Recordings Review: Heliane in a Handbasket

A great opera by Korngold returns to the catalogue.

Lotte Lehman and Jan Kiepura in the premiere of Die Wunder das Heliane.
Photo © Vienna State Opera.

 This month's current slate of Decca reissues features Erich Wolfgang Korngold's little-heard opera Die Wunder das Heliane. This opera (The Miracle of Heliane in English) is a strange symbolic story of a legendary princess, a despotic Ruler, (her husband) and the mysterious Stranger, whom Heliane is in love with. The Christ-like death and resurrection of both Heliane and the Stranger that enable the lovers to escape the Ruler's dark kingdom in a swirl of gloriously orchestrated music.

This recording was made in the early '90s, just at the end of the boom period for the big classical labels. It stars Bulgarian diva Anna Tomowa-Sintow in the demanding title role opposite tenor John David de Haan. Both singers cope admirably with the difficult vocal score and demanding roles.

They are ably supported by Reinhild Runkel, Hartmut Welker and, in one of his very last recordings, Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda. John Mauceri is a bit of a specialist in Korngold, having regularly conducted the composer's film music in concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. Here, he leads the Berlin RSO in a sumptuous performance that pulls out all the orchestral stops.


Heliane had a difficult birth. When it arrived in Vienna, Korngold's opera was presented in competition with the far more populist Jonny Spielt Auf, a jazz opera by Ernst Krenek. Krenek's opera proved more popular with the Viennese, not least because Korngold's father, Julius, a music critic, unleashed a vicious series of attacks on Krenek that backfired against Heliane.

Both operas were banned when the Nazis came to power, along with wonderful works by Schreker, Schoenberg, and anyone else who didn't meet the Third Reich's ridiculous standards of "artistic purity." Korngold, a child prodigy best known for composing the opera Die Tote Stadt fled to Hollywood and became a film composer, scoring classic films including The Sea Hawk, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, and Anthony Adverse.

Although Tote Stadt is considered to be an early masterwork, his later operas have had difficulty finding an audience. As a tonal composer who refused to embrace serial methods, Korngold's music was out of fashion in the 20th century. He has been rediscovered in recent years. Hopefully, the reduced-price reissue of Heliane will lead to more listeners discovering the glorious complexity of this underrated genius.

To learn more about Korngold, check out the official website of the Korngold Society!

Concert Review: Sakari Oramo conducts Shostakovich and Sibelius

Thursday Night's New York Philharmonic concert featured Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, a difficult composition that requires both athletic and musical ability from its soloist, in this case the Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili. Led by Finnish maestro Sakari Oramo (currently the principal conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), it was perfectly paired with two Sibelius compositions that evoked the power and spirit of the Finnish woods.

Composed in 1947-48, the First Violin Concerto is, like many major orchestral works from Shostakovich's pen, a series of mixed and coded messages. Bitiashvili attempted to decode the work for the audience, and for the most part she succeeded. The concerto's somber opening echoes the composer's emotional torment. Having survived the Second World War he still lived in terror of the Soviet government. featured mournful legato phrases, melting into each other in a cry from the heart. Exceptional playing and phrasing made this a compelling opening, ably supported by Oramo and the orchestra.

Literally living in fear of another Soviet artistic purge, Shostakovich was, understandably, reluctant to make political or personal statements in his work. They are present but hidden in the codes of the music, in the choice of a manic scherzo or a grim passacaglia movement. This concerto, written for 20th century violin virtuoso David Oistrakh) contains both, shot through with some exceptionally difficult violin writing. Lisa Batiashvili played with energy and vigor, never forgetting the emotional pathos which is at the core of all great Shostakovich works.

The second half of the concert featured the music of Jean Sibelius, the great Finnish composer. His Sixth Symphony is the most cheerful of Sibelius' seven essays in that genre. (OK, it's Sibelius so it's not exactly milk and cookies but the Sixth seems to avoid the obsession with death and self-destruction that characterized much of that composer's work.) This is a pastoral composition, evoking the lighter side of the Finnish wilderness, traipsing through the great forests of the north with a sunny outlook and cheerful orchestral colorings expressed through the use of church modes instead of the more conventional key system.

Here, the Sixth served as perfect counterpoint to Tapiola a powerful invocation of the dark side of forest living. The piece is named after Tapio, the god of the forests who appears in the Kalevala, Finland's national epic. Sakari Oramo conducted with vigor and a strong sense of rhythm. The big gestures were played with punch and power, but none of the magnificent little details were missed. From the carefree passages of the Sixth to the terrifying arctic wind that cuts through the final pages of Tapiola, this was an excellent interpretation of Finland's national composer.
Photo: Sakari Oramo in action. © 2006 Warner Classics

Classical Bargains: Czech It Out!

Costume design for the Vixen, Sharp-Ears
from the Barry Kay Collection.

It's April here at the blog, and it's moving into a third month of bringing you the best classical music coverage that I have time to do. Thanks for being patient--there will be reviews in the next few weeks and eventually I'll finish writing the review of Götterdämmerung--it is excellent but I got a little burned out on Wagner DVDs so I've been taking a little break.

I've picked up some new classical box sets. Ever since the untimely and depressing death of Tower Records I've been doing most of my shopping on Amazon--picking up some really good bargains in their Marketplace from distributors like Caiman.com and Newbury Comics. (Newbury is a lot more reliable to deal with.) Frankly, I've been hoarding, loading up on CDs and recordings in case the whole industry goes bellyflop in a whirlwind of tuxedos and music stands. As a result I have wayyy too much music to listen to. I'm gonna start writing about some of the things I've picked up, and maybe get around to doing full-on reviews as the summer progresses.

The big recent acquisition is a set of operas by 20th century Czech genius Leos Janáček, released on Decca and conducted by the great Sir Charles Mackerras. Most of these opera recordings were only available on massive, chunky "doorstop" box sets with the CDs in a thick double "jewel case" with a paperback booklet inside a slipcase. This was the standard format for classical CD box sets twenty years ago. The old sets would retail from $20-$35 depending on where you did your shopping--and probably take up a foot of valuable Brooklyn shelf space, which is why I never made the investment.

The new Janáček set (which I paid about $45 for!) includes his major operas: Jenufa, Kat'a Kabanova, The Cunning Little Vixen, Vec Makropoulos, and From The House of the Dead along with overtures and other pieces. Unfortunately, the Mackerras series did not include Sarka, Osud and The Excursions of Mr. Broucek. These recordings (many of which star the great Swedish singer Elisabeth Söderstrom), are considered to be of exceptional quality, although the only one that I am really familiar with is Vec Makropoulos.

Some quick notes on Janacek:

• The Met recently revived Jenufa with Karita Mattila in the title role. In 1999, I saw Act II of it performed at Carnegie Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle. Anja Silja starred as the Kostelnicka, an overbearing mother from hell.
  
• Kat'a Kabanova is also the subject of occasional revivals at the Met--it is a powerful domestic tragedy whose most memorable character is Kabanicha, another overbearing mother figure. I saw this opera sometime at the Met in the late 1990s in a stripped-down staging by Jonathan Miller.
  
• The City Opera does a wonderful version ofThe Cunning Little Vixen (in English), the story of the life and death of a fox in the forest, and her peculiar relationship with a trapper. This is a child-friendly opera that is worth reviving.
  
• Vec Makropoulos (known to most opera-goers as The Makropoulos Case, is occasionally revived at the Met, first with Jessye Norman and later with Catherine Malfitano. It is a soprano showcase on par with the major works of Wagner and Strauss. Sadly, the Met's revival of this opera was marred by the death of tenor Richard Versalle on opening night in 1996. Ironically, Versalle sang the line "You only live so long", had a heart attack and fell off a ladder, plummeting twenty feet to the stage in the opera's opening scene.
  
• Finally, according to the Met Maniac wensite, the big house is presenting a new production of From the House of the Dead directed by the brilliant Patrice Chereau. The production is scheduled for 2009-2010.

Concert Review--Haydn, Mozart and Schubert at the Philharmonic

If piano concertos, as a genre, were invented as a means to express dissent and argument between a soloist and accompanying orchestra, those of Mozart are among the most congenial. The F Major concerto (premiered in 1784 in honor of the Frankfurt coronation of Emperor Leopold II with Mozart himself at the piano) combines lyricism and athletic keyboard ability. Thursday night at the New York Philharmonic proved that in their familiar roles of conductor and pianist, Sir Colin Davis and Mitsuko Uchida have both to spare.

In the opening movement, the veteran conductor built Mozart's six-theme architecture, setting the stage for the entry of the piano part. Then, Uchida lifted her hands, settled them just at the keyboard and poured forth torrents of notes with seemingly no effort. She produced a quicksilver stream of sound, her fingers flying up and down the keyboard. The adagio movement was woven from the same silver cloth, the minimal accompaniment complementing the flow of sound from the piano. The final movement was far more athletic, but no less thrilling to the ear.

The concert opened with one of the better-known Haydn symphonies: La Reine (named after Marie Antoinette, who particularly liked it) belongs to the set of "Paris" symphonies (Nos. 82-87). This symphony (No. 85) finds Haydn absorbing French influences, incorporating themes and musical devices designed to appear specifically to French musical tastes. The second movement of this symphony includes a charming theme-and-variations on a folk-song called "La gentile et jeune Lisette". Employing a minimal force, Sir Colin conducted a robust performance of this elegant little symphony, a refreshing change from the massive works that are staples of this orchestra's repertory.

The finale was Schubert's Fourth Symphony, returning to the Philharmonic repertory for the first time since 1996. Despite its nickname (given by the composer), this "Tragic" Symphony has far less pathos than one might expect. It does have Schubert's unerring sense of melody, building off the symphonic ideas put forth by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The slow movement featured a lyrical oboe solo from principal Liang Wang. The scherzo with its dotted rhythms and off-the-beat introduction held no terrors for the veterans of the Philharmonic. The final rondo featured a conflict between a bouncing little theme and a sighing figure in the strings--no doubt the tragic inspiration coming out in this otherwise sunny work.

Above: Sir Colin Davis makes the conductor's sign for "touchdown."

Photo © UMG/Decca/Philips