging of Offenbach’s La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein, directed by Hollywood’s Garry Marshall.
Recently in Recordings
Adding Movie Magic to The Magic Flute
What better way for Masonic brothers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emmanuel Shikaneder to disseminate Masonic virtues, than through the most popular musical entertainment of their age, a happy ending folktale that features a dragon, enchanting flutes and bells, mixed-up parentage, and a beautiful young princess in distress?
L’Incoronazione di Poppea from Virgin Classics
Since its first performance at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo during Venice’s 1643 Carnevale, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea has been one of the most important milestones in the genesis of modern opera despite its 250 years of unmerited obscurity.
Saverio Mercadante: I due Figaro
Though 2013 is the bicentennial of the births of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, the releases of Cecilia Bartoli’s recording of Bellini’s Norma on DECCA, a new studio recording of Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro from Opera Rara, and this première recording of Saverio Mercadante’s forgotten I due Figaro, suggest that this is the start of a summer of bel canto.
Christian Thielemann’s Der Ring des Nibelungen
Recording Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen is for a record label equivalent to a climber reaching the summit of Mount Everest: it is the zenith from which a label surveys its position among its rivals and appreciates an achievement that can define its reputation for a generation.
Cecilia Bartoli as Norma
Few people who love opera in general and bel canto in particular have never heard the comment made by Lilli Lehmann, veteran of the inaugural Ring at Bayreuth in 1876, that singing all three of Wagner’s Brünnhildes—in Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung, respectively, all of which she sang to great acclaim—pales in comparison with singing the title rôle in Bellini’s Norma.
Ariane et Barbe-Bleue on Blu-Ray
Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, first heard in 1907, once seemed important. Arturo Toscanini conducted the Met premiere in 1911 with Farrar and later arranged some of its music for a 1947 recording with his NBC Symphony.
Kaufmann Wagner
The economics of the recording companies dictate much that is not ideal. Wagner’s operas were not composed as they were in order to permit the extraction of bleeding chunks, even on those occasions when strophic song forms do occur.
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Among the recent recordings of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Valery Gergiev’s release on the LSO Live label is an excellent addition to the discography of this work.
Songs by Zemlinsky
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder.
Recorded on 5 and 6 May 2008 and 17 and 18 January 2009 at the Lisztzentrum (Raiding, Austria), this recent Bridge release makes available the piano-vocal versions of three song cycles by Gustav Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder performed by mezzo-soprano Hermine Haselböck, accompanied by Russell Ryan.
Kathleen Ferrier: A Film by Diane Perelsztejn
Contraltos rarely achieve the acclaim and renown of sopranos. Assigned few leading roles in opera, they are condemned to playing the villain or the grandmother, or to stealing the castrati’s trousers in en travesti roles.
1612 Italian Vespers
Following their 2011 Decca recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts (1566), I Fagiolini continue their quest to unearth lost treasures of the High Renaissance and early Baroque, with this collection of world-premiere recordings, ‘reconstructions’ and ‘reconstitutions’ of music by Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Palestrina, and their less well-known compatriots Viadana, Barbarino and Soriano.
Eternal Echoes: Songs and Dances for the Soul
Eternal Echoes is an album of khazones [Jewish cantorial music] for cantorial soloist, solo violin and a blended instrumental ensemble comprising a small orchestra and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Mahler: Symphony no. 3 / Kindertotenlieder
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
Oliver Knussen’s Symphonies from NMC
Oliver Knussen burst into British music with an unprecedented flourish. In 1967, the London Symphony Orchestra premiered Knussen’s First Symphony, with István Kertész scheduled to conduct.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
Based on performances given in Summer 2010 at the Lucerne Festival, this recording of Beethoven’s Fidelio is an admirable recording that captures the vitality of the work as conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Stanisław Moniuszko: Flis
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) was one of the most popular composers of his day in Poland, and of the many works he wrote for the stage, two are performed from time to time, Halka (1848) and Strazny dwór [The Haunted Manor] (1865).
Stanisław Moniuszko: Pieśni Songs
The Polish alto Jadwiga Rappé is a familiar voice in various stage and concert works, and the recent release of a selection of songs by Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) is an opportunity to hear her performing artsongs.
Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge: Serate Musicali
Originally released on multiple discs in 1981 this reissue on two CDs is a comprehensive collection of art songs by Italian and French composers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Richard Strauss: Salome
An exciting contribution to the discography of this popular opera, the live performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome from the Festspielhaus at Baden-Baden is a compelling DVD.
OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »
Recordings
Those who attended the performances without any knowledge of the operetta (retitled The Grand Duchess) probably left hoping to have no further acquaintance. Crass, manic, forced—many an antonym for “funny” serve to describe Marshall’s effort, despite the efforts of a more than capable cast (Frederica von Stade, Paul Groves, Rod Gilfrey).
Your reviewer abandoned his subscription seat at intermission. Now comes a DVD of Offenbach’s work recorded in December 2004, from Laurent Pelly and Jean-Pierre Brossmann, the team that produced the brilliant production of La Belle Helene which delighted audiences in Santa Fe two seasons ago and provided Susan Graham with a star turn encompassing all her gifts. While this Grand Duchesse doesn’t reach the same giddy heights as that Helene, as compared to the Los Angeles production, it soars on fresh breezes of true wit and charm.
The production begins with a slight miscalculation—a dully-colored battlefield with dead soldiers strewn about. As the overture begins to bop along with cheerful spirit, the ostensible corpses rise, pour some wine, and begin to exhibit the liveliness that will dominate the rest of the evening. So with that nod to “seriousness” out of the way, the creators can go on to revel in the silliness of the operetta without trying to suggest that a true anti-war satire lies at the heart of the piece. Perhaps a more colorful set could have brought even more cheer to the goings-on, but considering the abuse of primary colors the Los Angeles Opera production perpetrated, erring on the side of plainness is acceptable.
Pelly’s handsome costumes for the Duchess offer the most visual impact, as she is frequently the only character swathed in color. Felicity Lott lacks Susan Graham’s physical beauty and sweet-toned vocalism; she has her own charisma, however. She offers a more comically pointed performance, portraying a hard-drinking, even lonesome Duchess desperate for male companionship—well, younger, studly male companionship.
Yann Beuron, the Duchess’s object of misdirected passion, doesn’t exactly cut a studly figure but his lovely light tenor makes him attractive enough. Sandrine Piau sings Wanda, his true love, and this rising star is so appealing in every way that no doubt exists about Fritz giving into the Duchess’s demands. Not with Piau’s Wanda around.
Three comic characters complicate the plot: a baron, a prince, and a general. Frank Leguerinel’s Baron Puck steals the show, with his flamboyant hand gestures and bizarre hair: think of pigtails sticking out of either side of his head. Veteran François le Roux, who was also in the Santa Fe Helene, gives the pompous General Boum all the comic flair required, and Eric Huchet sacrifices his dignity for an almost frighteningly fey prince Paul.
Marc Minkowski has the full command of Offenbach’s demands for a feather-light approach to the jaunty rhythms and tuneful patter. He loves singers too, and they reward him with impeccable performances. Act two begins with a lovely quartet for four female assistants to the duchess, and the singers effect a most lovely diminuendo toward the end. Such classy touches add sparkle to the entire performance.
Virgin Classics skimps on the packaging in one respect, with a slim booklet that merely repeats the credits already on the back, although it offers a few more photos. On the other hand, the company spreads the opera over two discs. Buyers beware: don’t pull out the first disc visible when opening the case and pop it into your player—that’s acts two and three. Disc One hides waiting beneath the booklet.
Here’s hoping for more Offenbach from Pelly and Minkowski. Their Helene and Duchesse make clear that Offenbach’s hits can still hold the stage and entertain the heck out of a contemporary audience. But keep Garry Marshall away…
Chris Mullins
Los Angeles Unified School District, Secondary Literacy