21 Jan 2007
DEBUSSY: Pelléas et Melissande
I was impressed by Karajan’s intense conducting, which seems so right in the wake of the unavoidable tragedy that is going to happen.
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.
I was impressed by Karajan’s intense conducting, which seems so right in the wake of the unavoidable tragedy that is going to happen.
There is no indulging in overdramatic dynamics or in turning a French opera into an Italian opera as he did with Carmen (Corelli/Price) nine years later. I’ve never heard his 1978 version; but I doubt the elder Karajan had the same grip on the music as he did a quarter of a century earlier. Still, I have some small doubt on the conductor’s insights. He would probably have poured all possible scorn on a critic who would even have dared to think, let alone make such a scurrilous suggestion. Yet, I have a feeling he looked at his score while at the same time listening to the classic 1941 version conducted by Roger Désormière—one of the glories of shellac recordings. Differences in tempi are too small (usually Karajan is a few seconds quicker) to be just a co-incidence. Karajan, of course, would have been silly to ignore Désormière. When he conducted his version, Debussy had been dead for only 23 years and many present at the recording sessions knew very well what the composer and first conductor (André Messager) had in mind.
Apart from Karajan’s exemplary conducting, this recording has other advantages as well. The great surprise is Dame Elisabeth: warmth, youth, spleen. You name it and she has it. This set is worth purchasing alone for the lady’s perfect portrait. And as it was a RAI production husband Legge couldn’t tamper with his wife’s interpretation too much (insofar as Karajan would have allowed it). There is nothing artificial in her singing in a role that on its own would already invite mannerism. Swiss tenor Ernst Haefliger is a worthy Pelléas, happily recorded during his heyday. Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve always thought a tenor voice better suited Pelléas than the usual French bariton-martin. Debussy chose Jean Périer for the première, indeed a high baritone, though that was probably more for his histrionic capacities. In the recording under review nobody will wonder who is singing: is it Golaud or Pelléas? Haefliger has a sweet but still a manly sound; and his French style is admirable. So is Mr. Roux’s Golaud. He is one of the very best singers in this role as should be expected from someone who claimed the role for a decade and who has at least three other recorded versions. I was surprised, too, at the impact of Mario Petri’s weightier than usual Arkel. Yet, he too succeeds in bringing the deep sorrows of the old king into being. After all Petri was a fine Don Giovanni and he never belonged to the Italian school of stand and deliver. Maybe some American and surely most British ears will find Christine Gayaud’s Geneviève too fluttery but this is a matter of personal taste. Graziella Sciutti also brings more beauty of voice than we often get as Yniold and she is almost as good as Leila Ben Sedira who owned the role.
All in all, if you want a budget version, this is the one to go for as it is on two CDs only. You may even get the best sung and conducted version of them all. Personally, and with some hesitation, I think this version has a small edge over the Désormière version because I prefer more colour in the voices than the older conductor had at his disposal. The Karajan version, however, and this may clinch your decision, has no libretto and for those less versed in French this can be a drawback. There is only a track list (with a hideous spelling mistake) and once more I’m struck by the negligence of the producing Italian company. Most collectors want to know the names of the small part singers as well but if you’d look at the sleeve note you would never know there is a ‘médecin’ and a ‘berger’ as well singing some lines. I’ve no idea who the ‘berger’ is but Franco Calabrese sings the role of the doctor.
Jan Neckers