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.
Among the plentiful selections of orchestral music from the operas of Richard Wagner, it is rare to find recordings that truly stand out, and this recent release of performances conducted by the late Klaus Tennstedt merits distinction.
Taken from the 1992 Proms concerts by the London Philharmonic, these live recordings from that season demonstrate the famed conductor’s master hand at presenting familiar works with energy and style.
The pieces included on this CD are the prelude to the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; the overtures to Rienzi and Tannhaüser, along with the “Venusberg” music from the latter opera; “Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey,” along with “Siegfried’s Funeral Music” from Götterdämmerung; and the concert version of the “Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre. As familiar as these excerpts are, the performances preserved here are quite vivid and immediate with regard to the quality of the sound and, more importantly, the interpretation Tennstedt contributed to these performances.
The level of quality found in this CD is hardly unusual for Tennstedt, who left a number of solid recordings of various works that remain engaging. Most of all, Tennstedt’s legacy includes performances that are memorable for solidly musical reasons. Without resorting to artifice or innovation for its own sake, Tennstedt brought a certain vitality to familiar works like these by not sacrificing the musical line to sheer effect. At times Tennstedt would bring out details that may be less distinct in more routine performances of works like these. Yet the descending line of the upper strings at the end of the first section of the “Venusberg” music reinforces the transition to the more expressive middle section that offers a signal to the perceptive audience.
Likewise, Tennstedt’s treatment of the familiar overture to Rienzi stands out for the way in which the drama emerges in this interpretation, which is notably slower than some of the more familiar recorded versions of the piece. By approaching this overture in this manner, Tennstedt brought out some details that contribute to the sense of drama implicit in the score. The gradual crescendo toward the full orchestral statement of the principal theme is noticeable and thus highly effective. At the same time, the slower tempos help to accentuate the drum rolls that are critical for the way they suspend the pulse of the work – an effect Mahler would use to a similar end in the last movement of his Second Symphony. At the same time, the careful tempos found in this performance of the Rienzi overture allow the orchestra to shape lines. Thus, in this piece and the other examples a vocal quality emerges from these exquisite orchestral pieces from Wagner’s operas, such that the interpretations reflect the nuances that are in the score, but difficult, at times, to achieve in other circumstances.
Those familiar with Tennstedt’s fine recordings of Mahler’s symphonies will appreciate his similar command of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in these pieces by Wagner. They exhibit the level of performance mentioned in the program notes, in which the critic Hugh Canning is quoted as referring to the “exalted” quality of music-making in these performances. Released by the London Philharmonic’s own archives, this is one of the Orchestra’s own releases, and not a recording made through a commercial agency. It is laudable that the London Philharmonic has brought out such a fine set of performances that stem from a single season, rather than selections from various years which might involve some variance in execution and sound quality.
Granted, this is Wagner presented in concert and in excerpt, with the selections presented out of the context of the operas and music dramas to which they belong. Even so, performances like these have been instrumental in bringing the music to a wider audience and also in attracting audiences to the full versions of the works to which they belong. The quality of these performances certainly communicated the music effectively, as evidenced by enthusiastic applause retained in the recordings conveys the intensity in this recent release of some exceptional performances.
James L. Zychowicz
Madison, Wisconsin