Mortelmans: De Kinderen der Zee

[mikehopf]

Soirée Opéra: De Kinderen der Zee de Lodewijk Mortelmans sous la direction de Alain Altinoglu au Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles
Enregistré le 17/10/2021 au Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles




Lodewijk Mortelmans - De Kinderen der Zee
drame lyrique sur un livret de Rafael Verhulst

Stella- TINEKE VAN INGELGEM
Geertrui - CHRISTIANNE STOTIJN
Ivo Marien - YVES SAELENS
Petrus - WERNER VAN MECHELEN
Bolten - KURT GYSEN
Frederik- DENZIL DELAERE
Orchestre et choeur symphoniques de la Monnaie
Alain Altinoglu (4 hrs.)

On Belgian Radio Musiq3 tonight.

Judging by the length of the broadcast, it looks like a full performance of this beautiful opera.

[Alan Howe]

Is anyone able to record this, please?

[BerlinExpat]

De Kinderen der Zee isn't "whole" as it was performed without a chorus on account of chorus members testing positive at the last moment.

[Alan Howe]

Still, it'd be good to hear it.

[BerlinExpat]

I'm working on it!

[M. Yaskovsky]

I listened the whole work through; I don't know what others think of it but I'm very disappointed by the singing of the female leads.... pity.

[Mark Thomas]

It's taken me a long time to get around to listening to this. I probably have a tin ear, but the none of the singers' performances disturbed me. Although his debt to Wagner is clear, Mortelmans manages to combine lushly orchestrated lyricism with plenty of musical drama to the detriment of neither. The absence of a chorus (which I can't say I missed) added to the impression that De Kinderen der Zee sounds like a sort of "Ring-lite" without the longueurs which, for me at least, spoil Wagner's works. De Kinderen der Zee, even in this chorus-less form, ranks as one of my most pleasing "discoveries" thus far of 2022. 

[M. Yaskovsky]

I think I expected the same quality of singing that was presented in this recording https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8399857--mortelmans-in-flanders-fields-vol-97-the-children-of-the-sea
But that was made under studio conditions. I found some singing form the live performance under stress but the orchestral performance was/is much to my liking. I really was hoping for a complete recording, because it's one of the only operas in Dutch/Flemish I know. But alas..............

[eschiss1]

The only other one that comes to mind just off the top of my head is from 1938-40 and by Gilse (but there is a complete recording on YouTube.)

There's actually a site "https://www.401nederlandseoperas.nl/" with a parallel section in English, I notice, and which seems at a quick glance to be very interesting. I haven't checked to see what they have to say about the Mortelmans opera, yet.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Alas, Eric, he is not listed there!

[mikehopf]

Maybe it's because he was a Belgian composer.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Ah, quite. I didn't realize that. Thanks.

[eschiss1]

Whoops. I think I focused too hard on operas in Dutch (as to operas in Flemish, I think I know of some but your point is taken.)- Ah! There's a recording of a Benoit oratorio on Youtube; he wrote an opera in Flemish (Het Dorp in 't Gebergte) but I'm not sure..

[mikehopf]

Flemish and Dutch are the same language.

[Alan Howe]

I think they're more like two different dialects, with significant differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.