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.
This installment in the remarkable Bach Cantata Pilgrimage series presents four Christmas cantatas: “Gelobet seist du, Jesus Christ,” BWV 91; “Unser Mund sei voll Lachens,” BWV 110; “Dazu ist erschienen,” BWV 40; and “Christum wir sollen loben schon,” BWV 121, all recorded live in St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York City.
Given the festal context of Christmas, it is no surprise that the music often takes a celebrative turn. The opening chorus of “Gelobet seist du” is exuberant energy superimposed on a sturdy chorale frame; the opening chorus of “Dazu ist erschienen” teems with sprightly rhythmic verve and regal horn writing (both of which are echoed in the rollicking tenor aria, “Christenkinder, freuet euch”); and the melismatic laughter of the opening chorus of “Unser Mund sei voll Lachens” is a richly spirited example of seasonal joy. Instrumentation also plays a part in underscoring the affective propensities of Christmas, and the virtuoso trumpeting of Gabriele Cassone is certainly a case in point, especially in collaboration with bass Peter Harvey in the aria “Wacht auf” from “Unser Mund sei voll Lachens.” Harvey, as in other of the Cantata Pilgrimage recordings, is a joy to savor, rendering his solos with a sound that is lithe, resonant and flexible and with a remarkable flair for stylistic expression. Cassone, who impressively also plays the solo horn parts on the recording, brings to the demanding trumpet lines a fine combination of contoured phrasing, fluid articulation, and overall brilliance. “Wacht auf,” unsurprisingly, is one of the high points of the recording.
Certainly, this volume of Christmas cantatas manifests the high standards, the attention to stylistic detail, and the zest for performance that have long characterized the work of Gardiner and company. Not everything is equally successful, however. In “Dazu ist erschienen” the first two chorales are rendered with an exaggerated articulation that seems to turn rhetorical gesture into mannerism. Bach’s homophonic settings are no strangers to expressive content, certainly, as harmonic twists for the enrichment of particular words well document, but here the clipped consonants seem to do no more than surprise. The use of strong articulation to dramatic ends fares much better in the solo singing of tenor James Gilchrist, especially in this same cantata’s “Christenkinder, freuet euch.” Gilchrist is a powerful singer, to be sure, and the affective content and floridity of the aria are well met by his confidence. In other places in the recording, however, some may find his sound rather too complex and vibrant, especially in places where attention to the undulation of verbal stress offers the chance for more contour.
Organized by liturgical feast, the recordings in this series can make Bach’s developing compositional style conveniently visible. In volume 14 the cantatas are drawn from 1723, 1724, and 1725, a small chronological window, but significantly we see Bach embracing dramatically different approaches to cantata structure. While all use the familiar components of extended chorus, da capo aria, and declamatory recitative, Bach’s reliance on the chorale in the 1724 cantatas (BWV 91 and BWV 121) is distinctively extensive, using paraphrases of choral verses to accommodate the modern musical forms without obscuring the cohesion the choral text offers. And in one instance, he mixes the choral text and melody with paraphrased declamatory recitative, somewhat in the manner of a medieval trope. Thus, while in sound the four cantatas here remain close one to another, the varied structures behind the sound show Bach’s grappling with questions of form. This, along with the spirited music making, gives the listener much to savor, indeed.
Steven Plank
Oberlin College