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.
Commemorating some of its outstanding concerts of the 1980s and Bernard Haitink, its principal conductor (from 1967-1979), the London Philharmonic Orchestra has released on its own label a single CD that includes several pieces that brought notice to the ensemble.
While Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro was recorded on 27 November 1984, the Enigma Variations was recorded two years later, at a concert on 28 August 1986; Britten’s Our Hunting Fathers is an even earlier recording, which dates from 14 August 1979. These are recordings unique to the London Philharmonic Orchestra that have not been previously released commercially.
Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 (1904-5) may be less familiar to American audiences, but this is a fine example of the composer’s work for string orchestra with its concertato style that plays a string quartet against the entire ensemble. This work demonstrates the fine string ensemble that is typical of the London Philharmonic, and the sound quality on the CD gives a fine sense of the timbre. It is a work that deserves to be performed more often, and this release may inspire other orchestras to include this turn-of-the-century work on future programs. The interplay between the chamber group and string orchestra creates some intensive sonorities that anticipate scorings that Elgar would take up later in other works, like the Enigma Variations included in this release. While the liner notes suggest a concerto with the concerto grosso, this remains a single-movement work that drives to a wonderful conclusion, which is capped with the audience’s enthusiastic applause.
With more a familiar work, like Elgar’s Enigma Variations, op. 36 (1898-99), several fine recordings exist. Yet a live recording of a performance conducted by Bernard Haitink is welcome for the spontaneity and finesse that emerges in this release. Significant as it is to recall the puzzling aspect of the allusions in this music, knowing all the details is not as important as hearing the techniques Elgar used to develop his thematic ideas in the fourteen variations. In the tradition of the great orchestral variation sets, like Brahms’ Haydn Variations, Elgar’s piece remains popular because of both the strength of its content and the orchestration, which emerge colorfully in this live performance. Haitink offers a fine reading, where the winds and brass never overpower the string texture at the core of this work. The mercurial “Troyte” variation is telling for its precision – never do the brasses overwhelm the musicality that must occur in such a successful performance. Haitink’s shaping occurs at various levels, with clear articulations punctuating Elgar’s sometimes angular phrases, while also giving breadth to the sweeping phrases that are central to a variation like “Nimrod.” In that piece, Haitink has demonstrated his sensitivity to the larger structure while also attending to the details that must be in place. It is unfortunate that some audience noises intrude on the final section, “EDU,” in which Haitink brings the work to a majestic conclusion. Nevertheless, this is a solid performance that merits repeated hearing for the nuances that are part of it.
The third piece on this recording is Britten’s orchestral song cycle Our Hunting Fathers, Op. 8 (1936), which is a setting of texts by W. H. Auden. In this work Britten addresses the theme of hunting by treating it with gusto. No sacrosanct treatment of the topic, Auden used the opportunity to take the sport to task, and Britten underscored the ironic tone with music that sharpens the meaning further. At the same time Heather Harper offers an effective reading of this fine score. There are moments in which her ringing tones suggest timbres one encounters in Strauss’s operas – roles that she has been known to execute with aplomb. The five songs in this set benefit from Haitink’s sensitive tempos that allow the text to be heard clearly. Harper’s diction is clear from the start, such the texts published in the liner notes are not absolutely necessary. When the music demands a more lyric, rather than declamatory, approach, as in “Messalina,” Harper’s enunciation remains exemplary, and the line is always present. “Rats Away!” is telling for the prominent part the orchestral plays in tone painting, to which Harper responds well. It is a delight to know of this recording, which, like the other pieces included has the added quality of spontaneity from the concert performance now available through the London Philharmonic’s own label.
Again, this release of material from the London Philharmonic’s archive makes available some fine performances that deserve to be known better. Like another of its releases, a collection of excerpts from Wagner’s operas conducted by Klaus Tennstedt, this recording also celebrates Bernard Haitink, whose association with the Orchestra brought forth some fine concerts, like the ones represented by this selection. Those not yet familiar with the London Philharmonic’s own recordings can start with this fine compilation of three excellent examples of English music from the last century.
James L. Zychowicz