Sena_Jurinac

Let’s talk about Mozart’s Idomeneo

Gods! Did they ever mean well with us poor humans? We were provoked and incited by them only to be tormented and punished, with no defence at all. After all: did we really have free will? The divine decree was law and we could not escape the fate predestined for us. All this can be read in the thick book called ‘Mythology’, from which the greatest (stage) writers, poets, painters and composers have liberally drawn.

El Juicio de Paris by Enrique Simonet, c. 1904.

Take the Trojan War, for instance. It all started with an apple and a ‘Miss Goddess – contest’ and hundreds of thousands of human beings suffered as a result. The jury was bribed with the promise of love from the most beautiful woman in the world, but this promise failed to add that she was already married and her husband might claim her. If not voluntary then forced.

The war lasted no less than ten years and by the end, just about all the heroes were dead or cursed by the gods who, after all, had caused the whole situation. And don’t think, you can catch your breath now, because after the war we had to deal with the real post-Trojan War traumas (I’m not making it up!) and the gods were also still arguing amongst themselves.

Idomeneo, king of Crete, returns to his country, but things don’t go smoothly. He ends up in a huge sea storm and promises Neptune to sacrifice to him the first creature he encounters on his return. But this happens to be his own son, Idamante! Oops!

Loopholes are sought, but gods are obviously smarter. And then we have a triangle relationship: Elletra (yes, Agememnon’s daughter) has fled to Crete and fallen in love with Idamante. But so has Ilia, the captured daughter of King Priam of Troy. Anyway – if you do not know the full story, just read it.
We will now deal with the various performances of the opera.

Personally, I have never found Idomeneo to be Mozart’s strongest opera and I was never really impressed. But now, after repeated listening and re-listening, I have had to revise my opinion. Because the music, it really is genius after all!

Anton Raaff, de eerste vertolker van de rol van Idomeneo

CDS

Sir Charles Mackerras

To get right to the point – I personally think the 2001 recording by Warner Classics (5099994823820) conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras is the very best. It does have one downside (about that later), but that could also be down to my personal taste.

To start with the smaller roles, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson (Arbace) has a voice of pure gold. It is a pleasure to listen to him and I can never get enough. One can only wonder: why Arbace and not Idomeneo himself? Yes, I know he recorded the role for Gardiner, but, so what?

Paul Charles Clarke is a fantastic Supreme Priest, chilling yet a real human at the same time. La Voce is very impressively sung by the then very young John Relya.

Barbara Frittoli is a wonderful Elettra. Hurt, and yearning for revenge, yet ultimately resigned to her fate. I would have liked to have heard a bit more drama, but her rendition fits in nicely with the conductor’s vision.

Lisa Milne’s rendition of Ilia is perhaps the finest I have ever heard. Lovely she is, but also loving and very determined. Her soprano is ‘liquid’ – think, warm honey, but with a peppery touch. To that, the warm, tormented mezzo of the lamented Lorraine Hunt Lieberson fits like a glove. Together, they sound as if they were indeed always a unit.

And now for my minus: Ian Bostridge’s Idomeneo. Not yet as vain, narcissistic and mannered, which so marred his recordings and performances in recent years, but he sounds so incredibly ordinary! Not a tormented king, but the next-door neighbour. He singing is clean, but his coloratures are sparse – and this for someone coming from the Baroque tradition!

The score is pretty much complete, not even the ballet at the end is missing. It is usually omitted, and as far as I am concerned absolutely rightly so. It is nothing but an anticlimax and, after listening to it once, I never listened to it again. There is a brief booklet with the track list, but the box also includes a bonus CD with synopsis and the complete libretto.

James Levine

In 1996, Deutsche Grammophon (4477372) recorded the opera conducted by maestro James Levine with just about the Metropolitan Opera’s biggest stars of the time. No idea if it is idiomatic, but I find it HUGE!

Levine’s muscular conducting brings out hidden treasures and in no other performance can you hear how progressive the music really is! The tempi are obviously brisk, but nowhere rushed and most of the voices are overwhelming.

The role of Arbace is curiously taken by a baritone. Well, Thomas Hampson’s timbre is indeed more like that of a tenor and he is more beautiful in the highs than in the lows, but Mozart explicitly asked for a (light!) tenor. But it is not disturbing, quite the contrary. Especially since Hampson manages to fill in the role of the king’s confidant so perfectly.

Frank Loppardo is no match for Clarke with Mackerras, but he holds his own in the small but very heavy part of the Chief Priest.

Bryn Terfel is a very strong La Voce, his sound will automatically make you shiver with fear.

Carol Vaness (Elettra) sounds surprisingly lyrical. Fortunately, she picks up nicely at ‘Oh smania! O furie!”, exactly as we have come to expect from her. Delicious! Yes, she is an Elettra after my own heart!

Heidi Grant Murphy (Ilia) is a bit out of place in the big voice fest. Her pouty timbre reminds me a lot of Kathleen Battle, not really my ‘cup of tea’.

Cecilia Bartoli is a very virtuoso Idamante, very convincing too, though she sounds a bit too feminine at times.

Finally, Plácido Domingo’s Idomeneo is exactly what we expect from him: with his beautiful, warm tenor, his regal recitation and his commitment, he makes Idomeneo a very emotional and mostly very humane king.

DVDS

Pier Luigi Pizzi

From Teatro San Carlo in Naples comes Pier Luigi Pizzi’s production, recorded in 2004 (Dynamic 33463). The direction is typical Pizzi – if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Very realistic, but with a twist and lots of male (semi-)nudity. Lots of ballet too and the colours are mainly black and white with a touch of red. Only Elettra brings in an extra colour. Her purple outfit must – I assume – represent her fury. The setting has a strong cardboard feel to it and there is a lot of lying on the floor, singing.

To be honest, by now I have had enough of it, of nudity and nappies, over the years I have seen more than enough of them. But one thing I have to give Pizzi credit for: his productions are always exciting and his character direction very competent. It also has a very Greek feel to it.

Jörg Schneider (Arbace) is on the very light side. His voice is definitely beautiful, but I miss the expression. The Chief Priest (Dario Magnabosco) doesn’t really come across, a pity, and about La Voce I’ll keep quiet: he is barely audible. Perhaps he should have been amplified?

Iano Tamar is an outstanding Elettra. She impresses not only with her appearance and acting, but also with her singing. That’s how I like to hear it.

I had more trouble with Angeles Blancas Gulin’s Ilia. Beautiful woman, good actress, but so incredibly Callas-focused. And I found her singing really annoying at times, since it is often not on pitch.

Sonia Ganassi is perhaps the best Idamante ever. Not only is her singing most beautiful, her coloratures are perfect and her timbre warm. For her alone, the DVD is more than worth it.

Kurt Streit was once among my favourite tenors. He is also very much in his prime here. Listen to his undoubtedly impressive ‘Fuor der mar’, even if it doesn’t sound entirely pure:

Dieter Dorn

Anyway, compared to Dieter Dorn’s production, shot in Munich in June 2008 (Medici Arts 2072448), Pizzi can pass for the best director in the world. Dorn starts with slaps, blood and violence. What is this all about? Surely the war ended long ago? But maybe we’re looking back? Or are these Idomeneo’s nightmares?

And where and when is it all taking place: it could be Crete, but we could also have ended up in Africa. Could also be Munich in June 2008. The characters look most like a mixture of hippies and Hells Angels in African costumes, but maybe those are really Martians? Oh well. Why not. Sigh.

The choreography is disturbing, in itself there is nothing against that. The storm is nicely depicted – unfortunately the images don’t make sense. And why are, during Elettra’s first aria, the extras covered in blood? Furthermore, there is a continuous running through the hall – those poor people sitting upstairs and/or to the side. Bet they couldn’t see anything at all.

Rainer Trost is a pretty much perfect Arbace in terms of voice, but if you want to enjoy his singing, you have to close your eyes and keep it that way. What on earth the director came up with for him… !

Juliane Banse is a beautiful Ilia. Her voice is small and limited, but very beautiful in timbre. Moreover, she is a more than convincing actress.

Annette Dasch (Elettra) is a young attractive singer, who shot up like a comet and has made a huge career within a short time. Don’t ask me why. I find her just plain ordinary. Oh yes, she is good, sure, but that good? In the recording, she sounds distant and not even completely pure.

For Idamante, they surprisingly chose a tenor. Nothing against it, especially if the tenor in question is called Pavol Breslik and possesses a wonderfully lyrical timbre. But you should prepare your ears for a different sound.

John Mark Ainsley is Idomeneo. I could not take my eyes off him. Such an actor! And what a voice! You will surely instantly forget the ridiculous direction. For his performance alone, I wouldn’t want to miss the DVD – you must see and hear it at least once.

Below trailer of the production:

As a bonus, I have for you Sena Jurinac as Ilia in ‘Zeffiretti lusinghieri’. This is the very essence of beauty.

Alban Berg’s Wozzeck

The true story of the young soldier Woyzeck, who was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in 1824 and sentenced to death, inspired the young Austrian Georg Büchner to write his play. The work remained unfinished, Büchner died of typhus in 1837 at the age of 24, and Woyzeck was not staged until 1913. Alban Berg saw the play a year later in Vienna and decided to turn it into an opera. The premiere on 4 December 1925 in Berlin was an overwhelming success.

Wozzeck Alban&HeleneBerg — *Alban and Helene berg after the premiere in Berlin*

“Fragmentary, hallucinatory and extremely pessimistic’. This is how the play was described and this is an exact description of the opera also. This work – perhaps the most moving opera of the last century – always comes with an unprecedented inaccessability The music is highly expressive and cannot be defined by a single definition: Berg used both dodecaphony and the sweetest violin sounds, and alternated the sprechgesang with melancholic ‘arias’.

Wozzeck Berg met performers van Wozzeck premiere in Oldenburg — (*Alban Berg wth the Wozzeck – cast after the première in Oldenburg 1929*

Masterpiece or no (for me an absolute masterpiece) everything depends on the performance and there are many.
A selection:

DVD’S:

Hamburg 1970

Under the direction of Rolf Liebermann, the Hamburg State Opera grew into one of the best and most talked-about opera houses in the world. Liebermann ensured a good, thorough and diverse repertoire with extra attention to contemporary works.

Fortunately for those of us who did not experience those years (consciously), Liebermann also thought about the future and commissioned the director Joachim Hess to record about thirteen of his productions for TV. Most of the recordings were made in a studio, but with Wozzeck they went to a castle in southern Germany and also its environs.

The now almost completel

y forgotten baritone Toni Blankenheim was one of the pillars of the Hamburg opera. He sang numerous roles, but only became truly famous as Schigolch (Lulu), in the production with Teresa Stratas.

His very charismatic appearance, his enormous acting talent and his agile, warm baritone made him more than suitable for singing roles of “complex characters”. A character like Wozzeck. Better than anyone, Blankenheim is pretty much the personification of the “simple soul”; his despair is not played and you can really see the incomprehension on his face.

Sena Jurinac is a beautiful, slightly timid, but very sensual and erotically charged Marie.

Bruno Maderna has never been a champion of conducting other people’s works, but he certainly has a great affinity with Berg’s idiom.

The production is very realistic and the tension is palpable. It is as if you are watching an unadulterated thriller.

Liebermann is now seen as the father of Regietheater (directing theatre), but his vision was quite different from today’s conceptualism and its search for (and often crossing) the boundaries of the permissible and the ridiculous. Anyway: see for yourself. That recording is an absolute must (Arthaus Music 101277)

Vienna 1987

This production was my first ‘Wozzeck’ ever. It made me sick; the opera evoked so many emotions and feelings in me. I was most touched by Hildegard Behrens’ performance of Marie. I still find her performance extremely impressive, but now that I know the opera better, I also have some reservations. Now and then I find her a little too much. Too exaggerated in her acting and also in her singing. As if she is challenging the outer limits of her voice. In her creation, she reminds me – don’t take it too literally! – of the Italian actress Anna Magnani, which is actually a great compliment.

Franz Grundhebber portrays an embittered Wozzeck, but one not devoid of pathos.

Heinz Zednik is an unequalled captain and the young Philip Langridge a brilliant Andres.

That Abbado has an affinity with Berg’s music is obvious. He conducts fiercely and compellingly; the tension is palpable from the very first note. And yet the lyricism is never far away.

Can you still remember that magical moment when the curtain opens? You can experience it again here. And then a world that you know from the libretto is revealed: we are in the captain’s room, with, behind the window, a view of what could become a crime scene. And then the lighting! It is so beautiful!

This fascinating production (directed by Adolf Dresen) should be mandatory for any director’s course. If only to show all those aspiring directors that traditional does not automatically mean boring or museum-like (incidentally: there is nothing against that either).

And how young Abbado is here! (Arthaus Musik 109156)

Trailer of the production:

Moscow 2010

I have to be brief about this. After more than four minutes of staring at a kind of doll’s house with lots of boxes, in which all kinds of people playing house and looking bored (televisions were on) – all this accompanied by an orchestra tuning its instruments – I had had enough. But I did watch it for a while because I was quite curious. Unfortunately, I did not get very far.

If you want an evening of exciting theatre with lots of video images and even more music, then this is the DVD for you. However, you do have to forget about Wozzeck, because this production has nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with either Alban Berg’s opera or Büchner’s play. Teodor Currentzis, the darling of Russian audiences, who is famous (and notorious) for his strange tempi, here really lives up to his reputation (BAC068).

CD’S

Berlin Classics 1973

Eterna - Berg: Wozzeck / Kegel, Adam, Schroter, Goldberg, Herbert Kegel | CD (album) |... | bol.com

This recording, reissued on Berlin Classisc, was recorded live in 1973 during a concert performance in Leipzig (then GDR).

What strikes one immediately is the clarity of sound and the fantastic diction of the singers. Reiner Goldberg (the drum major) has a somewhat “embarrassing” height, which underlines his sillyness as a failed macho.

The truly incomparable Horst Hiestermann (Hauptmann) confirms his reputation as one of the best character actors in history and Helmuth Klotz is delightful as the totally messed-up doctor.

Gisela Schröter is moving as Marie and Theo Adam is a thoroughly tragic Wozzeck, who cannot understand the ‘why’.

The orchestra under the sublime direction of Kegel sounds alternately screeching and loving, exactly as this music was meant to be (0184422BC).

Decca 1981

Eberhard Wächter is one of the best Wozzecks I know. His anti-hero sounds resigned and desperate, but also fierce and terrifying. And although his voice sometimes sounds a little unbalanced, his portrayal is solid.

Anja Silja is a wonderfully light, childlike – naive Marie. Very lyrical and clumsy, someone to feel sorry for. She is not a mature woman, more a child who is full of life and looking for challenges.

Heinz Zednik (Captain) sounds even better here than in the Hamburg recording. He does not sing his role as terribly caricatured as many of his colleagues, proving once again that a good character tenor is perhaps one of the most difficult voices to find.

There is nothing but praise for the Vienna Philharmonic; under the inspired leadership of Christoph von Dohnányi, they show that they really know and master this score (4173482).

Warner 1998

Under Ingo Metzmacher, the opera sounds more modern than it really is. Not that it is bad, but it makes it a bit more unapproachable. He does keep the momentum going, which is very beneficial to the tension. And in the scenes with Marie, he keeps the orchestra surprisingly lyrical.

Bo Skovhus should perhaps have waited a little longer to sing his first Wozzeck. He sounds a tad too young and too healthy; fortunately, he is able to camouflage these “flaws” with his excellent voice-acting.

Angela Denoke is, in my opinion, the star, although she is more a cool blonde than an alley cat. Think of Marlene Dietrich in Der Blaue Engel.

I do not listen to this recording very often, for this I blame Chris Merritt’s captain. The amount of ugly notes this man can produce almost borders on the impossible. But this is actually the only real flaw in this splendid performance, recorded live in Hamburg 1998 (6406622).

Naxos 2013

Naxos’ 2013 performance recorded live in Houston is also more than excellent.

Roman Trekel’s dry baritone and his nervous singing make him an almost ideal Wozzeck. He relies mainly on his very impressive voice-acting and his intelligibility and his handling of the text are more than sublime. Hats off!

Anne Schwanewilms is an excellent Marie. Perhaps a tad too neat and a little understated, but she is able to compensate for this with her velvety singing.

With the concert performance of his favourite opera, Austrian conductor Hans Graf bid a spectacular farewell to his orchestra. The recording is highly recommended for the orchestral part alone. (8660390-91)

Hänsel und Gretel: Discography

hans-tekening — Das Bild ist ein Holzstich nach einer Zeichnung von Ludwig Richter von 1853.

Fairy tales! As a child I couldn’t get enough of them and I still love them. My small bookcase was well stocked with them then and my current bookcase has several shelves with every fairy tale I could lay my hands on.

The story of the children lost in a dark wood, the wicked witch and – yes! – the gingerbread house particularly appealed to me; a girl who loved sweets.

I knew that the fairy tale had once been turned into an opera. In the old German film adaptation of Kärstner’s The Parent Trap, Luise/Lottie visits the performance of Hänsel und Gretel conducted by her father. This very dramatic scene made a huge impression on me at the time, so the opera was very high on my wish list.
My first real introduction to the opera, however, was downright disappointing. And I still cannot get really excited about the work. It is not sweet or scary enough for me. However, I immediately admit that a beautiful, well sung and acted production will give me a lot of pleasure!

The two DVD recordings known by me are certainly all that, and I really wouldn’t know which of the two to choose

Royal Opera House, 2008

Colour! That is what is most striking about Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s London (Covent Garden 2008) production. The enchanted (and enchanting) fairy- tale forest is green, the sky blue, Gretel’s jacket red, and the biscuits, cakes, pies and puddings are all the colours of the rainbow. Or even more. And they are so very bright!

It is a true feast for the eyes, but the singing is also at the highest level. Diana Damrau is a delightful Gretel and Angelika Kirschlager a boyish Hänsel. Even in the scenes together with real children, they are not out of place.

Elisabeth Connell and Thomas Allen, here as real- life riff- raff, are good for a lot of delicious “schadenfreude”. And the fact that Anja Silja convinces more with her acting than with her singing should be forgiven, she is after all a witch (Opus Arte OA BD 7032)

Metropolitan Opera, 2008

Richard Jones’ production, originally created for the Welsh National Opera and recorded at the Met in 2008, is just as much fun.
Chistine Schäfer (Gretel) and Alice Coote (Hänsel) are perhaps just a little more brazen, but Rosalind Plowright and Alan Held are just as deliciously caricatured as Connell and Allen.

What makes this performance an absolute must have is Philip Langridge’s witch, even Anja Silja cannot match that! And the dream pantomime at the end of the first act is simply delicious.

During the overture and the interval, we get a look behind the scenes and get to see the make-up artists in action. Very special!

Vladimir Jurowski conducts very lightly, almost belcantesque.
Warning for purists: the opera is sung in English! (Warner 5099920630898)

Below a short trailer:

von Karajan, Milan1954

Talking about foreign languages: it is not at all surprising that an opera intended for a mainly young audience is performed in a language they can understand.

In 1954, von Karajan conducted the fairy tale in Italian in Milan, but with two German sopranos in the leading roles: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Sena Jurinac. Which makes the notion of “intelligibility” immediately relative.

Rolando Panerai is a delightful “Pietro”, but of course the CD’s greatest attractions are the Sand- and Taumännchen sung irresistibly by Rita Streich. The orchestral sound is very refined despite the analogue sound (Date DAT 12314).

https://open.spotify.com/album/5wcO8IrP9pnAzooD82Sdi8?si=jeT_t5W0RtabNBI91BMJdQ&dl_branch=1

Von Karajan, 1953

Refinement is also the best word to describe the (studio) recording of Karajan from 1953. It is fully worth it for the overture alone. Orchestrally it sounds even better than the Milan recording, but that may be due to the excellent sound quality.

Both Elisabeths: Grümmer and Schwarzkopf sound very credibly childlike. Their ‘Brüderchen , komm tanz mit mir’ is simply irresistible. It is just a pity that their voices sound so similar that you cannot really tell whether it is Hansel or his sister who is singing. (Warner 509996407162)

https://open.spotify.com/album/6NcBtroE4jZdQqV3rrHval?si=A1P5xVzxRAiF7RmPWISh2Q&dl_branch=1

Eichhorn, 1971

There are five reasons to buy the recording Kurt Eichhorn made for RCA in 1971: Anna Moffo (Hans), Helen Donath (Gretel), Christa Ludwig (witch), Arleen Auger and Lucia Popp (the ‘males’).

Charlotte Berthold and Fischer Dieskau are not really exciting and the orchestra is no more than okay, but those five ladies! And secretly I think I may find Helen Donath’s Gretel the most beautiful of all. (BMG 74321 252812)

Below Anna Moffo and Helen Donath in `Abendsagen`:

Zullen we het over Idomeneo van Mozart hebben?

Goden! Hebben ze het ooit met ons, mensen, goed bedoeld? We werden door hen uitgelokt en opgehitst om daarna gesard en gestraft te worden, zonder dat wij ons konden verweren. Want: hadden wij een vrije wil? Het goddelijke besluit stond vast en wij konden ons niet aan het voor ons voorbestemde lot onttrekken. Dat staat allemaal te lezen in het dikke boek dat ‘De mythologie’ heet en waaruit de grootste (toneel)schrijvers, dichters, schilders en componisten rijkelijk hebben geput.

El Juicio de Paris by Enrique Simonet, c. 1904.

Neem nou eens de Trojaanse oorlog. Het is allemaal met een appel en een ‘Miss Godin – wedstrijd’ begonnen en daar werden honderdduizenden humane wezens de dupe van. De jury werd met de belofte van de liefde van de mooiste vrouw ter wereld omgekocht, maar er werd verzuimd erbij te vertellen dat ze al getrouwd was en dat haar man haar wel eens zou kunnen opeisen. Als niet goedschiks dan kwaadschiks.

De oorlog duurde maar liefst tien jaar en aan het eind waren zowat alle helden dood of werden ze door de goden, die immers de hele toestand veroorzaakt hadden, vervloekt. En denk niet, dat je nu rustig op adem kan komen, want na de oorlog kregen we met de heuse post–Trojaanse oorlogstrauma’s (ik verzin het niet hoor!) te maken en de goden waren nog steeds aan het twisten.

Idomeneo, koning van Kreta, keert naar zijn land terug, maar soepel gaat het niet. Hij belandt in een enorme zeestorm en belooft Neptunus het eerste wezen dat hij bij zijn terugkomst tegenkomt aan hem op te offeren. Laat het nou zijn eigen zoon, Idamante zijn! Oei!

Er wordt naar uitwegen gezocht, maar goden zijn natuurlijk slimmer. En dan hebben we ook nog eens een driehoekverhouding: Elletra (ja, de dochter van Agememnon) is naar Kreta gevlucht en verliefd op Idamante geworden. Maar dat is Ilia, de buit gemaakte dochter van koning Priamus van Troje, ook. Afijn – het verhaal, mocht u hem niet helemaal kennen, kunt u gewoon nalezen, wij gaan ons nu met de verschillende uitvoeringen van de opera bezighouden.

Persoonlijk heb ik Idomeneo nooit de sterkste opera van Mozart gevonden en ik had er eigenlijk nooit zo veel mee. Maar nu, na herhaaldelijk luisteren en herluisteren, heb ik mijn mening moeten herzien. Want de muziek, die is toch echt geniaal!

Anton Raaff, de eerste vertolker van de rol van Idomeneo