Tipett: A Child Of Our Time / Colin Davis, Ute Selbig, Et Al

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Label
Profil
Release Date
February 26, 2008
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      TIPPET, MICHAEL
    • PERFORMER
      Davis, Saxonian Staatskapelle Dresden
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      February 26, 2008
    • UPC
      881488705256
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      PH07052
    • LABEL
      Profil
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Choral - Secular
    Works ⌄

    1. Part I: The world turns on its dark side (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    2. Part I: The Argument: Man has measured the heavens (Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Nora Gubisch

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    3. Part I: Interludium attacca

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    4. Part I: Scene: Is evil then good? (Chorus, Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Nora Gubisch

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    5. Part I: Now in each nation (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    6. Part I: Chorus of the Oppressed: When shall the userers' city cease (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    7. Part I: I have no money for my bread (Tenor)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Jerry Hadley

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    8. Part I: How can I cherish my man in such days (Soprano)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Ute Selbig

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    9. Part I: A Spiritual: Steal away (Chorus, Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Jerry Hadley, Ute Selbig

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    10. Part II: A star rises in mid-winter (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    11. Part II: And a time came (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    12. Part II: Double Chorus of Persecutors and Persecuted: Away with them! (Double Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    13. Part II: Where they could, they fled (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    14. Part II: Chorus of the Self-righteous: We cannot have them in our Empire (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    15. Part II: And the boy's mother wrote a letter (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    16. Part II: Scene: O my son! (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Jerry Hadley, Ute Selbig, Robert Holl, Nora Gubisch

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    17. Part II: A Spiritual: Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord (Chorus, Soprano, Tenor)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Jerry Hadley, Ute Selbig

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    18. Part II: Scene: The boy becomes desperate in his agony (Bass, Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl, Nora Gubisch

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    19. Part II: They took a terrible vengeance (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    20. Part II: The Terror: Burn down their houses! (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    21. Part II: Men were ashamed of what was done (Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    22. Part II: A Spiritual of Anger: Go down, Moses (Chorus, Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    23. Part II: The boy sings in his prison: My dreams are all shattered (Tenor)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Jerry Hadley

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    24. Part II: What have I done to you, my son? (Soprano)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Ute Selbig

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    25. Part II: The dark forces rise like a flood (Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Nora Gubisch

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    26. Part II: A Spiritual: O, by and by (Chorus, Soprano)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Ute Selbig

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    27. Part III: The cold deepens (Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    28. Part III: The soul of man (Alto)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Nora Gubisch

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    29. Part III: Scene: The words of wisdom are these (Bass, Chorus)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    30. Part III: Praludium attacca

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Staatskapelle Dresden

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    31. Part III: General Ensemble: I would know my shadow and my light (Chorus, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Ute Selbig, Nora Gubisch, Jerry Hadley, Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis

    32. Part III: A Spiritual: Deep river (Chorus, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)

      Composer: Michael Tippett

      Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoperette Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden

      Performer: Ute Selbig, Nora Gubisch, Jerry Hadley, Robert Holl

      Conductor: Colin Davis


A memento of what must have been a very moving occasion.

As far as I know, this is Sir Colin Davis’s second recording of Tippett’s oratorio; his first, made for Philips in 1975 and featuring such luminaries as Jessye Norman, Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk, has always been one of the top choices. There are also valuable performances from Pritchard (1957, the pioneering recording), Rozhdestvensky (a live BBC relay on Carlton Classics) and, not least, the composer himself (a technically fallible but nevertheless overwhelming performance with the CBSO on Naxos). Davis also performed A Child of our Time at the Barbican last December and this was recorded for LSO Live.

Sir Colin has performed a number of works by British composers during his appearances in Dresden. His acclaimed reading of Elgar’s First Symphony has already appeared in this edition and he also performed Britten’s War Requiem in 2000 in commemoration of the destruction of Dresden. Performances of A Child of our Time in Germany carry a particular charge, bringing as they do associations of atonement and reparation. This is further confirmed by the lavishly illustrated CD booklet, which provides a detailed background to the events in Europe that inspired Tippett’s oratorio. There is also some fascinating information on Dresden’s synagogue, designed, like its famous opera house, by Gottfried Semper and destroyed during the Kristallnacht of 1938. No texts are provided.

Davis, aided by the spacious acoustic of the Semper Opera House, sets a steady pace for the most part, emphasising the dramatic weight and power of his conception. The chorus is backwardly placed but such is the excellence of their diction that this is not a problem. The oratorio is paced unerringly, the chorus providing rich tone in “Steal Away” vivid characterisation of persecutors and persecuted in “Burn down their houses” followed by a sombre reading of “Go Down Moses”. The sequence of Handel-inspired recitatives and arias in the central part of the oratorio move from fear, terror, anger and, finally, acceptance. At the end Davis draws the threads together with complete mastery for the final “Deep River”.

The soloists all characterise their roles extremely vividly, and although occasionally some idiosyncratic pronunciation can make for disconcerting listening this is a relatively small blemish when we are faced with such obvious involvement. Ute Selbig possesses a bright, full soprano - she sang Sibelius’s Luonnotar in the first half of the concert at which this recording was made - and soars effortlessly over the other forces in the spirituals and elsewhere. The late Jerry Hadley sings with passionate although somewhat plaintive tone, and Robert Holl is a tower of strength in the important bass part.

Sir Colin’s reading is undoubtedly authoritative and moving, with a powerful and responsive chorus and a team of soloists who are extremely involved dramatically, although vocally more fallible than some of their counterparts on disc. I wouldn’t say this new disc superseded any of the versions listed above, but it does provide a memento of what must have been a very moving occasion in the Semperoper, and occasionally surpasses its predecessors in terms of sheer emotional commitment.

-- Ewan McCormick, MusicWeb International