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Telemann:
Orpheus
What a wonderful surprise
when I placed the first disc in my player - the most wonderful music
started to emerge and I was spellbound for two hours, 39 minutes and
24 seconds. We too often tend to relegate Telemann to the limbo for
composers who are not quite Bach or not quite Handel. Yes, these
influences are readily apparent, but the composer succeeds in forging
a voice of his own. This recently rediscovered work had once been
thought to be a pastiche because of the number of arias in Italian and
French, alongside the basic German of the libretto, but research has
proven that it is pure Telemann. The long cast list might be puzzling
to a potential audience, but that has to do with the French opera by
Lully's son from which the libretto is taken. Euridice is a subsidiary
role, as Orasia, Queen of Thrace, takes over center stage with her
unrequited love for Orpheus. Dorothea Röschmann makes the most of
every considerable opportunity granted her. The music is exciting in
its difficulties, all easily overcome by a cast that revels in the
music, and at the same time touching the heart in the many laments,
all under the enchanted baton of René Jacobs. Stage
performances in 1994, in which only Trekel and Köhler
participated, must have been an enormous help in finding the requisite
dynamic for a work and performance pulsing with life at every moment.
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Verdi:
Ernani The twi mysteries
surrounding this release are why this recording made in May 1987 was
never previously issued, and why has it suddenly found grace in the
ears of whomever was standing in the way until now? Let it be said
that the tenor is in reasonable shape, and that the soprano - already
past her 60th birthday - is not in such reasonable shape, with wavery
high notes, a less easy top than she used to muster. Leo Nucci is not
the most elegant of Verdi baritones while Paata Burchuladze's Slavic
bass is not exactly what is required for the role of Silva,
notwithstanding such exponents as Christoff and Ghiaurov. Add to that
Richard Bonynge who conducts much of the music as if it were by Minkus
- which is perfectly all right in its place - or else imparts a jaunty
or sometimes circus aspect which other conductors who have ventured
into this repertory have known how to avoid, not to mention too many
little blemishes that should have been corrected, and you have the
perfect example of a useless recording. The extra tenor aria that
Verdi wrote for a protege of Rossini terminates the third act, but you
can hear it better sung by Pavarotti himself, conducted by Abbado, in
an older disc of Verdi rarities still available on Sony.
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Berlioz:
Roméo et Juliette
Philips
has not lacked for outstanding performances of Berlioz's Dramatic
Symphony, both the Davis versions displaying the affinity of conductor
and composer, the second even surpassing the first as we pointed out
last year. John Eliot Gardiner's credentials in this area manifested
themselves as early as the late 1960s, continuing with a number of
more recent recordings of Berlioz with the period-instrument Orchestre
Révolutionnaire et Romantique. The sound of snarling
ophicleides and slightly more piercing winds is particularly
appropriate to Berlioz, and Gardiner's pacing and sense of color allow
each element its place in the narrative. Where we complained last year
that the Davis recording placed the soloists too far forward, here
they are placed in the midst of the choral mass, so that Frère
Laurent's sermon lacks the incisiveness that Gilles Cachemaille is
able to give it in live performance. If you are looking for a
recording of Berlioz at his best, however, you could do much worse
than this version by Gardiner at his best. A bonus is the unearthing
of Berlioz's first thoughts so that you can program the traditional
version, the first version or Gardiner's choice which offers a
composite.
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Adam:
Le Toréador
Richard Bonynge
is much more in his element in this piece of 19th century French fluff
than in early Verdi, but that is something we have known for a long
time. And this is certainly fluff, albeit charming from start to
finish, with a part for the solo flutist that almost establishes him
as a fourth principal. Sumi Jo dazzles her way through some difficult
music, including variations on "Ah vous dirai-je maman" that
turn out here to be a trio and a show-stopper of an aria. An actress
inobtrusively takes over the extensive dialogue, some of it in mélodrame
over the music, while Aler and Trempont are responsible for their own
lines. Aler comes fairly close to what is required for this music,
while Trempont's understanding of the style unfortunately does not
entirely compensate for the prevailing gruffness of his tone.
Excellent notes by Jeremy Commons are an additional plus. The only
question we might ask of the producer concerns the high note
concluding the soprano's air - was this the correct "take"?
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American
Songs
Barbara Bonney is to be
congratulated on both program and execution of a remarkable disc
featuring world premiere recordings of works by André Previn
and Dominick Argento, as well as "more familiar" cycles by
Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber. Previn's "Salie Chisum remembers
Billy the Kid" was written for the soprano, whose family history
says that the Bonneys are related to William Bonney, aka Billy the
Kid. In fact, these are the memories of a prostitute who knew both
Billy and Pat Garrett, and the music is in Barber's "Knoxville"
vein, which is not too bad. Bonney manages to overcome memories of
Leontyne Price in the Hermit Songs, a difficult task, but she has her
own ideas about the music which are equally pertinent. Copland's
settings of Emily Dickinson match the poet's concision while Dominick
Argento's Six Elizabethan Songs are the surprise if the set, far more
tuneful than his discmates. Indispensable for a new view of repertory
in need of varied interpretations.
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Poulenc:
Mélodies
Continuing his
exploration of Poulenc's songs, Pascal Rogé has chosen Felicity
Lott for his third venture into a repertory far more challenging than
many would admit. Greatly admired by the French, Dame Felicity has
here bitten off a bit more than she can comfortably digest, her voice
lacking the weight for "Les Ponts de C", the insouciance
necessary to make Cocteau's Toréador - which is not even part
of the canon according to Pierre Bernac - a viable proposition, the
gravity for "Priez pour paix". Songs which are "cute"
become even more so in her treatment, where a more straight-faced
approach might result in something closer to the composer's
intentions: we should not forget that he wished for scrupulous
attention to musical values. The soprano is too often stretched at
either extreme of her range, leading to just the exaggerations that
the composer disliked. Rogé's impeccable pianism, as throughout
this series, remains exemplary.
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Rachmaninov:
Aleko; The Miserly Knight; Francesca da Rimini
Rachmaninov's
operas have often been relegated to the category of minor or
unimportant works in his catalogue: these new versions easily replace
the stopgap Russian-based recordings now available on a mid-price
reissue from Harmonia Mundi. Earlier recordings remain stubbornly
unavailable, making Järvi's inflamed readings more than welcome.
While we may regret the absence of Chaliapin-like singers, the casts
more than fulfill their tasks, not always easy when Leiferkus is
attempting to produce a darker sound than is his by nature or
Guleghina is kept at an uncomfortably high tessitura for longer than
is comfortable, but singers on earlier recordings suffered similarly.
These are minor flaws in an otherwise stunning recording. It is Järvi,
however, who is the hero, almost convincing us of the power of these
one-acters, all of which suffer from libretto problems. But there are
enough moments when we begin to regret that the composer never had a
decent text to work with, because it is clear that he would probably
have added significantly to the modern Russian repertory. Nor should
we forget a word of thanks to Volvo who supported the project. The
discs are for the moment being sold as a single package, but the fact
that each comes with its own booklet augurs an eventual separate
release.
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Weill:
Johnny Johnson
Johnny Johnson was
Weill's first Broadway musical, not an enormous success, but that may
more likely be attributed to Paul Green's book, the tale of a
reluctant soldier who is destroyed by the war. We can see that it was
precisely the book that must have attracted the newly-arrived Weill
with its anti-militaristic leanings, to which the composer offered his
customary mélange of bittersweet love songs and acid
commentary. Too often disparaged for his supposed "sell-out"
to the commercialism of America, we should not forget that it was
Weill himself who maintained that if ever opera should emerge as an
American art form it would emanate from the Broadway musical comedy, a
point well-sustained by many of the works of the American period as
was demonstrated last year in an EMI release featuring Thomas Hampson
and entitled Kurt Weill on Broadway (7243 5 55563 2 5), which
we warmly welcomed at the time. The songs here are short and pithy,
never outstaying their welcome, and linked by short dialogue passages
to give the necessary context. In any vein, Weill finds an appropriate
manner so that listeners will be easily drawn in to a work that might
profitably be programmed in strife-torn areas. A word about Lys
Symonette's performing edition might have clarified how much she
deviated from Weill's original,
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Stravinsky:
The Rake's Progress
How do we know when an
opera has entered the standard repertoire? One criterion might perhaps
be the existence of more than two or three recorded versions. The
Rake's Progress has been fortunate, with Kent Nagano and Seiji
Ozawa at the helm of, respectively, the fourth (Erato) and fifth
(Philips) commercial recordings, and a sixth underway from John Eliot
Gardiner (DGG). Although both the new recordings are excellent,
neither significantly alters the landscape. Both Nagano with his
forces from the Opéra de Lyon and Ozawa with his Saito Kinen
Orchestra and the Tokyo Opera Singers offer crisp readings, but I
suspect that the latter was recorded in a more resonant or reverberant
environment than the former, rounding off some of the sharper edges
and asperities we tend to associate with Stravinsky's writing. Both
sets audibly originate from stage performances which preceded the
actual sessions, and you can immediately hear, for example, on the
Erato that Grace Bumbry was a late addition for the recording only,
her pedestrian contribution almost sounding like sight reading.
Comparison with the other set shows Jane Henschel to be the clear
winner, far more alive to verbal nuance and sounding more natural. On
the other hand, Samuel Ramey's Nick Shadow is far more polished,
especially vocally, than Paul Plishka's for Ozawa. After that, it
becomes a question of individual taste, Dawn Upshaw (Erato) or Sylvia
McNair (Philips) both touching as Anne, capable of bravura at the end
of Act One but also having the control for the Lullaby. (Upshaw has
probably sung more different productions of the work than any other
soprano.) But when is someone going to give us a more substantial
soprano such as Schwarzkopf who created the role or Gueden who first
sang it at the Met. Jerry Hadley has made a specialty of the title
role and was captured at just the right moment by Erato, while it
might have been just a shade too late for Anthony Rolfe-Johnson
despite his greater verbal felicity. I preferred Trulove and Mother
Goose (Robert Lloyd and Anne Collins) on the Nagano set, Sellem (Ian
Bostridge) for Ozawa. All of this leaves potential purchasers in the
lurch, with no clear recommendation, particularly as Chailly's 1984
recording suffers from an inexplicably cast heroine. Stravinsky's
first version (1953) has never been issued on CD in deference to the
composer's second go in 1962, which is for the moment the best buy as
it is the only available version at mid-price. And the singers are
excellent: Alexander Young's Rake may be the best all round, with John
Reardon a lighter-voiced Nick than is usually the case today; I have
fewer problems with Judith Raskin (Anne) and Regina Sarfaty (Baba)
than many other listeners, finding them a good deal more than just
merely acceptable. A reissue of the composer's first version would be
welcome for Hilde Gueden's Anne, sung with a fuller tone than has
today become the rule, while Blanche Thebom's Baba remains exemplary.
Eugene Conley's ringing tones are something Tom has been deprived of
recently. Only the impeccably sung Nick of Mack Harrell lacks
character. If the cast of Gardiner's concert version turns out to be
that for the recording, we may still have some problems with an
undercast Anne in the person of Deborah York. Anne Sofie von Otter,
Ian Bostridge and Bryn Terfel, on the other hand, sound promising as
Baba, Tom and Nick.
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