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.
Since his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1971, conductor James Levine has come to represent the house’s commitment to artistic excellence — reliable, professional, and immaculately presented.
The English, though fundamental to the early music revival of the last half-century, have been rather remiss in exploring their native music dating from after the death of Purcell, and particularly that produced after the death of Handel.
The later eighteenth century was a period in which the wealth of London attracted composers and performers too numerous to mention from all over Europe. The stature of Haydn and Mozart has tended to obscure the great variety of vocal and instrumental music enjoyed at the time, more conservative in idiom, less virtuoso, but nonetheless enjoyable.
English music for the stage has always tended more to the comic, the witty song delivered with an actor’s panache rather than a singer's bravura. The most durable productions of the musical theater, the operettas of librettist Gilbert and composer Sullivan, are memorable not because of the elevated heights they reach, but because of the completely English good humor they transmit. It will take a Savoyard approach to revive the neglected works from the age of Thomas Arne, and the pleasure gardens of Vauxhall and Ranelagh.
This disc, from American tenor Timothy Bentch and Hungarian soprano Mária Zadori, is a premiere recording of a charming set of cantatas by Thomas Augustine Arne published by Walsh in 1755, and fully scored for voice accompanied by strings and winds. The texts evoke the world of the wealthy rake of the period, who believes in women and wine (School of Anacreon), gathering rosebuds while ye may (Delia), winning a women's heart by plying her with wine (Bacchus and Ariadne), revenging himself on a faithless lover by being faithless himself with another (Lydia), and sleeping only after he is incapable of drinking more (Frolick and Free). Indeed, this rake is a complete hellraiser and rapscallion — one might almost title these Six immoral cantatas.
Tenor Timothy Bentch does an excellent job of evoking the license and liberty of the wealthy Londoner. His attractive tone is always in the service of the expression of the text, changing in color and force as the poetry requires, reflecting the shifting moods of the speaker. Bentch is a compellingly persuasive performer. I was less taken by soprano Mária Zadori, who has had a long career with many recordings for Hungaroton. Her light soprano is verging on the fluttery, and her English diction is flawed. The contributions of the Hungarian period-instrument band are first rate, and the sound is fine.
A valuable disc, presenting important and little-known repertoire, with a tenor we will certainly be hearing more from. Warmly recommended.
Tom Moore