Engelbert Humperdinck's music for the pantomime of Karl Gustav Vollmoeller's arguably most important stage work impresses with it's deeply Romantic sound and large-scale choral scenes and had so far led an unforgivable shadowy existence in the composer's oeuvre. Premiered in London in 1911, none other than Max Reinhardt adapted this work for film (1912) and staged numerous performances with hundreds of actors, singers, and dancers - finally also at the Salzburg Festival in 1925. This recording represents the first complete recording of this deeply Romantic masterpiece.

Simply unmissable for any fans of this opera, Anglophone or not, Mackerras balances the songful and the sinister with absolute sureness. There is not a weak link in the cast, with Rebecca Evans in particular showing how her voice has bloomed in recent years. Jane Henschel is a frighteningly credible witch: she could be your smiling next-door neighbour.

-- Gramophone [9/2007]


This new Opera-in-English set of Engelbert Humperdinck's wonderful Hansel and Gretel goes straight to the top of the list of recorded performances, along with the Schwarzkopf/Karajan. Charles Mackerras leads a most beautiful reading, fully aware of Humperdinck's debt to and love for Wagner but with a warmth that makes the glorious orchestrations and easy, lovely, folksy melodies flow naturally and gracefully. This is not to say that there isn't excitement--the "Witch's Ride" is thrillingly lumpy and aggressive. Mackerras offers a terrific piece of storytelling in music, and the big burst when the Witch is pushed into the oven is a fine cataclysm, handsomely captured by Chandos' engineers.

David Pountney's translation is always comfortable and mostly understandable, and the cast is blessed with natural actors. Jennifer Larmore at times has been faulted for her hard-edged tone; here, as Hansel--sure of himself, boyish, and charming--she's just right. Rebecca Evans sounds nothing like Larmore and portrays a Gretel both spunky and spooked out. If the children's Evening Prayer ever has been sung more beautifully I certainly don't remember it; absolute obedience to dynamics and an ideal blend of voices make it a few moments of sheer bliss. Jane Henschel's Witch is the tour de force this role had better be, and while she may not be the absolute best on CD (that honor goes to Christa Ludwig on an old RCA recording, a set marred only by Anna Moffo's weird Hansel), she's a master of altering her tone, from cajoling to menacing to utter loathing.

I prefer a lighter-toned Sandman, but Diana Montague cannot be faulted vocally or for her gentle singing, and Sarah Tynan's Dew Fairy is lovely. Rosalind Plowright's Mother is strong (she might have made a good Witch) and Robert Hayward sings the Father's music brightly (Mackerras leads his entrance "Tra-la-la-las" nice and quickly). Orchestra and chorus are superb. This set is a pleasure--the ideal Hansel in English, and perhaps in any language.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel

HANSEL & GRETEL

Classical Music

Agreeable geniality: benign, attractive melodically with gloriously yearning themes.

There are a number of composers who are best known almost exclusively for writing one particular work from a substantial compositional output. The principal names that spring to mind are Gustav Holst for The Planets; Max Bruch for his First Violin Concerto and Carl Orff for Carmina Burana. Falling into this category is the German late-Romantic composer Engelbert Humperdinck who is really only known for his much loved opera Hänsel und Gretel composed in 1891/92. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale the composer described his score as a Märchenoper (Fairytale opera- based on Brothers Grimm). The richly scored opera has become inextricably associated with children and families, and is traditionally performed at Christmas time.

Humperdinck wrote a considerable number of works in several genres including a number of stage works but none have come anywhere close to attaining the popularity of Hänsel und Gretel. I am told that the Königskinder (The King’s Children) is sometimes staged but I have never come across it. Contained on this CPO release are six chamber scores the majority of which were composed in the 1870s and only published in recent years with the exception being the String quartet in C major from 1919/20.

The earliest work on the release is the single movement Menuet in E flat major for Piano Quintet marked Allegro composed in 1872 as an alternative for a Christmas programme. Bearing a dedication to Johannes Degen, a judge and amateur violinist, the substantial String Quartet Movement in E minor was written in 1873. With regard to completing the score Humperdinck got as far as sketching out another two movements. Cast in three movements, the Piano Quintet in G major was completed in 1875. It seems that it was played by Johannes Degen music group in which Humperdinck would sometimes stand in as the pianist. The score of the central Adagio bears an inscription to the memory of Humperdinck’s sister Ernestine who died aged only seventeen. In the concluding Allegro Humperdinck blends a Scherzo with a Rondo. The String Quartet Movement in C minor takes around 7 minutes. Humperdinck won the Frankfurt Mozart prize with the C minor score. The Notturno for Violin and String Quartet in G major is marked Andante tranquillo. After its completion in October 1879 Humperdinck before the ink was almost dry prepared an alternative arrangement of the score for violin and piano doing away the quartet. Cast in three movements the String Quartet in C major was written some thirty years after Hänsel und Gretel and is Humperdinck’s final chamber score. Humperdinck explained that the central Gemächlich (Leisurely) is a contrasting combination of a slow movement and Scherzo.

Irrespective of the tempi indications Humperdinck’s undemanding writing tends to inhabit a similar mood. The prevailing character of the slow movements is one of agreeable geniality: benign, highly attractive melodically with gloriously yearning themes. The outer movements, although occasionally squally and moderately windswept, offer more of the same but with a quicker speed. There’s no whiff of German Sturm und Drang or late-Romantic Wagnerian or Straussian excess in any of Humperdinck’s chamber scores. Owing to the lack of stylistic, melodic and dynamic contrast one can understand why these scores have remained neglected for so long. Out of the six Humperdinck works the String Quartet (1919/20) with its catchy central movement Gemächlich is certainly agreeable as is the Notturno for violin and string quartet but it is the Piano Quintet that I consider to be the finest. Without plumbing great emotional depths I also greatly enjoyed the central Adagio of the Piano Quintet for its tender yearning quality; serving as a fine tribute to Humperdinck’s deceased sister Ernestine.

The Diogenes Quartet is a Munich based ensemble and was founded in 1996. The Diogenes number the Amadeus and La Salle quartets amongst their teachers. I couldn’t fault the beautiful playing of the Diogenes who adopts a straightforward unadorned style that feels wholly convincing. Glorious string tone and impeccable ensemble are trademarks of this first-rate quartet. For the Piano quintet in G major and the Menuet for piano quintet the Diogenes are augmented by pianist Andreas Kirpal who makes a terrific contribution sharing this music with tightly matched teamwork. The Notturno for violin and string quartet in G major is a real find with the Diogenes joined by Lydia Dubrovskaya who takes the solo violin part. With assurance and refined musicianship Dubrovskaya plays this nocturne quite beautifully. I can easily imagine this score becoming quite a hit on a Classic FM Relaxing Classics programme.

The recording was made at the August Everding Saal, Grünwald on the outskirts of Munich and the sound quality is spectacular. It’s vividly clear and superbly balanced too which is something that I rarely encounter where piano and string quartets are concerned.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

Engelbert Humperdinck exemplifies the destiny of the “one-hit wonder” like few others. His opera Hänsel und Gretel, premiered in 1893, has remained a mainstay at opera houses throughout Germany and the world ever since. But this single international hit drew attention away from the rest of his oeuvre – which remains underappreciated to this day. After all, this supposedly good-natured “Märchenonkel” (“fairytale uncle”) was still a modern, cosmopolitan figure who ranked among the great musicians of his time. Humperdinck won the coveted Mendelssohn Award for composition in Berlin at the age of 25. He was an assistant to Wagner in Naples, Venice, and Bayreuth, studied Spanish and Arabic culture on prolonged scholarly travels, and taught at the conservatory in Barcelona, where he wrote a theory of harmony in Spanish. He was also a member (and, for a time, vice president) of the Royal Academy of the Arts in Berlin, honorary member of the Académie française and the Academia Santa Cecilia in Rome. And his works were included in the repertoires of the likes of Weingartner, Kleiber, Brecher, Blech, and Strauss – the greatest conductors of his time. Most of his catalogue remains largely unknown: not only his greatest works, such as his depth psychology-inspired fairytale opera Die Königskinder (which was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910), but also the stage pieces created for Max Reinhard’s Deutsches Theater in Berlin, his chamber music and a great many art songs from every period of his career. These are original pieces, subtle post-romantic art song with Humperdinck’s characteristic, often surprising, expansive harmonies. Of roughly 100 documented songs for voice and piano, about one third have disappeared, while many have not been published and only exist today as manuscripts. Save for a few scattered pieces on so-called “motto CDs,” there are no recordings of Humperdinck’s songs. And virtually no one performs them today. We intend to close this gap with the 29 pieces offered here. Covering a period of nearly 50 years, they are intended to show the breadth of his song-writing spectrum.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

If it's Hansel-in-English you're looking for, this set clearly is your choice...Here we get a lovely pair of kids in Suzanne Mentzer and Heidi Grant Murphy, their voices so utterly un-alike that the listening experience is vivid for that alone--but besides that, their interplay is credible and they both make wonderful sounds. Mentzer's dark-hued mezzo is suitably boyish, while Murphy's little-girl tone is charming. Judith Forst, hardly in the first bloom of her career, is a vicious Witch, smacking her lips and exuding spite and malice--and her diction is quite good too, unlike Murphy's, just to offer one comparison. Janice Taylor's portrayal of the mother is very fine, but her tone is wobbly; Robert Orth is a sympathetic, burly father; and Anna Christy's double-duty as Sandman and Dew Fairy is impressive. Conductor Andreas Delfs favors slowish tempos, bringing out the rich, symphonic aspects of the score and always making clear that Humperdinck was heavily influenced by Wagner. The Milwaukee Orchestra is excellent, with playing both atmospheric and grand from the brass section in this live performance (no audience is discernible). I guess it's nice to hear the opera in English even if much of it can't be understood, but--not to pick nits--why would a child say toil" when he can say "work"? The sound is better than good--rich and colorful." --Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

In 1908, Maurice Maeterlinck wrote his play The Blue Bird (L’Oiseau bleu). Having proved a good source of operatic subjects before (Pelléas et Mélisande, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue), it is no surprise that composers jumped at the opportunity to write music to this latest. The French composer Albert Wolff made an opera of it that, though premiered at the MET, has since been forgotten. But even before that, in 1912, Max Reinhardt put it on as an adapted Christmas play in Berlin and he had none less than Engelbert Humperdinck write the incidental music to it. The music was never published until Steffen Tast found the score and salvaged it for us to hear. A sweet story and sweeter still music by Humperdinck newly discovered? Why, that’s in and of itself as though it was Christmas!

REVIEW:

Steffen Tast really deserves credit for restoring this work to the repertoire and for giving such a fine and dedicated traversal of the music. One only has to listen to the stately but regretful theme as the children take leave of their grandparents in the land of memories to get a sense of Mr Tast’s rapport with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. This music bears a strong resemblance to Mahler, but just until the solo violin takes over with a sentimental theme that is lusciously played by the un-named concertmaster. Tast elegantly shapes the beautifully sketched musical themes for Bread, Fire, Water, and Milk, who all become characters in the play. The Rundfunkchor Berlin gets to briefly display their talents in a Christmas carol arranged in two parts, and then later in a wordless chorus for the expectant mothers welcoming their unborn children. Overall Tast skillfully reveals the richness of Humperdinck’s orchestration in an carefully judged reading of this important score.

-- MusicWeb International

Hänsel und Gretel brought Humperdinck worldwide fame but his tragic fairy story "Königskinder" (‘The King’s Children’) offers a stark contrast to it and has only begun to be revived in recent years. The doomed love of a goose girl and a prince – as they battle prejudice and are obstructed by magic – ends in their loving deaths, and with it a rebuke to the villagers who rejected them. This acclaimed production by the renowned German director Christof Loy features the award-winning singers – tenor Daniel Behle and Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska.