Anton Rubinstein's sacred opera Moses Op112

[jerfilm]

A rare piece.  Thanx Mark

Jerry

[Gareth Vaughan]

I echo those thanks most warmly.

[Martin Eastick]

Most appreciated Mark!

[Christopher]

I would love to hear Paradise Lost, if you can find your recording.  Perhaps Rubinstein was more at home with vocal/choral music and the dramatic structure provided by an opera/oratorio libretto, than with purely orchestral music - and, perhaps especislly, the symphony.

There's a recording available to buy from Premiere Opera - http://premiereopera.net/product/das-verlorene-paradies-by-rubinstein-berlin-1975/ - I bought it a few years ago, though would need to listen to it again before passing comment.

[JeremyMHolmes]

CD announced for September 7th release:

https://www.mdt.co.uk/rubinstein-moses-polish-orchestra-sinfonia-iuventus-michail-jurowski-warner-3cds.html

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, it's quite a bargain. My order is in.

[Alan Howe]

3 CDs for £14.60!!

[Christopher]

Thanks for this Savoir_Faire - my order is also in!

[Alan Howe]

...and my order's now in too.

[Alan Howe]

Excerpts are now available here:
https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8475767--anton-rubinstein-moses

Much declamation; will there be any tunes?

[eschiss1]

A new full pocket score has been issued by Musikproduktion Höflich which could be read through to help answer the question. I have neither this nor any other score, nor does IMSLP, but the score is more accessible than many another score we know of

The vocal score seems to be online - part 1 subpart 1 is @ U. Coburg for example.

[Alan Howe]

Well, my copy arrived this morning and I've settled down to listen to it. And so far my worst fears have been realised. This isn't some great undiscovered masterpiece because Rubinstein just didn't have in him to write one. So for long stretches there's featureless, melody-less singing - perfectly pleasant, but 'perfectly pleasant' isn't good enough for a score of this scale and ambition. And the work is nearly 3 hrs 20 mins long! Oh dear...

...and after 7 tracks of CD1 I've given up (for the moment). I'm off to watch the paint drying on the back door I repainted earlier this morning.

Oh, by the way, the performance sounds committed and well recorded.

[Gareth Vaughan]

That is certainly disappointing.  However, perhaps we should not be surprised. The author of the wikipedia article on Rubinstein writes:
The term 'sacred opera' (geistliche Oper in German) was invented by Rubinstein to denote staged works with "use of polyphonic choruses and a sober, edifying style relying on 'exalted declamation'."

So melody was not of prime importance. However, no matter how talented a composer one might be (and I think we would agree that Rubinstein was not in the first class here) over 3 hours of declamation, no matter how "exalted", is unlikely to sustain the interest of even the most ardent disciple. Perhaps we should look to the "profane" operas, like Feramors or The Merchant Kalashnikov for more truly operatic inspiration.

[Alan Howe]

I turned this afternoon to Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba - a quite different genre, of course, but often derided as second-rate. Well, by comparison that opera sounds like a towering masterpiece. 'Sober' doesn't do justice to the interminable bore that is Rubinstein's Moses.

[Mark Thomas]

My copy awaits when I get home on Monday. I am so looking forward to it now but, as Gareth says, it was always a long shot that it would prove to be a neglected masterpiece.