The music for Egyptian Nights is not well known... Quite a bit of it is melodrama—words spoken (in Russian) over music. One such, the finale of Act I, is quite moving. It is followed by the entracte—close to five minutes of the best music.... You are unlikely to find a more beautiful recording of Eugene Onegin than this one. The German orchestra is better than any other that recorded it, and the Russian conductor understands the music. The sound is gorgeous. There are 76 minutes here, and as far as I can determine, that is every note of the music—for the first time... Boris Godounov is the oddest music here, but very attractive... Both this music and the Eugene Onegin were written for stage plays at the time but never used... I had never heard most of this music before, and I found it really beautiful. It’s a very unusual 29 minutes, and it has Prokofieff’s special genius and originality. As for Hamlet... I would put this ahead of any other account. Again, the orchestra is part of the reason; but Jurowski is excellent—as is the sound. There are ten numbers lasting about 28 minutes— no narrator. There are four songs for Ophelia (mezzo-soprano) and a delightful song for the gravediggers. It may be three discs, but what you get here is certainly worth it. -- American Record Guide

There have been only a handful of recordings of Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time--André Previn and the RPO, Colin Davis and the BBC Symphony (with Jessye Norman and Janet Baker), both of which are out of print; Richard Hickox and the City of Birmingham Chorus & Symphony (Chandos), and this one, originally issued on Collins Classics in 1992. Of course, this performance has the benefit of the composer as conductor--and like Britten, Tippett was a fine podium interpreter of his own music, here supported by excellent orchestral and choral forces and some pretty decent vocal soloists.


The oratorio, written at the dawn of World War II, is (in Tippett's words) "a Passion, not of god-man, but of man whose god has left the light of the heavens for the dark of the collective unconscious." Its text, written by the composer, begins: "The world turns on its dark side. It is winter." And from there we are confronted with questions, emotions, and often perplexing aspects of our humanity, specifically the nature of good and evil and the individual's responsibility, expressed in words near the work's end: "I would know my shadow and my light, so shall I at last be whole." Amid the rousing, powerful choruses, poignant solo sections, and vibrant orchestral scoring, Tippett injects several Spirituals, which serve as commentary and help expand the work's reach and message, from "a Europe...stretching out through its torments toward Russia in the East, and even America in the West." It's a brilliant creation (its three-part structure loosely modeled after Handel's Messiah) whose sentiments and questions certainly haven't lost their relevance--and the music sounds with an originality and spiritual force that's as fresh as ever, from the stirring, ominous orchestral opening to the closing strains of the choir and soloists singing "Deep River".


There hasn't been much interest in Tippett's music for quite a while, but as things tend to go with great but neglected composers, it's only a matter of time before performers and record companies "rediscover" his orchestral and chamber music, his choral works and songs, and his five operas. If you don't know Tippett, here is an ideal place to begin; if you're a choral music fan and somehow missed this the first time around, don't hesitate.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Although Martinu is known for a number of significant choral works, including his oratorio the Epic of Gilgamesh, relatively little attention is given to his vocal music. Songs with piano, many of them still unpublished or only made available in print.

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TORVALDO E DORLISKA

Falling victim to two Richards in the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss both reworked and revised Iphigénie en Tauride between 1890 and 1892. This French masterpiece, although manipulated several times, has withstood the test of time and remained quite popular. "With outstanding French singers of the nineteen fifties and an eponymous heroine who was brilliant rather than subtle, full justice was done to Gluck's rousing music, not least because of Giulini's impassioned conducting... a must for all opera fans." - Orpheus Magazine Reviewer

ORFF Antigonae • Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond; Martha Mödl ( Antigone ); Carlos Alexander ( Creon ); William Dooley ( Chorus Leader ); Fritz Uhl ( Haemon ); Marianne Radev ( Ismene ); Paul Kuen ( Guard ); Joseph Traxel ( Tiresias ); Kurt Böhme ( Messenger ); Lilian Benningsen ( Eurydice ); Bavarian RSO & Ch • PROFIL 09066 (2CDs: 143:06) Live: Munich 1958


Every collector knows Orff’s Carmina Burana . Many are acquainted with the Catulli Carmina . Fewer know that Orff, after World War II, produced three theater works that aimed to create a contemporary equivalent of the ancient performances of Greek tragedy, heightening the texts with his paradoxically archaic-sounding modern music, and with dance. Antigonae first in 1949 and then Oedipus der Tyrann in 1959 make use of the highly expressive 1804 German adaptations of the Sophocles plays by Friedrich Hölderlin. ( Prometheus , from 1968, sets Aeschylus’s Greek.)


As in the setting of Catullus poems, the orchestra is stripped of much of the color that makes Carmina Burana so popular, while retaining the visceral impact of a large ensemble. Antigonae requires six pianos, four harps, six each of flutes, oboes (three doubling English horn), and muted trumpets, nine double basses, and a large battery of percussion. The combination makes a wonderful noise in full cry, though Orff uses the whole orchestra sparingly and, much of the time, quite delicately. Opera singers of the first rank are required, but it is not an opera as such. The text is generally sung with little accompaniment, frequently at the extremes of the range, in an intensely rhythmic chant. Piano and tuned percussion are used to establish key, add color, and punctuate the line. Occasionally greater forces are used to amplify emotion, as in Creon’s and Antigone’s pivotal scenes, and to accompany the chorus. There are, however, lengthy stretches of heroically declaimed, sparsely accompanied German. This may sound monotonous, but throughout the many hours spent listening to three versions of the two-and-one-half hour work in review, plus a recording of the later Oedipus , I did not find it so.


I say this despite little German comprehension, and the recording’s lack of texts, or even a reasonable synopsis. One may secure a translation of Hölderlin’s verse, which Orff set line-for-line, but at more than half of the cost of the recording. Doing so will add to the appreciation of the work, yet in truth, with some knowledge of the story, Orff and the extraordinary performers make this a moving experience without translation. For those fluent in German, the wonderful diction and clear recording should make a libretto unnecessary.


If lack of text is a weakness—and in fairness, this is common to all releases—it is the only one. If one is going to issue a recording of such an obscure work, one best make it a superlative one, and that is just what Profil has done. On disc, the work has been almost exclusively the property of the Bavarian Radio. After the 1949 premiere at Salzburg, recorded but currently out of print, all but one CD release has been made in Munich either by the Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, or the State Opera. Georg Solti’s 1951 recording on Orfeo is distinguished by the incomparable Creon of Hermann Uhde, but is put out of contention for a general recommendation by some rather scrappy orchestral and choral execution. Ferdinand Leitner’s is a studio recording from 1961, notable for the conductor’s subtle and nuanced pacing, which gives a spiritual quality to a performance that emphasizes character delineation. Inge Borkh is a vulnerable Antigone, heartbreaking in her grief and moving in her preparation for death. The recording, which I admire greatly, is currently available only as a download, so the discovery and release of this Sawallisch live recording from 1958 is particularly welcome.


Sawallisch was recording a fair amount of Orff in this period: a 1956 monaural EMI Carmina Burana that rivals Jochum’s classic account (DG) for acute conducting, and splendid recordings of the two fairy tale operas, Der Mond and Die Kluge , also for EMI in 1956–57. He was therefore an old hand at Orff by the time he led this performance. He does not linger as much as Leitner—his performance is more than a quarter-hour faster—exchanging some poignancy and understatement for an implacable sense of impending doom. Martha Mödl’s imperious Antigone fits into this approach perfectly, as does Carlos Alexander’s pitiless Creon and Fritz Uhl’s desperate Haemon. Paul Kuen is a fine Mime-like Guard, but must give pride of place to Gerhard Stolze’s conspiratorial reading for Leitner. William Dooley sings the Chorus Leader movingly, and the men of the Bavarian Radio Choir are the finest group to record this music, even preferable to their subsequent outing three years later. The remaining singers are equally fine, with special mention necessary of Kurt Böhme’s sonorous Messenger.


The recording itself is a marvel, showing almost no sign of its age. It is monaural, but with subtle ambient processing that provides some sense of space without adding artificial reverberation. (The booklet is silent on the matter, but the effect is pleasantly audible, and visible when scoped.) The sound is detailed and immediate, with remarkable percussion transients, solid bass, and the voices placed naturally in relation to the instruments. (Leitner achieves some of his delicacy and intimacy through forward placement of the voices.) The audience is almost completely silent. In all, this is the most desirable of the recordings of this work, a superb introduction to Orff’s too-seldom explored Greek tragedies, and a gripping dramatic experience.


FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

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UMBERTO GIORDANO Giuseppe Altomore; Fabio Andreotti; Patrizia Cigna; Francesco Facini; Maria Scogna; Coro Lirico "Umberto Giordano di Foggia"; Orchestra Sinfonica di Capitanata/Gianna Fratta; Live: Teatro Umberto Giorano di Foggia, January 2006; NTSC All Region; Stereo; DD 5.1 UMBERTO GIORDANO: Il Re.

ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1660 – 1725)
Il Pastor di Corinto, Opera pastorale in tre atti (1701)

Bruna Tredicine, soprano; Anna Carbonera, soprano; Cristina Cappellini, soprano; Caterina Novak, mezzo; Carlo Putelli, tenor; Roberta De Nicola, soprano buffo; Massimo Di Stefano, bass buffo

Romabarocca Ensemble/Lorenzo Tozzi

Tito Schipa, Jr., stage director
Adriana Ruvolo, costumes; Luigi Stefano Cannelli, design

Recorded: Auditorio di San Francesco a Bolsena, August 16 & 17, 2007 NTSC All Region; 16:9; 5.1; Approx. 140 mins. Subtitled in Italian, English

Starring Antonio de Gobbi, Alberto Gazale, Francesco Demuro.

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Slovak-born composer and conductor Peter Breiner has received considerable international acclaim for his adaptations, and his Tchaikovsky arrangements are particularly impressive examples of his art. He has already arranged The Seasons (8.553510) and Songs (8.555332) but here he turns to opera. With deftness and subtlety he has taken motifs from Tchaikovsky’s first opera Voyevoda to craft six richly scored movements, two of which have rôles for solo strings. The Queen of Spades was composed in 1890 and Breiner’s selections fully explore the music’s romance and drama in their new form.

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