OPERA NEWS, January 6, 1996
RECORDINGS
PUCCINI: La Bohème
Te Kanawa, Gustafson; Leech, Titus,
G. Quilico, Scandiuzzi; Ambrosian Singers, London Symphony, Nagano.
Erato 0630-10699-2 (2)
Erato's La Bohè`me presents two approaches -- one bracingly antitraditional, the other positioning the work as an old-fashioned star vehicle.
There are two interpretations of La Bohème here. The first is bracingly antitraditional, limning the work as a story of hot, swiftly gratified young passion. Kent Nagano leads a tightly knit, vigorous reading, generous in musical sweep yet scrupulous in attention to orchestral and vocal detail. Even the most familiar passages sound freshly realized. Richard Leech's virile, arrogant Rodolfo is admirably conceived, bespeaking the tenor's years of experience in this opera. Alan Titus, his voice now unrecognizably darkened since his days in Bernstein's Mass, achieves a positive, full-bodied Marcello, supplying keen sexual tension when crossing swords with the impudent, firmly sung Musetta of Nancy Gustafson.
The other La Bohème presented here positions the opera as an old-fashioned star vehicle. Hans-Christian Schmidt's program notes define Mimì as a "luminous, sympathetic figure ... purged of every conceivable character defect ... kind, modest, calm and serenely contented." This may not be everyone's opinion of Mimì, but it summarizes the type of character that Kiri Te Kanawa has become expert at playing in operas of every description. Despite previous outings as Manon Lescaut and Tosca, the essence of Puccini continues to elude her. The soprano's voice is in superb shape -- sumptuously colored, the top register glistening -- but her emotional remoteness is numbing. Floating above the musical and dramatic action like a gracious cypher, she enters Rodolfo's garret with all the youthful flirtatiousness of the Blessed Virgin appearing at Lourdes. In Act III, where authentic Mimìs have an anguished field day, she shapes her music smoothly, correctly and placidly, draining it of any impact save the instrumental. Her lack of verbal acuity is especially problematic here: when a phrase is repeated for emphasis, as in the heartbreaking "se vuoi" of Mimì's farewell, she sings it a second time with slightly stiffened impatience, as if Rodolfo were hard of hearing. Te Kanawa is a treasurable artist in the proper role; one wishes she would take a careful second look at Mimì if it is to reenter her stage repertory. Libretto and translation are included.
F. PAUL DRISCOLL
DEBUSSY: Rodrigue et Chimène
Brown; Dale, Van Dam, Bastin; Lyons Opera, Nagano. Erato 4509-98508 (2)
Pelléas et Mélisande (excerpts)
Brothier; Panzéra, Vanni-Marcoux;
Coppola. Nespoulos, Croiza; Maguenat, Dufranne; Truc. VAIA 1093
In 1890, young Claude Debussy accepted Catulle Mendès' text based on Pierre Corneille's drama Le Cid (and bogus promises of a production at the Paris Opera) without knowing it had been rejected by more famous composers. Discovering the fustian libretto at odds with his dream of finding a poet "who only hints at what is to be said," he grew uncomfortable with his task and finally abandoned it.
Though Debussy claimed it had been destroyed, Rodrigue et Chimène was reassembled by the pianist Alfred Cortot and ended up in the Pierpont Morgan Library. The Lyons Opera, seeking a French novelty to launch its new theater, signed the Russian composer Edison Denisov to orchestrate Debussy's piano-vocal score, a task he fulfilled with inspired authority. The premiere took place in 1993.
Rodrigue et Chimène betrays Debussy's hand in its intimate pages -- the preludes to Acts I and II; the quietly rapturous love duet; the soliloquy of Rodrigue, honor bound to kill his beloved's father; and Chimène's impassioned accusation of her lover. The public scenes are often vigorous but anonymous, lacking individuality.
The opera has a strong advocate in Kent Nagano, whose enthusiasm is transmitted to his ensemble. British tenor Laurence Dale (whose excellent recital of French romantic arias appears on Harmonia Mundi 1905217) plays the hero sensitively, with attractive timbre. Donna Brown, strong and expressive as Chimène, sometimes seems too close to the microphone. José Van Dam reveals his usual authority as Don Diègue, Rodrigue's father, and Jules Bastin has one of his better days as Don Gomez. Erato's sound is clear and detailed. Text and translation provided.
Why resurrect two poorly recorded pioneering sets of Pelléas excerpts made in Paris in 1927p;28? The reason is the chance to hear artists with colorful voices, remarkably equalized in scale, their words forward, sustained by ample breath, attuned to Debussy's style. The first set, memorable for the refined, manly Pelléas of Charles Panzéra and Golaud of Vanni-Marcoux, includes some of the fountain and garden scenes and the lovers' last dialogue, as well as two of Golaud's speeches. The second set offers some of the opening scene, Geneviève's reading of the letter, parts of the fountain and garden scenes and the Act II Golaudp;Mélisande dialogue. Towering over all are Hector Dufranne, the original Golaud, and Claire Croiza (Geneviève), whose singing seems as natural as speech.
C. J. LUTEN
CHABRIER: Briséïs
Rodgers, Harries; Padmore, Keenlyside, George; BBC Scottish Orch. & Chamber Chorus, Ossonce. Hyperion 66803
This is the only completed act of a three-act opera left by Emmanuel Chabrier at his death, in 1894. The story, based on Goethe's ballad The Bride of Corinth, concerns the pagan Briséïs, who, though betrothed to Hylas, converts to Christianity and takes an unbearable vow of chastity as the price of saving her mother's life.
Catulle Mendès saddled Chabrier with a text even less dramatic in pace and focus than the one he fashioned in 1885 for Gwendoline, the composer's other opera written in a free adaptation of Wagnerian style. Despite the odds, Chabrier asserts himself in the lyrical, cunningly harmonized opening scene, where one finds Hylas aboard ship, yearning for his beloved. An impassioned if overlong love duet dominates the following episode. The fourth and last scene, the richest in invention, has a tug- of-war for the heroine's allegiance, followed by Briséïs' suicide.
Jean Yves Ossonce leads this animated, idiomatic performance, from a well-engineered 1994 BBC broadcast. Hyperion provides full text and translation. Apart from a quavery Apollonian priest (Michael George), the cast is strong. In the daunting roles of the lovers, Joan Rodgers and Mark Padmore are mostly assured, always expressive. Kathryn Harries is also worthy as Briséïs' mother. As the Catechist, young Simon Keenlyside shows a beautiful, cultivated baritone.
C.J.L.
OFFENBACH: Barbe-bleue
Dachary, Stiot, Gayraud; Legay,
Terrasson, Doniat, Lenoty; Austrian Radio, Doussard. Memories HR-4591/2 (2)
In 1886, Jacques Offenbach decided to take leave of ancient Greece and turn to medieval burlesque -- a dark, grotesquely funny version of the Bluebeard legend. The Memories recording, a bit over-reverberant, stems from a 1967 French Radio broadcast, once available on LP on the Bourg label. Under Jean Doussard's energizing hand, the performance is lively, stylishly sung and spoken by a cast of Offenbach experts, with voice-over narration in some scenes. There is plenty of dialogue, but the album provides no notes, text or translation, and the list of characters and interpreters is inaccurate.
C.J.L.
MASSENET: Marie-Magdeleine/Eve
Command, Sebron; Lamy, Courtis; French Oratorio Chorus & Orchestra, Loré. Erol 94002/04 (3)
Marie-Magdeleine (1873) is not a standard religious drama but a lush pageant. Salvation triumphs, of course, but only after a painstaking inventory of the relative attractions of paganism. The work raids the Gospels for several incidents that show Jesus' effect on the two most spectacular sinners of the New Testament, Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene accepts Christ and is honored as the first witness to the Resurrection; Judas betrays Christ and dies in despair.
Massenet was more comfortable with sinners than with the saved. His Marie-Magdeleine is a priggish spinster, while Judas emerges the most interesting and sympathetic character, ending with a superb mad scene, recently discovered and orchestrated for this recording. Jean-Philippe Courtis offers an exemplary Judas, Michèle Command an earnest but frequently unsteady Marie-Magdeleine. Hervé Lamy's gentle portrayal of Jésus seems appropriate, but Carolyn Sebron's unassertive Martha flattens her confrontation scene with Judas. Jean-Pierre Loré, who conducts this first commercial recording, also led the work at the Opéra Comique in 1991.
The album includes alternative material cut by Massenet, also his Eve (1875), a mystère on the creation of woman. Lamy (Narrator) and Courtis (Adam) make a fine impression, but Command sounds several degrees past virginal freshness as the newly created Eve. Texts and translations provided.
F.P.D.
DELIBES: Lakmé
Devia, Golden; Gedda, Large, Cooper, Plishka; Opera Orchestra of New York, Queler. Legato Classics LCD-191-2 (2)
GOUNOD: Roméo et Juliette
Wise, Hernandez, Aparici; Carreras, Serra, Williams, Rydl; Teatre Liceu (Barcelona), Delacôte. SRO 849-2 (2)
Lakmé, crudely recorded from a 1981 concert reading, progresses unexcitingly until Nicolai Gedda -- vivid, charming and classy, with pointed phrasing and burnished timbre -- arrives to deliver an authentic star turn, despite some shortness on top (he was fifty-six). Mariella Devia, a gentle Lakmé, catches her partner's persuasive fire, rising to a smashing Bell Song and affecting death scene. The set also contains three cuts from a 1971 aircheck of a San Francisco Manon with Gedda and Beverly Sills, both in brilliant form. No texts or translations.
José Carreras' impassioned Roméo cuts through the fuzzy recorded sound of SRO's 1983 album, providing needed heat for the love scenes and Act III duel. Patricia Wise is a Juliette of the leading-lady rather than the primadonna variety, lacking technical or tonal brilliance for her big solo, acceptably lyric in the duets. The whole sounds underrehearsed, with rough ensemble and chorus, a supporting cast made bearable only by Conrad Gaspa's nervy Tybalt. No text or translation.
F.P.D.
SCHREKER: Die Gezeichneten
Connell; Kruse, Pederson, Muff, Polgár; Berlin Radio, Zagrosek. London 444442 (3)
Franz Schreker's fourth opera, Die Gezeichneten (The Branded, 1918), set in Renaissance Genoa, centers on three ill-fated characters -- a painter, Carlotta, whose poor health forbids physical love, and her two admirers, Tamare, a licentious nobleman, and Alviano, a hunchback who has created a refuge on a fantasy island. After Carlotta deserts Alviano for Tamare, Alviano kills his rival and goes insane.
Schreker's score, redolent of Salome's opulence and decadence, has cumulative power, but his ironic, detached view of his characters makes each more symbol than flesh and blood. Still, Elizabeth Connell outdoes herself in conveying Carlotta's vulnerability. Heinz Kruse, a youthful heldentenor, portrays Alviano equally intelligently if with less dramatic imagination. American baritone Monte Pederson brings the right contrasting macho physicality to Tamare. London provides spacious, detailed sound, excellent notes, text and translation.
C.J.L.
SCHREKER: Der Ferne Klang
Grigorescu, Pilari, Altmann-Althausen; Harper, Haller, Bunse, Hahn; Hagen Opera Chorus & Philharmonic, M. Halász. Marco Polo 8-223270-271 (2)
Schnaut, Scherler, Juon; Moser, Von Halem, Prein, Helm; Berlin Radio,
Albrecht. Capriccio 60024-2
Der Ferne Klang (The Distant Sound, 1912), Schreker's most popular work, tells of Fritz, a young writer and composer, who leaves his hometown sweetheart, Grete, in search of a far-off sound that haunts him. Only when he captures this can he be a "true artist in the grace of God" and give himself completely to Grete. The two go separate ways, he to become a success, she to a life of easy virtue. When they finally meet again, after ten years, Fritz is burned out and dying: too late he realizes that the distant sound was love, which he lost in renouncing Grete.
The orchestral writing, filled with nuance, mystery and credible emotion, outshines the vocal. Schreker is at home with musical collage, and the effect is especially brilliant in Act II, where he combines a Gypsy band, Venetian music, a women's chorus and multiple conversations. Fritz' distant sound is a predictable mix of ethereal strings and celesta.
Both recordings leave something to be desired. Marco Polo's Elena Grigorescu is by far the better Grete, with a naive sweetness that turns edgy after she is hardened by experience. Thomas Moser's Fritz (Capriccio) is more mercurial than Thomas Harper's, but both tenors offer strong performances. Marco Polo has the better supporting cast, especially Marisa Altmann-Althausen as a mysterious Old Woman and Werner Hahn as a lascivious Count. Capriccio's conductor, Gerd Albrecht, with his finesse and timing, brings more to the work. Neither album provides translation.
JANE L. KOMAROV