Bruch: Die Loreley

Opera no 64

Bruch: Die Loreley

Soloists

Munich radio orchestra

Stefan Blunter

I knew that Bruch had written more than the violin concerto but until I started researching this project I didn’t know that he had written operas. This one is an early work written in his mid 20s - it had some early success (Mahler conducted it) but soon faded from the repertoire. The libretto was actually written for Mendelssohn but he died after only completing a few fragments.

I thought that it was a rather curious piece. There was certainly some beautiful music here but for a lot of the time it didn’t actually feel like an opera. The choral sections in particular seemed to come from an oratorio - they were impressive but didn’t have any sense of drive or drama. There was no real sense of transaction - some of the links between sections were very abrupt and reminiscent of French Grand Opera at its worst. Stylistically is was all rather inconsistent. Some of the music was highly complex and then we got passages which seemed naive. The apotheosis at the end was impressive in a way but only just escaped from being kitch and overdone. Altogether then a curious work which I think showed well why Bruch largely kept away from the stage for the rest of his long career. He wrote some massive secular choral works later in life and, although I have not heard any of them. I can imagine that those are more suited to his temperament.

It some ways this opera has some of the same characteristics as both the Schubert and Schumann operas which I have featured in this series.  Musically they are of high quality but the sense of the theatre is just not there. It is the minor composers who seemed to have the grasp of what worked in the threatre.

Serov: Judith

Opera no 38

Serov: Judith

Soloists

Bolshoi Theatre orchestra

Andreï Tchistiakov

Serov occupies a place between Glinka and the mature operas of Tchaikovsky and The Five. He is now almost a forgotten figure and he never had much traction in the West but he was admired by Tchaikovsky and others at the time. But he was also the subject of some very biting criticism from Stasov, the leading music critic in mid 19th century Russia.’the whole psychological aspect of drama was absolutely alien to him and beyond him. You will not hear a single passage in any of this three operas which expressed heartfelt emotion, genuine warmth of feeling, or passion.’ There’s plenty more where that came from.

I read this before I listened to the opera, so my expectations were not high. But it seemed that I was listening to something completely different. I thought that this was a splendid piece - full of colour and drama and with some highly attractive melodic writing. As to be expected in a Russian opera of this period there is some notable choral writing and dance music. And the final ensemble with an impassioned soprano solo was superb - really made the hairs stand up on the back of the neck.

So a really impressive piece. The contrast with the Tchaikovsky yesterday in this project was very marked. One a major composer being distinctly under par: the other a minor composer really hitting the jackpot.