Weill: The Tsar has his photograph taken

 Opera no 150

Weill: The Tsar has his photograph taken

Soloists

Cologne Radio Orchestra

Jan Latham Koenig

I thought that the most interesting thing about this opera was its title! This was one of the many operas suppressed by the Nazis and has only comparatively recently come back into circulations. I was expecting something like the music theatre of the threepenny opera but it seemed to me to rather dull most of the time in that German expressionist style which I fear does suck the life out of music. It was only in the last couple of numbers that, at least to me, the opera came to life and there was something more like the Kurt Weill that I was expecting. There were some interesting moments of musical effects including some use of non-instruments like mechanical doorbells (at least that is what I think they are) and an early use of a gramophone recording to be played on the stage as part of the performance. 

Some of the reviews of this opera speak very highly of it as an entertaining jazz infused piece which is delightfully absurd. Either I was in a bad mood or I was listening to a completely different piece - there’s no accounting for taste!

Schoenberg:Die Glückliche Hand

Opera no 149 

Schoenberg: Die Glückliche Hand

Soloists

   

Philharmonia Orchestra

Robert Craft

Schoenberg’s 3rd string quartet was on my list of the pieces I never wanted to hear after last year’s 365 project. So I wasn’t particularly looking forward to opera. I think that I might have heard it years ago as a student when I did listen to a fair amount of Schoenberg but if I did then I didn’t remember it. 

Perhaps surprisingly I found it a fascinating piece. It belongs to that period where Schoenberg was exploring the possibilities of expressionism and atonality before he (at least in my view) took a disastrous wrong term with the arid late serial works.  It is the actual sound of the piece which most attractive. Schoenberg conjures up a huge variety of fascinating textures from his large orchestra and his semi-chorus of 12 solo voices. As is so often the case with the second Viennese school and their followers it is the quieter music that makes the greatest impression. Somehow when they unleash the full orchestral resources in fortissimo passages the subtleties disappears and there is some coarseness.

The piece does however demonstrate again what I think of as Schoenberg’s Achilles Heel - his lack of rhythm. The music often seems to get stuck and the composer doesn’t have the means to create momentum. Obviously in atonal music there is no harmonic rhythm or resolution of dissonance to drive things forward and Schoenberg hadn’t found an alternative. Ultimately that is to me why his music is still so difficult to appreciate , even if, like this piece, it has much of real interest.

This opera must be almost unperformable. It only lasts 20 mins or so but demands not only a huge orchestra but also 12 solo chorus singers capable to singing the most difficult chromatic music. Furthermore it requires an sizeable offstage instrumental group which plays for all of (I think) 8 bars.

That’s not going to win it any popularity prizes among opera administrations.

Hindemith: Sancta Susanna

 Opera no 148

Hindemith: Sancta Susanna

Soloists

BBC Philharmonic

Yan Pascal Tortelier

The image I have of Hindemith is as a composer of worthy music for a huge variety of instruments who could produce music by the yard on an almost production line basis. It all seems rather dull.

But there is another side to the composer. In his early days he had a rebellious spirit as shown in this, one of three short operas from the 1920s. It caused something of a scandal at the time, largely because of the subject matter - unsavoury goings on in a nunnery. Although the music certainly wasn’t dry aa dust I found it rather uninspiring - it seemed to use the cliches of the expressionist composers of the 1920s with no real distinction. Only the last few minutes (the whole thing is over in less than 25 mins) came to life with some quite intensive music as the opera reaches its climax. But this was not the work for me.

Humperdinck: Dornröschen

 Opera 147

Humperdinck: Dornröschen

Soloists

Munich radio orchestra

Ulf Schrimer

After a series of French operas it is time for a change of direction. I’m now three quarters of the way through the year and have already neared 150 operas. The original plan was to get to 100 operas from 100 composers but I have almost got to 150, so at this rate I might get to nearly 200. I want to continue the exploration of Russian operas and then look at some more operas from other countries which I have not yet explored. Then I will try to pick up as many others as possible. But I am going to start with some post-Wagnerian German operas.

I’ve never really explored this repertoire in any detail and it is not something which I have ever warmed to. So this is the right opportunity to fill in some gaps.  Humperdinck is one of few post-Wagnerian composers who retains a place in the repertoire - Hansel and Gretel deservedly earns its reputation as one of the great late romantic operas. Last year I also listened to Koningskinder which I thoroughly enjoyed. Donröschen  is a version of Sleeping Beauty intended for children. It is very much in the tradition of Hansel and Gretel though it has some extensive spoken dialogue and passages of melodrama. There is some gorgeous music here in that very lyrical style which which Humperdinck was a complete master of - there is also some very effective spooky music for the magic scenes and so plenty of good tunes.

So a really good start to this sequence of German operas - I suspect that what follows may be more of a challenge.

Hérold: Zampa

 Opera no

Hérold: Zampa

Soloists

Munich Radio Choir and Orchestra

This is the latest recording in the invaluable Bru Zane series of neglected 19th century French operas. It arrived just in time to round of this series of French operas, though there will be another round before the end of the year.

I thought it was a fabulous work: an opera that I have enjoyed more than almost any more in this project to date. I was impressed by Herold’s Pre aux Clercs last year but this was even better. It has everything - catchy tunes, gorgeous vocal writing, humour and high drama. The idiom owes much to Auber, particularly La Muette but there are also hints of Rossini and perhaps the earlier generation of composers such as Boileudeu. But there is also a strong dept to the Mozart of Don Giovanni in the supernatural scenes - given that these feature a statue coming to life that is perhaps hardly surprising. The excellent notes (such a feature of these Bru Zane recordings) remind us that Don Giovanni was still a comparatively new work as far as French audiences were concerned. The extended organ solo which ends the second act inevitably brought the Phantom of the Opera to mind.

The overture to Zampa was at one time one of the most popular overtures and was often heard in bandstands as well as in the concert hall. These days such overtures don’t get performed much, but this one still gets the occasional airing. It is very much a pot pouri of some of the best tunes in the opera and it was fascinating to hear such familiar melodies in context. 

So a delightful way to end this series of French operas.  Next I am turning to territory which is much less familiar to me and which I have struggled with in the past - post Wagnerian German opera. 

Ibert: Angelique

 Opera no 145

Ibert: Angelique

Soloists

Teatro Massimo de Palermo

Yoram David

This was thee briefest opera so far in this project. The whole thing lasts about 40 mins but a significant part of that time - perhaps a third - was spoken dialogue, so there was certainly less than 30 mins music., I found it entertaining in a diverting sort of way. This is very much in a 1920s Stravinsky manner with touches of les Six and perhaps the merest hint of Ravel. The harmony is very much of the french ‘wrong note’ style and the rhythms are full of syncopations influenced by Latin American folk music and perhaps early jazz.  Nothing lasts long enough to become routine and the whole thing is quite infectious. It is very much a jeux d’esprit and is a product of its time. I don’t know how well it would go down in a modern revival - it might be possible to do it in a double or triple bill with some Poulenc or Milhaud.

Roussel: Padmâvatî

Opera no 144

Roussel: Padmâvitî

Soloists

Toulouse Capital Orchestra

Michael Plasson

I wasn’t much impressed by the Roussel I included in last year’s project https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/search/label/Roussel but I enjoyed this a lot. It is a hybrid work - almost as much a ballet as it is an opera. It seems to me that Roussel was consciously evoking the spirit of the works of Rameau and Lully.  There is nothing old-fashioned about the music itself, which is very much of its time. There are distinct traces of Stravinsky but also of Ravel and Debussy.  I thought that the combination of dance and sung much worked well (as far as one can judge by just listening) and the piece did cause me to rethink my view of Roussel. 

This is another, very late, example of the fascination that French composers had with the ‘exotic’ - in this instance India. I do wonder whether any of them could be performed today in anything like a ‘straight’ version in which the opera spoke for itself, or would the only hope of revival be in some form of ‘distancing’ - the director effectively using the peice as a piece of social commentary. I hope not but I suspect that that would be the only acceptable way of performing them nowadays.