Sullivan didn’t have many years left to his life after the much-publicized break with Gilbert in 1896. The composer had suffered painfully from kidney stones for nearly a quarter-of-a-century, and this would ultimately kill him in 1900. In the meantime, he composed a ballet, several pieces of incidental music, and three more operas. Of these, the first was The Beauty Stone , while the third, The Emerald Isle , was left unfinished at the time of his death and completed by Edward German. The last completed opera of Sullivan was The Rose of Persia , set to a libretto by Basil Hood. Produced at the Savoy Theatre in 1899, it racked up a respectable 220 performances. (By comparison, Utopia Limited , the next to last Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, managed 245, while its predecessor, the extremely popular The Gondoliers , had an initial run of 554 nights.) The work was praised highly in the press, but did not fare well over time. Reading between the lines of contemporary reviews, I come away with a sense that the players and production values interested contemporary critics rather more than the book, lyrics, and music, which were admired in general.


It’s easy to understand why The Rose of Persia didn’t last, after listening to this new recording. The pseudo Arabian Nights setting is used as backdrop to a complex plot whose characters are frequently uninteresting and whose lyrics are usually dull. There are exceptions, as in the delightful act I quartet where the Sultan takes stealthy trips in disguise among commoners followed by his vizier, physician, and executioner—each referring back with increasing convolution on all those who proceed him. As a rule, though, the lyrics forego sparkle; and while the dialog is better, the intense and varied humor of Gilbert is sadly missed. That’s not to say the contemporary field lacked for good alternatives to the splenetic Gilbert; just that Hood wasn’t among these. Happily, this first commercial release of the opera contains all the music and lyrics, though most of the dialogue is missing.


That music is undeniably appealing. As in The Grand Duke , the last of the G&S collaborations, Sullivan seems frequently at his best in numbers that challenge standard form, or those that venture onto satirical ground. Hassan’s private buffet of food, song, and dance in act I is an example of the former, while Sunbeam’s act II solo, with its skewering of social snobbery, is an example of the latter, rendered all the more charming by a lengthy concluding orchestral passage that launches delicately onto modal turf. There are a few moments in the score of ersatz local color, made effective by Sullivan’s usual good taste. For the rest, it is less notable for memorable tunes than subtle orchestral touches and moments of harmonic elaboration: the cello solo that accompanies Hassan’s awakening in act II, for instance, or the least thematically repetitive glee Sullivan ever wrote, later in the same act.


The cast is generally good. Richard Stuart has the character and rather more voice than the average Grossmith interpreter. (So called in honor of George Grossmith, a great musical theater comic and the original for many parts in G&S operas; though the first Hassan was actually one of Grossmith’s most distinguished successors, Walter Passmore.) Ivan Sharpe brings to mind Derek Oldham, whose delicate, persuasive charm graced several G&S recordings back in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Richard Morrison’s Sultan is suitably authoritarian and robustly delivered. On the distaff side, Sally Harrison’s beautifully centered tone is a great asset to Rose, though she understandably takes the alternate lower reading on “’Neath My Lattice”—the part was written for Ellen Beach Yaw, who was required to hit an F in alt (not coincidentally the highest note she sang as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte ). As Scent, Marilyn Hill Smith’s voice is a thin reed, and her habit of approximating pitch in faster passages does her scant justice. Marcia Bellamy’s embryonic wobble may be in character as the slightly-over-the-hill Sunbeam, but I suspect it’s real rather than assumed. She enunciates and emotes well, however.


Tom Higgins is inclined to moderate tempos, perhaps feeling that the faster numbers are beyond his soloists’ capabilities, and that the slower ones can’t sustain their inspiration at an appropriate pace. Regardless, he conducts with energy and an awareness of the score’s orchestral beauties, offering good support to his soloists. The filler overtures show less attention to detail and more scrappiness in performance than the main work, with the ends of phrases at times too clipped. While the inclusion of the Overture di ballo is appreciated, the reading is foursquare, and I still give the palm to Mackerras and the Philharmonia (currently on London B0001998).


The sound is clear and well balanced between singers and orchestra. There’s a strange essay included that tries to make The Rose of Persia into a genuine expression of Sullivan’s love for exotic cultures. (Sullivan’s foreign forays usually extended from the gambling dens of large urban centers to their theaters, and back again.) Text for all numbers is provided, though not the entire libretto.


I doubt that The Rose of Persia will take G&S aficionados by storm. It is a pleasant piece, worth hearing for Sullivan and intermittently for Hood, though lacking the more concentrated response that Gilbert invariably drew from his musical colleague. No Savoyard will want to do without it, however.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Georg Anton Benda (1722–1795), a member of a talented musical family, belonged to that largely lost generation of pre-Mozartian Classicists who started out as post-Bach Baroquists. Of this group, only C. P. E. Bach has achieved true celebrity, and that was a long time coming. The Benda name does pop up with some regularity and is familiar to those with a special interest in the period, but these harpsichord concertos by Georg Benda aren’t just for specialized tastes; if you like C. P. E. Bach, you’ll enjoy these works, too. They share the minor-key urgency of C. P. E. Bach and the Mannheim composers, and while they follow the structural patterns that were becoming standard in the 1770s and 1780s, they avoid predictability.


More than half the musicians in the group La Stagione Frankfurt also belong to Camerata Köln; the early-music scene in Germany seems as incestuous as that in London. At any rate, you’ll know what to expect from such performers: clean articulation (one of the great virtues of harpsichordist Sabine Bauer), lively rhythmic sense, and a feeling of real commitment to the music at hand. The lovely multichannel DSD recording has the harpsichord up close, with the strings not far behind, and just enough air around the players and behind the listener to make sure nothing feels claustrophobic. This is an enjoyable disc in every respect.


FANFARE: James Reel
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

REVIEW:

Although the "golden age" of operetta has come and gone, composer Franz Lehár isn't in any real danger of being neglected so long as The Merry Widow continues to tread the boards of the world's stages. But as his first major "hit," and as an operetta stylistically limited by the constraints of contemporary fashion and tradition, The Merry Widow does not provide a full measure of the extent of Lehár's mastery as a composer. Zigeunerliebe (Gypsy Love) is a far better candidate for that qualification, and its first complete recording, now available from CPO, is reason for operetta fans to celebrate. Premiered in 1910, this three-act operetta is closer to being an opera and draws into the musical texture an odd admixture of influences ranging from Wagner to Richard Strauss to pop-styled Hungarian Romani music. Although no one would give credit to Lehár the distinction of being an "experimental composer," he does nonetheless present an experimentally conceived blend of styles here, confirming his own otherwise bewildering comment that "I have always experimented, reached out to something new, often enough against the intentions of directors and publishers." That the middle act is set out in the form of a dream, and that Lehár matches the story to a musico-stylistic pastiche that progresses in the same manner as a dream, shows how far Lehár was willing to go with his experimental ideas.

The music is ravishing, challenging, and extraordinary in every way, and we can be thankful that CPO's recording of Zigeunerliebe is close to ideal. The male singers are the weakest element, but these men are coming from a different tradition of singing related to grand opera and are not comfortable with the less forceful and vibrant requirements of operetta. The women are much better, with Dagmar Schellenberger, in the secondary role of Ilona, being excellent in particular, but Johanna Stojkovic is well more than just adequate in the important lead part of Zarika. The NDR Radiophilharmonie under Frank Beermann is splendid in every bar of this music, and this is important as Lehár's orchestration is in this case particularly ambitious and colorful. True operetta fans will so love Zigeunerliebe that even the relatively minor shortcomings of this set will not matter a great deal. If you have an operetta fan in your family who "has everything," CPO's Zigeunerliebe should probably move to top of one's potential gift list.

-- AllMusic

Classical Music

Classical Music

Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838) studied all the instruments of the conventional piano trio and had further piano study with Beethoven. It seems, from the booklet note, that Beethoven later accused Ries of copying him. While there are certainly similarities in style, Ries should not be perceived as a Beethoven clone. Ries’s music, whenever I have chanced upon it, has proved more than worthwhile and individual. These piano trios are splendid works, expansively conceived, and with memorable ideas that are sustained and developed very satisfyingly. Put simply, if the chamber music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn appeals, then you will derive much pleasure from these works of Ries. The first movement of the early Trio in E flat has a sparkle and confidence that is beguiling, a genuine sense of purpose that maybe the remaining two movements do not equal, but both are charming. The later work is bolder and more heartfelt—the first movement’s lovely second subject could have come from Mendelssohn’s pen—and the slow movement is eloquent. The spirited finale, with some decided Beethovenian gestures, is both active and songful, and commands attention. These very sympathetic performances are ideally recorded—tangible and lucid—and the music is certainly worth discovering for both its vividness and novelty.

Colin Anderson, FANFARE

KÁLMÁN Der Zigeunerprimas ? Claus Peter Flor, cond; Gabriele Rossmanith (Sári); Edith Lienbacher (Juliska); Zoran Todorovich (Gaston); Roberto Saccà (Laczi); Wolfgang Bankl ( Pali Rácz ); Sunnyi Melles (narr); Munich RSO; Slovakian P Ch; Bavarian St. Op Children?s Ch ? cpo 777 058 (2 CDs: 101:23)


About three years ago, the Ohio Light Opera released an English-language recording of the complete score, with dialogue, of Kálmán?s early hit Zigeunerprimas (?The Gypsy Violinmaster?). Known to its first American audiences by the name of its heroine, Sári , this story of generational conflict in a family of Hungarian musicians offers ample opportunities for local color á la Hongroise , in so doing providing a resume of the shifting styles of central European operetta at the turn of the century. In my review of that release (26:1), I noted that the composer frequently timed the American and European premieres of his stage works so as to maximize their impact on both sides of the Atlantic, to great success, and with a notable impact on his style, which embraced ?American? dance forms and syncopations faster than did the works of his continental contemporaries


I also noted that the virtues of the Ohio recording lay primarily in the quality of the playing?higher than is often the case from that summer-stock company?and the naturalness of the atmosphere. Surprisingly, while the new recording scores in many areas by comparison, especially in the quality of the direction, orchestral playing, and interpretation (hardly surprising, given the provenance of the musicians), not to mention that it is presented in the original German, the less-polished Ohio effort remains a surprisingly resilient contender.


The reason for this has more to do with the presentation than the performance. If the German recording had merely been cut, or if it consisted solely of musical excerpts, one would be able to rue a loss in dramatic continuity, particularly in the many involving melodramas that run through the score. But the producers have gone a step further, introducing a narrator, who intrudes between musical numbers not only to provide plot summary, which she delivers somewhat in the manner of a carnival barker, but also snatches of dialogue. In itself, the voice of Sunnyi Melles serves the purpose, but when she is called upon to embody the old gypsy violin master and his son, even when they are arguing with one other, one wishes the radio studio had at least hired some other actors. Perhaps to save airtime in the broadcast, dialogue is cut and summarized, often archly and pompously. Elsewhere, the recording falters with a grating, stilted use of a children?s choir in Sari?s entrance scene. While the number calls on her to interact with a group of children, their stilted laughter and clockwork ?oohs? and ?aahs? suck spontaneity out of the moment.


Yet the virtues of the present recording are obvious from the first chords of the overture, with its idiomatically sensitive rubato phrasing, suggesting both an authentic ?Hungarian? flavor and the underlying melancholy?the sense of loss?of the title character. Particularly apt are the many stylistic shifts, which correspond to the changing traditions and tastes reflected in the different musical worlds of father and son. The virtuosic solo violin passages keyed to the father?s world have their folk-music roots underscored by a generous application of cimbalom (an effect missing from the Ohio production); Claus Peter Flor captures the springing fox-trot and waltz rhythms of the son?s emphatically turn-of-the-century world with a constant sense of interest. Narration aside, the finely balanced recording and orchestral playing are almost worth the price of admission.


As the ?Gypsy Master? Pali Racz himself, Wolfgang Bankl projects a weighty and appropriate sense of age, his baritone a bit woolly and weary but constantly in the part. The key moment is his character?s final humiliation. Greeted as an exotic, Racz is asked to play at a Parisian party where his son has already scored with appropriately light and ?modern? dance music. But the bored guests viciously ridicule his old-fashioned gypsy virtuosity as ?horrible scratching.? Bankl invests his voice here with palpable heartbreak, as he sings the reprise of his love song to his ?old Stradivarius.? The finality with which he packs up his career and delivers his prized old instrument to the son he has always undervalued is truly moving.


Bankl?s ?older? voice effectively contrasts with the heroic sound of Zoran Todorovich as his rival and Sari?s eventual love-interest, Gaston. Todorovich has become a constant at Austrian operetta festivals in recent years, and the baritonal steel of his voice does render Gaston a convincing romantic lead. The other roles are also well cast. Edith Lienbacher?s Juliska is light and a bit warbly, but blends glowingly with Roberto Saccà?s light tenor (as the put-upon son Laczi), particularly in the duet at the opening of the second act, whose own distilled Wagnerism bears more than a passing similarity to the Pavillon duet from The Merry Widow . Gabriele Rossmanith rounds out the principals with a powerfully sung Sari. Special mention should also be made of the excellent solo violin work that runs throughout; much of this score comes across as a kind of ?violin concerto in the form of an operetta,? but the soloist unfortunately goes uncredited.


Now that we finally have a recording of Zigeunerprimas in its original language, the choice is clear but difficult. For theatrical atmosphere and a sense of how Kálmán?s theater works for the American stage, the OLO recording may do nicely; but for atmosphere, color, interpretation, and sheer vocalism, the Munich recording comes out far ahead. If only that narrator could somehow be plucked out, I could recommend the new cpo recording without reservations.


FANFARE: Christopher Williams

These works are not just footnotes in 20th century symphonic literature, but are real contenders for greatness...Lovers of the symphony rejoice: here's another mighty nine!


Listening to Kurt Atterberg's symphonies together in sequence (the collection was previously released on five separate discs--type Q1958, Q5032, Q2147, Q3148, and Q6782 in Search Reviews) you're certain to be impressed by the composer's consistently imaginative melodic invention and powerfully effective orchestration. These works are not just footnotes in 20th century symphonic literature, but are real contenders for greatness. While Atterberg doesn't possess the sort of stunning, out-of-nowhere originality of Sibelius (whose music at times Atterberg's resembles), he does make marvelous use of already existing techniques to construct some brilliant, evocative, and always highly enjoyable works.

A strong Nordic strain runs thoughout the symphonies, from the folkish No. 1 to the grandly epic No. 9 "Sinfonia Visionaria". Nos. 2 and 7 both offer captivating narrative drama, while the Fifth ("Sinfonia funebre") uses a cyclic concept in a manner similar to Mahler's Sixth. Probably the most immediately impressive is No. 3, whose second movement is so grippingly cinematic you easily could think the symphony's "West Coast Pictures" subtitle refers to a Hollywood studio. Nos. 4, 6, and 8 present Atterberg's lighter side, with bucolic pleasantries in the Fourth ("Sinfonia piccola") and Sixth, while the Eighth offers Sibelius Sixth-style modal harmonies in crystalline textures.

All nine symphonies (as well as the symphonic poem Alven) feature vivid orchestral writing (the Ninth showcases Atterberg's considerable skill in handling large choral forces), as well as Atterberg's penchant for building perfectly-timed, irresistibly exciting climaxes. Conductor Ari Rasilainen clearly has immersed himself in the composer's world, leading powerful and highly idiomatic performances with the Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Hanover orchestras. CPO maintains consistently spacious, high-impact sound throughout the series. Lovers of the symphony rejoice: here's another mighty nine! [2/24/2005]

– ClassicsToday (Victor Carr Jr)

Even when the Symphony No. 1 debuted in 1831, it was considered old fashioned. Although it was well received, audiences that same year were also exposed to Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Old fashioned or not, Onslow’s first symphony was performed throughout Europe to generally high acclaim. There were some dissenters who felt Onslow’s themes would have been better served in chamber works using fewer musicians (Symphony No. 3 actually began as a string quintet), but other people felt Onslow moved the symphony in a new direction and his works should not be compared to the symphonies of other composers. Onslow’s symphonies are classical in structure: four movements, not straying too far from the Classical notions of harmony; however they embrace the burgeoning Romanticism of the time. Onslow’s symphonies may not be as adventurous as Symphonie fantastique or Beethoven’s Ninth, but they’re well crafted, abundantly tuneful, and often quite atmospheric and imaginative.

Onslow’s Third Symphony, composed shortly after the success of the first two, began as a string quintet (in F Minor, op. 32.) It was expanded to a version for string orchestra, to be performed by the Société des Concerts. Hearing his quintet played by large forces during a rehearsal, Onslow envisioned the work as a symphony. He withdrew the work and it later emerged as Symphony No. 3 in F Minor.

Onslow limited his symphonic output to just four, composed between 1829 and 1846. The French at that time were more interested in opera (Onslow’s operas were not as well received as his sonatas and chamber music), so much of the significant symphony composition came from German composers. Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and Schubert dominated the field. Onslow was referred to as the French Beethoven. Although it was meant as a compliment, the unintended consequence was the untrue suggestion that he strove to imitate Beethoven.

Johannes Goritzki and the Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR have now completed their traversal of the four Onslow symphonies with this release of Nos. 1 and 3. The second and fourth symphonies were released in 1999 (cpo 999 738-2). If you enjoyed that earlier album, your pleasures will increase by the addition of this later one. The performances continue that bright, energetic thrust they brought to the even-numbered symphonies. Cpo has captured these performances in a warm, clear ambience.

David L. Kirk, FANFARE

Classical Music

Classical Music

REVIEW:

CPO continues to show admirable enthusiasm for issuing the works of Lehár. Der Sterngucker (The Stargazer) was issued in Spring 2003 and now along comes this performance of his first operetta. It is a recording of a large-scale radio broadcast made 25 years ago.

The work was staged as a Christmas piece at Vienna's Carl-Theater in December 1902. Despite poor initial reviews its strong cast managed to achieve a long run for the piece. Incidentally, the conductor of the première was the young composer, Zemlinsky. Der Rastelbinder travelled through Europe and reached America in 1909, but now is largely forgotten.

The plot concerns a Slovak child engagement, with children who find it difficult to get on together when grown up. A Prelude is set 12 years earlier than the main action to provide a vehicle for the audience to be given background information of the childhood betrothal. The Prelude and Acts shift the action from Slovakia to Vienna and then to a Viennese army barracks. The settings allow Lehár plenty of scope to introduce different flavours of music appropriate to the action. In this early operetta, we hear, for the first time, a slow waltz that indicates the distinctive viennese style that was to follow and become a Lehár hallmark, 'Wenn zwei sich lieben'.

Helga Papouschek and Elfie Hobarth sing confidently as Mizzi and Suza and the young tinker boy (uncredited) provides a purity of tone, naïvety and innocence. Both Heinz Zednik (the grown up tinker boy) and Adolph Dallapozza (corporal) are strong tenors, the latter having a particularly high register.

The booklet is provided in German, English and French and contains interesting background notes by Stefan Frey as well as a synopsis for the vocal numbers.

-- MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music