Erkel: Bánk Bán

Day 202

Erkel: Bánk Bán

Soloists

Hungarian National Chorus

Orchestra for Hungarian Millennium

Tamás Pál

Bánk Bán is one of the foundations of Hungarian Opera. Its composer, Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893) was a prominent figure in Hungarian music in the mid 19th century and among other achievements composed what is now the Hungarian national anthem. This opera is based on historical events in the 13th century which led to the murder of the queen. 

There are some clearly Hungarian elements to the score, particularly the use of the Cimbalon and some of the dance music is from the same roots as the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Liszt but there is also a distinctly Viennese tinge to some of the music - a reminder that at this time Austria and Hungary were both parts of the same empire. But in many ways it is the mainstream elements of the score which are most impressive. Meyerbeer and French grand opera is clearly a major influence - I am sure that Erkel’s use of a viola d’amore obligato in the big scena for the soprano in Act 2 was inspired by the solo in the tenor aria in Les Huguenots. There is some fine music in this score - particularly the very menacing opening music and the big duet at the end of Act two which ends with the murder scene - that really did cause a shiver down the back of the spine. Some of the score tended a little towards generalised 19th century blood and thunder operatic cliches, but on the whole is was an impressive piece which has prompted me to explore more of Erkel’s output. 

There were many differences between the published score and the text on this recording, which was prepared as a soundtrack for a film of the opera. The opera has a complex textual history and it seems that there have been quite severe editorial intervention by many hands since the opera was first performed. This didn’t however get in the way of being able to follow most of the score - but there were cuts, and some passages were reordered or adapted. But the overall experience must have reflected the composer’s broad expectations if not the precise detail of what he originally wrote. 

Dargomïzhsky: The Stone Guest

Day 201

Dargomïzhsky The Stone Guest

Soloists

Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra

Andrey Chistiakov

This is a version of the Don Giovanni legend dating from 1869. Like so many of the Russian Operas of the time more than one person had a hand in the finished version. The composer died before he completed the piece: it was completed by Cui and then orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov. I do remember The Stone Guest being discussed in the University history of music class - one of our lecturers was an expert in mid 19th century Russian music. The piece has its place in history as an experiment in setting the whole of the text of a play in what amounts to a continuous arioso, with hardly anything which can be considered pure recitative and no real set piece numbers other than one song, where the character on stage is, within the drama, actually singing a song. It provoked mixed reactions at the time: the composers of the five were very keen to see it performed. Tchaikovsky on the other hand was dismissive, calling it the lamentable fruit of a dry, purely rational process of invention.

I have to say that I am rather with Tchaikovsky here. It did seem very turgid in places and had very little sense of light and shade or the contrast between moments of action and moment of reflection that are so important in opera. Music of the music seemed laboured without much to attract the ear. It was only in the final confrontation between Don Giovanni and the Commander that the opera sprung to life. But then if a composer couldn't make something of that then all would be lost. But by then it was too late. I had made my mind up.   For me it was an experiment that did not come off and I think represents a dead end in operatic thinking.

Carrer: Despo

Day 200

Pavlos Carrer: Despo

Soloists

Sofia Festival Choir

Pasardjik Symphony Orchestra

Byron Fidentzis

I've reached day 200 in this project and also today represents another landmark. Although for the past 199 days I have  (apart from day 161) always listened to music I had not heard before the name of the composer was always famliar to me and I knew a little bit about him or her. But Pavlos Career was a complete unknown. I was looking for another nationalist opera, preferable from a country I had not featured in this survey to day, and also it needed to be short as today was a busy day. So I was delighted to land on this opera by the Greek Composer Pavlos Carrer which is in one act and which lasts just over half an hour.

Carrer (1829-1896) was one of the first, if not the first, Greek composers to write an opera. But to my ears there was very little Greek about it. It had all of the characteristics of early to middle period Verdi - strong rhythms, lot of energy, bit set piece solos, concerted passages and extrovert choruses. The only Greek element I noticed was a brief passage near the beginning which had a folk-like element to it, in the way that Italian or French composers of the time often introduced a touch of local colour.

The Greek element comes from the story - an episode in the war between the Greeks and the Turks in which the local women hide inside a castle and then when the castle is captured blow it and themselves up.  

I really enjoyed the opera, at least up to the last five minutes or so. It had that vigour and swagger of early Verdi and heard cold would I think have been assumed to be a previously unknown work of Verdi. But the last 5 minutes were a let down. I was expecting a dramatic finish but the composer's inspiration let him down and we had a few minutes of very conventional noisy battle music and then a rather brief and perfunctory ending. A pity really because the rest of the score was of high quality and would certainly hold the stage in a double bill with another short opera. Carrer wrote several operas, most of which have been recorded. It might be worth listening to one of the full length works at some point in the future.

Foerster: Eva

Day 199

Foerster: Eva

Soloists

Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra

Wexford Festival Chorus

Jaroslav Kyzlink

Foerster (sometime spelt Förster) is of the generation between Smetana and Janáček. He lived almost to the age of 100 (1859-1951) and must have seemed like a figure from another age by the time that he died.This opera, his first, dates from 1899. From the start we are clearly in the Czech world, with music which could have some from the Slavonic Dances or the Bartered Bride. But I found as he moved away from this world that the music became rather anonymous - Foerster had absorbed the mannerisms  of late 19th century opera without putting his own distinctive stamp on the music. It became rather stogy and four-square and lacked any real sense of rhythmic energy.

The second Act started in the same way but about half way through something happened: the music caught fire and there was half an hour or so of raw and intense drama  - at times it was approaching the level of dramatic inspiration that Janáček was to make his own. The third Act started back in folk idiom with a series of dances and choruses which to my mind went on far too long, even though this recording cut several passages found in the printed score. Eva’s final monologue brought us back to the dramatic intensity of the second Act, though though that it didn’t quite build to the shattering climax I was hoping for, and then the operas ended rather perfunctorily.

So this was certainly a curate’s egg of an opera - some highly dramatic music which showed real operatic flair but also some rather routine sections which were quite hard going. It is interesting to speculate what would have happened had Janâċek not produced his series of extraordinary late operas - would Foerster have taken his place on the world operatic stage? An intriguing thought.

Dolidze: Keto da Kote

Day 198

Dolidze: Keto da Kote

Soloists

Georgian Radio Committee orchestra and choir

Shalva Azmaiparashvili.

This 1919 opera is the foundation of the operatic tradition in Georgia. It is very much based in the folk tradition though it does have some more conventional operatic moments harking back to the style of the 1830s and 1840s. It is colourful throughout with lots of dances and lively choruses. It reminded me of the sort of operatic scene one might imagine in a film from the 1940s or 1950s playing in the background of a drama - colourful, melodic and not too demanding. I imagine that a suite of dances from the score would go down well at an open air concert of light music.

This is a hardly a contender for the list of forgotten operatic masterpieces but on its own terms it works well and I enjoyed listening to it - I must confess at times I was listening with half an ear - this is not a piece which demands full concentration. The opera holds an important place in the hearts of the Georgian people and seems still to be performed there frequently. I can’t imagine any other opera company taking it on - it is so much a product of its time and place.

Moniuszko: Straszny Dwór

Day 197

Moniuszko: Straszny Dwór

Soloists

Chorus and Orchestra of Polish National Opéra

Jacek Kaspszyk

This was a major discovery. I was aware of the opera - indeed the CDs have been sitting on my shelves for a while - but I had never heard it, or indeed any of the composer’s other music. The opera’s title translates as the Haunted Manor and I had expected it to be a very serious piece with Wagnerian/Marschnerian overtones. In fact however it was a much lighter piece - essentially a comedy about two soldiers who brag about their bravery and spend a night in the haunted castle. There - in shades of Ruddigore - their girlfriends hide behind portraits and start singing - scaring the life out of them. 

The style is quite eclectic. The general ethos is of French Opèra Comique and I suspect that La Dame Blanche was somewhere in the background of the composer’s imagination. But there are also passages that could come from Donizetti and some which almost seem to be from Viennese operetta. But Moniuszko makes a really satisfying whole of these disparate elements. He had a real melodic gift and a sense of operatic timing. The various manifestations of ghostly music are not too serious and add to the general enjoyment. 

I really enjoyed getting to know this opera and look forward to hearing more of the composer’s music in due course.

Heise: Drot og Marsk

Day 196

Peter Heise: Drot og Marsk

Soloists

Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir

Michael Schønwandt

This is perhaps the first important Danish opera. It dates from 1878 at a time when Denmark has recently been defeated in a war with Germany. It is thus less overtly nationalistic that some other operas of the time from countries not closely associated with a musical tradition. Ironically it was the German influence that struck me most in the music. It is not overtly Wagnerian but it certainly has some Wagnerian tinges. My initial impression was that the opera it was closest to in sound was Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel, though there were also some characteristics shares with Cornelius' Barber of Bagdad.

My sense was that Heise was more at home in the lighter moments in the opera - there were some lovely folk-like passages, particularly near the beginning. Some of the more dramatic music did seem a little cliched at time though these parts were balanced with some passages which showed genuine operatic flair. Altogether a mixed experience. There is unlikely to be a call for an international revival of the music of Heise, but this was certainly not a negligible piece by any means and I am glad to have listened to it.