Reznicek: Donna Diana

Day 350

Reznicek: Donna Diana

Soloists

Kiel opera chorus 

Kiel philharmonic orchestra

Ulrich Windfuhr

Reznicek is the ultimate ‘one piece’ composer. In fact it is only a tiny part of Donna Diana - the overture - which has kept his memory alive. I’ve always enjoyed the overture - I’ve played it once - and was very interested to see what the rest of the opera was like. Hugely attractive is the answer. I was expecting something very lightweight but in fact some of the music has a real dramatic intensity. It is a reminder that Reznicek was part of the post-Wagner generation (he was born in 1860) and indeed there are moment which could quite easily have found their way in Tristan. Yet elsewhere we get much closer to the spirit of Léhar and Viennese operetta. It really is an intriguing mix and surprisingly it works extremely well. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and am keen to hear more of Reznicek’s music. 

The overture itself is based on music from the opera but it is not just a straight lift. Renzicek very skilfully takes fragments from various different parts of the piece and merges them seamlessly into the lovely piece that is quite rightly one of the great short overtures.  

Reznicek lived right though until 1945 and there was some controversy about whether he had any sort of associations with the Nazis, although there seems to have been no evidence of any serious association. He must have seemed a figure from the remote past by the time of his death. He was however a respected figure: there is a fascinating brief film of him conducting - inevitably - the overture to Donna Diana. I suspect that he must have been heartily sick of it by then.