Korngold Das Wunder der Heliane

[Alan Howe]

It's astonishing when you think about it: on the one hand we have the HIP movement, i.e. the attempt to return to instrumental sounds the composer might have had in mind; and on the other hand we have the Regietheater trend which allows "a director freedom in devising the way a given opera or play is staged so that the creator's original, specific intentions or stage directions (where supplied) can be changed, together with major elements of geographical location, chronological situation, casting and plot." (Wikipedia)

[adriano]

I also remember Gérard Mortier (at that time opera director in Bruxelles) affirming in an interview of some 30 years ago, that within a decado or two, the works of Puccini would disappear from opera houses' programs completely.

[hyperdanny]

With respect to the late Monsieur Mortier...... the 30 years have passed, he himself has come and gone.........but the Puccini operas are more staged than ever.
Sic transit gloria mundi.

[Gareth Vaughan]

And none of us here is surprised, of course. Their qualities are manifest and timeless.

[Alan Howe]

...but increasingly mucked about, alas.

[Alan Howe]

An aside on critics and voices....

As I type, I am listening to BBC Radio 3's Record Review on the new Hallé/Elder recording of Wagner's Siegfried. The reviewer, Andrew McGregor, praised the Brünnhilde, Rachel Nicholls; however, her voice turned out to be shrill, poorly supported and her top notes at the end of the opera were little more than shrieks. Why, therefore, should I believe a word a critic says or writes about singers without checking them out first? Hence my scepticism about Jagde in Heliane when all the evidence (so far) runs counter to the seemingly unanimous chorus of praise for his performance?

I find it incredible that critics can't hear poor singing when they encounter it. Here's what I mean from the Elder Siegfried:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9abjSNYqgQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1FRbIt5Ne8 (Shriekfest at end!)

Compare Anne Evans - not a 'big name', but oh, for such singing today! Especially with Siegfried Jerusalem!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJnDoKOjKLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTimwd23SpM

[Alan Howe]

But I will never forgive him (Kaufmann) for singing Wagner's "Wesendonck-Lieder", whose score clearly indicates "für eine Frauenstimme..."

Adriano: did you know that Lauritz Melchior recorded the last two songs for HMV in 1923? I've forgiven him because I can forgive Melchior virtually anything - even the odd rhythmic oddity!

[Alan Howe]

Anyway, I'm hoping to come to grips with the Berlin Heliane soon-ish. And I'll be delighted if Jagde turns out to be better than all the evidence (so far) suggests.

[adriano]

@Alan
I did not know he recorded those songs. In any case this HMV Discography starts only in 1932
Of course he recorded shellacks
http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/artist/lauritz-melchior

I have no access (so far) to Hans Hansen's Melchior Discography...
He and Max Lorenz really were voice phenomena. Melchior also sang various baritone parts...

There is a "Heliane" item sung by Lotte Lehmann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb4qo4ScItU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVwjurlBVsk

And here is her "Tote Stadt" duet song with Richard Tauber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7f2kOQrPk

[Alan Howe]

Here is Melchior in Schmerzen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdjgmeD8v0I
...and Träume...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNhlTbYFxrM

What a voice! Oh, my! Absolutely even, beautiful, powerful...

[Alan Howe]

..and Lehmann! Again, what a voice; what an artist! Beyond wonderful...

...and Tauber! What artistry.

We just don't have anyone today who can truly compare with these singers in this repertoire. Mind you, Kaufmann and Kleiter make a good job of the Die tote Stadt duet here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBCV5ylGhfI

And Hilde Zadek and Anton Dermota were superb back in 1951:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5c-hYelyhM

...and James King:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA8jXx_Gp3Q

[Alan Howe]

Well, I've started by listening to Act 1 of the Naxos recording - and, oh, for some vocal glamour! Instead, as the work begins, we have the workaday voice of Derek Welton (der Pförtner), unsteady in alt, and the very ordinary Brian Jagde (der Fremde) who, while not as poor as some of his online outings suggest, simply doesn't have the basic vocal allure required and is sorely stretched by some of Korngold's more demanding writing.

Korngold absolutely requires glamorous voices. I can't see the point of so much gorgeous orchestral writing underpinning mediocre singing - nor of recording it for posterity. There are singers out there who can sing this stuff well, but evidently they weren't engaged for this performance in Berlin.

A general observation: most new opera recordings are now DVD releases of live performances as opposed to studio recordings (CD only), presumably on grounds of cost. However, the result is too often mediocrity, certainly as far as the singing is concerned.

Maybe things will improve as I listen further to the new Heliane, but I fear they won't.

[Alan Howe]

... with Act 2 we encounter the utterly unlovely voice of Josef Wagner as The Ruler. Still no vocal glamour in this most glamorous of orchestral scores. Perhaps things will improve with the Heliane of Sara Jakubiak...

[Alan Howe]

...and they do! She is undoubtedly the best singer in a distinctly average cast - although there's still no real comparison with the stars of the past in this music.

No: I'm sorry. For anyone seeking an improvement over Mauceri/Decca, this is no advance at all. It's actually a very ordinary performance of an opera that requires much, much more. Things may have felt different live in the theatre, but this has been put out as a recorded document - and it's, well, just very average. Nothing at all to get excited about, no great vocal performances - bar after bar, in fact, of music unillumined by the sort of advocacy this music so badly needs and simply doesn't get. After all, it's an opera...

If you have Mauceri, you can rest content. This is no better. And to return to Jagde: he gets worse as the opera progresses. He simply doesn't have enough voice...

[Alan Howe]

Should have programmed Renée Fleming years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdbqVUrvmP8

There's vocal glamour for you...