Max Bruch "Die Loreley"

[BerlinExpat]

Did anyone record Max Bruch's opera Die Loreley last night from Bavarian Radio?

I didn't make the record button on time so have everything except part of the Vorspiel! I think only a minute or so is missing.

[christopherfifield]

Having conducted the British premiere of Bruch's Die Loreley back in 1986 (Bloomsbury Theatre, London) I would love to have known about it. Coincidentally it is the eighth of Robert Thicknesse's '15 operas ripe for discovery' in the current Christmas issue of the BBC Music Magazine. It was while researching the opera that I discovered that there was no biography in any language, including German - so I wrote it!

According to the soprano's website: 'Michaela Kaune is singing the heroine Leonore in Max Bruch's LORELEY with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Munich (including CD production)' so it looks as if someone is going to issue it on a cd. Anyone know which label, cpo perhaps? I still have my recording of one of the four performances back in 1986.

[giupel73]

Hi,

I would be interested in listening to Lenores Aria "Wehe! Betrogen!"  in Bruch's version (8th Scene = Finale I act) since I am preparing it for a masters degree recital where I compare it with Mendelssohn's version. Is there any way you can share your recording of the Bayerische Rundfunk?

Thanks!

Giuliana Pellegrino

[M. Yaskovsky]

Available on CD from October, 15 - 2018 at jpc.de https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/max-bruch-loreley/hnum/7089657

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, great news.

[Alan Howe]

Absolutely! This is an early-ish work, dating from 1863, I believe. Here's a fulsome tribute to the work:

This opera probably has the strongest and most bel canto vocal lines of any German opera, ever. Although it is not as orchestrally rich as Tannhauser or Lohengrin, from a strictly vocal standpoint this surpasses anything Wagner could have dreamed of writing. The score is somewhat retro, but to my personal taste, as a sort of low-key German grand opera with lots of influence from Beethoven and especially Weber, and proves that many musical gestures passed off as Wagnerian today were actually just standard German practice. Bruch was an anti-Wagnerian, so when Die Loreley sounds like pre-Lohengrin Wagner (which is very often), it is because Wagner sounded like German mid-19th century romantic music in general and not the other way around. According to the Penguin Opera Guide the opera should be about 39 minutes longer than the recording here, I am not sure if this is a misprint or if there is in fact additional material cut from this performance. The best music would be the choruses, the orchestral pieces, and Lenore's multiple solos. Die Loreley must be marked down as a forgotten treasure, A-.
https://philsoperaworld.music.blog/2018/04/08/max-bruch-die-loreley-1863/

[Alan Howe]

If you scroll down this series of excerpts from recordings by tenor Thomas Mohr, you'll find a very toothsome extract from Loreley:
https://www.thomasmohr.eu/media

[Alan Howe]

This is a very entertaining listen indeed. The music is often stunningly beautiful and euphonious - a veritable feast for the ears. More when I've had time to digest the whole...

[Alan Howe]

I suppose the standard criticism of Bruch's music here would be that it is bland; thing is, though, just as that thought crosses the mind, another superbly beautiful aria or rousing chorus comes along and one simply gives in to the beauty or drama of the writing. And what a finale! - simply inspired, and inspiring.

I said that Saint-Saëns' Ascanio was my operatic Discovery of the Year - well, that fine work might just have to share top place with Loreley...

[Master Jacques]

Seconded (or thirded!) I sat down to listen to Act 1 this afternoon, and ended up listening to the whole opera in one fell swoop.

It's a young composer's opera, impassioned, urgent and rather overscored - but although it is far from perfect, the two main roles are absolute corkers, the libretto is most interesting (the Loreley WINS for goodness sake!) and there is a lot of highly imaginative music.

I look forward to getting to know it better and regret the lack of an online vocal score (there's only the Prelude on IMSLP) to see what - if anything - is missing from this fiery and committed reading.

[Mark Thomas]

Listening again to this recording there is so much to admire, but for me it's Bruch's choral writing which is most impressive. You can certainly hear pre-echoes of his major choral works in Die Loreley, to the extent that in some places the piece doesn't sound operatic at all.

[Alan Howe]

Very true.

[John Boyer]

After years of it sitting on the shelf, I finally sat down and listened to it, libretto in hand. Rapturously beautiful music from first note to last, wedded to a libretto that dooms this opera's chances of revival as surely as the eponymous Rhine spirit dooms those who approach her. 

Nice try, though...

[Alan Howe]

It wouldn't be the first opera to be sunk by its libretto. Some of those are staples of the repertoire! ll Trovatore, anyone?

[Mark Thomas]

One of the benefits of listening at home to music for the theatre is that one can ignore the libretto and just concentrate on the music. That's maybe not the most rigorous approach, I accept, but for a first listen to an "new" opera I generally just scan the synopsis and then focus on the music, having only a sketchy impression of the storyline.  Maybe that makes me a philistine...