28 Aug 2007
BRUCKNER: Symphony no. 5
Recorded live at the Stiftsbasilika, St. Florian (Austrian) on 12 and 13 September 2006, this DVD offers a special performance of the famous Cleveland Orchestra outside its home at Severance Hall.
Recently in Recordings
Kaufmann Wagner
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.
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
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.
Songs by Zemlinsky
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder.
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.
Kathleen Ferrier: A Film by Diane Perelsztejn
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.
1612 Italian Vespers
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: Songs and Dances for the Soul
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.
Mahler: Symphony no. 3 / Kindertotenlieder
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
Oliver Knussen’s Symphonies from NMC
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.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
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: Flis
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).
Stanisław Moniuszko: Pieśni Songs
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.
Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge: Serate Musicali
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.
Richard Strauss: Salome
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.
Lulu by Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona
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.
Lulu by the Metropolitan 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.”
Elmer Gantry the Opera
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.
Historical Performances from Covent Garden: Barbiere, La traviata and Tosca
Once the province of only the most dedicated opera fanatics, mid-20th century recordings of privately taped live performances have become more widely available.
Lucia and the glass harmonica
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.
Levine conducts at the Metropolitan Opera: 1978 to 2006
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.
OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »
Recordings
Instead, it is a rare performance from the monastery town of St. Florian, a site long associated with Bruckner's career. Compiled from two concerts, the recording captures a sense of the live performance and the enthusiasm of the audience for this fine American ensemble.
This is a fine performance of mature work by Bruckner. Perhaps known less than Fourth, Seventh, or Eighth Symphonies, it is nonetheless worth hearing in concert, and this DVD gives a good sense of that venue. Welser-Möst demonstrates a fine command of the score. His tempos tend to be somewhat brisk, but they contribute to the drive he has given to this performance. The first movement is effective with this approach, with each of theme groups clearly audible and the relationships between the various sections are evident. If he lingers at times at cadences, it is to allow a musical thought to finish. Elsewhere, as in the Scherzo, Welser-Möst approached the textures as if it were a work by Mendelssohn. Such a deft approach helps to allow the character of the music to emerge from the music itself, rather than a superimposed Brucknerian gravity that some conducts might use. The Finale is convincing, and Welser-Möst's pacing is a parallel to that which he used in the first movement. It is useful to watch Welser-Möst's hands in this movement, as he relies more on the physical gestures than the baton to give shape to the structure.
A key to appreciating this performance may be found in a bonus track, an interview with Welser-Möst in which the conductor discusses his affinities with Bruckner's music. He talks about Bruckner's style and mentions the approaches to performing the composer's music, and in the course of doing so points to the various styles that exist among several European orchestras. In the course of this discussion, Welser-Möst mentions the relatively leaner sound of the Cleveland Orchestra for this repertoire, an element that sets it apart, especially when it comes to some of the more contrapuntal textures that occur in some passages of Bruckner's works, including the Fifth Symphony. In taking the idea of a leaner sound further, it should not be equated to the somewhat pejorative description of a thin sound or the result of weaker players. Rather, the Cleveland Orchestra under Welser-Möst's leadership offers a more transparent timbre in this performance of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony, a quality that may be at odds with the acoustics of the basilica of St. Florian, which has a lively resonance. At times, though, words fail, with adjectives connected to size and mass can, at best, only approximate the musical effect.
As to the sound itself, the range of volume is relatively wide, with the introduction of the first movement almost inaudible compared to what follows, especially with the almost thunderous sound of the Brass. It is a stark contrast that may be reinforced by the acoustics of the basilica itself. As the movement continues the amplitude seems more balanced, with the differences less profound. That kind of lean sound that Welser-Möst discussed does allow for clarity in this performance, and that element contributes to the woodwind timbres in the first movement. The recording seems to have been made close to the orchestra, though, since the resonance of this Baroque church does not emerge readily in the recording. At times some of the long shots from the rear of the basilica suggest the warm acoustic that can result in such structures, but throughout the sound seems like that which results from a studio.
This DVD includes some external views of the monastery and a number of shots within the basilica itself. Renovated in recent years, the Baroque architecture and ornamentation seems at odds with the Romantic style of the music, but it is a place that Bruckner knew well. Bruckner would have associated organ and choral music with St. Florian, with symphonic performances intended for an also executed elsewhere, and so there is a bit of a disconnection between the locus of this recording and the work performed. Nevertheless, the acoustics are remarkably fine on the recording, which has some of the resonance that occurs with some studio ambiance. While St. Florian may not be a point of arrival for symphony orchestras to perform musical works, the event reinforces the connection between St. Florian and Bruckner, while also serving as a kind of souvenir of the Cleveland Orchestra's 2006 visit to Europe, an event which Welser-Möst mentioned in his interview.
James Zychowicz