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.
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.
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.
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
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.
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.
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 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.
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
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.
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 (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).
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.
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.
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.
Released in late 2011, Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD of the new staging of Berg’s Lulu at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona is an excellent contribution to the discography of this fascinating opera.
A recent release by the Metropolitan Opera, this two-disc set makes available on DVD the famous performance of Berg’s Lulu that was broadcast on 20 December 1980 as part of the PBS series “Live from the Met.”
The novels of Sinclair Lewis once shot across the American literary skies like comets, alarming and fascinating readers of that era, but their tails didn’t extend far behind them.
Once the province of only the most dedicated opera fanatics, mid-20th century recordings of privately taped live performances have become more widely available.
Flute players in opera orchestra around the world must look forward to the frequent appearances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, knowing that while the stage spotlight in the mad scene will be on the soprano, the orchestral spotlight will be on their instrument.
Only a few seconds after watching this DVD I was reminded of one of the great marketing failures in records. More than forty years ago, RCA brought out several glorious LP’s of young Gigli’s records and they put photographs of the sixty-five year old tenor on the sleeve.
On this DVD we get a recent photograph of the tenor. Moreover the sleeve notes mention that “despite his advanced age, the cellist’s control is exemplary” as if 79-year old Rostropovich recorded this DVD some months ago. Both gentlemen, however, look splendid, more youthful than their advanced age would tell you. I’m sorry to report this has nothing to do with a miraculous youth cure but more with the fact that one quick look into Domingo’s performing career revealed he gave this concert on July 17, 1991. And, this date probably solves another small mystery. For a few minutes I was slightly amazed the recording firm would send a review copy with less than perfect picture quality till I remembered the concert date (not to be found in the sleeve notes). There’s always some haziness and the colours are a little bit whitewashed. But as a former TV producer, I remember too well the decade between the late seventies and the late eighties. We no longer used kinescope to record live performances as we had switched to an amazing amount of video recording means. When we watched them a few years later, this turned out to be a small disaster. Whereas film, and even kinescope, kept their full colour glory, a lot of recordings on video were almost beyond repair. By the nineties the technique once more had improved beyond recognition; but I fear that this DVD is one of the last testimonies of those early video years.
I’m a little bit sceptical concerning the programme. I wonder how many admirers of Rostropovich want to hear Domingo. Vice versa, how many Domingistes are interested in a Haydn concerto well-played though it is? This was a big open air concert and therefore pot boilers like the Tchaikovsky and the Verdi overtures were maybe necessary to sell tickets, but I seriously doubt there will be many people thirsting for a Domingo conducted Forza. The tenor is in good voice though, as often with Domingo, there is that generalized beautiful sound in the middle register without much characterizing and some pushing over the staff. For such concerts, he always carefully selected arias and duets that didn’t reach high B, which by that time was already beyond his means. The duet with Borodina is generously sung and is one of the first documents of the later star mezzo. And one has to admit, especially if one cannot comment on Domingo’s mastery of Russian, that rarely Lensky aria will have sounded better. But the best piece is the fine Massenet Élégie, which he sings more beautifully than old Gigli or younger Corelli. This time the colours in his voice are hauntingly plangent and Domingo himself plays the piano with Rostropovich at the cello. I wish both gentlemen had chosen more of such pieces. And I think that 58 minutes is rather short value.
Jan Neckers