Chausson's Le roi Arthus

[edurban]

This year's staged opera is Chausson's lush  'Le roi Arthus'.  No cast yet, but the performances are July 24-Aug 2.   Botstein conducts, natch.

[Gareth Vaughan]

How wonderful - what a treat!

[Alan Howe]

The best recording isn't Botstein's, though. It's Armin Jordan's, which is better sung:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chausson-roi-Arthus-Armin-Jordan/dp/B003M4S9PE/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=le+roi+arthus&qid=1581454958&sr=8-1

[Gareth Vaughan]

That is the one I have. I have never heard Botstein's.

[Alan Howe]

The problem chez Botstein is Susan Bullock. Another much-praised, but unlistenable singer. Jordan has the great Teresa Zylis-Gara:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsUphe132pE

[edurban]

Yes, I have the Jordan recording, too.  It's very fine.

[Alan Howe]

Wonder who'll be singing at Bard?
More Zylis-Gara here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeoEzG5grDM

[DK]

This is being staged at Bard College's Summerscape.  Opening night was video-streamed live yesterday, and there will be one replayed stream on Wednesday 28 July (2 pm Eastern; 20h CET).  Tickets to view are $10.
https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/king-arthur/

I watched this live last night and I can see why the opera is rarely performed; it doesn't have the dramatic power of other, more successful works, and it is, I think, weighed down by Chausson's (unsuccessful) deWagnerisation of his music.  But this is as well staged as it might be (by Louisa Proske), and the singing is better than decent, so I do recommend it.

[Alan Howe]

As I said before, do get hold of the recording by Armin Jordan. Avoid Botstein/Telarc whch has some excruciatingly bad singing from soprano Susan Bullock.

[scottevan]

I agree whole-heartedly about the Armin Jordan recording; it was the performance that won me over to this work.

I was also in the audience for the Bard College production. My impression, after the curtain went down, was that most of us felt this *is* a work that deserves more performance. Yes, there were moments that seemed to overstay their welcome -- and just as many arresting moments - best of all, perhaps, the haunting, transcendent finale.

It should also be mentioned that this work was delayed for a full year due to the pandemic. That we could enjoy live opera once more, in the company of fellow music lovers, in a performance space built with the requirements of opera in mind, seemed a triumph in itself.

[semloh]

Alan, just out of interest, how can one account for excruciatingly bad singing from soprano Susan Bullock, given the fact that she is - as you say - much-praised? Her CV is certainly very impressive (https://opera.org.au/artist/susan-bullock/) I don't understand this discrepancy - was she just having a bad day, or does her voice have a particular quality that you don't like?

[jdperdrix]

the haunting, transcendent finale.

Those transcendent moments are really the best part of the opera. An other one is the scene between Arthus and Merlin in the second half of act 2 ("Pommiers verts, pommiers prophétiques,...").
The opera was staged in 2015 at the Opéra de Paris, under Philippe Jordan with, among others, Roberto Alagna as Lancelot, with an unfortunate staging by Graham Vick, and broadcast on Mezzo https://www.mezzo.tv/fr/Op%C3%A9ra/Le-Roi-Arthus-de-Chausson-%C3%A0-l%27Op%C3%A9ra-de-Paris-160.
It does not seem to have been released. I have a copy of the video. It's 2.6 GBytes long... I could post it as multipart rar if anyone is interested.

[Alan Howe]

Alan, just out of interest, how can one account for excruciatingly bad singing from soprano Susan Bullock, given the fact that she is - as you say - much-praised?

Good question. The issue these days is this: in the heavier (e.g.Wagnerian-style) repertoire, with one or two exceptions, we simply don't have singers comparable with those who sang this stuff in the past. So, for example, David Harbin, reviewing Mark Elder's Die Walküre for MusicWeb (featuring Bullock as Brünnhilde) writes this:

<<By 2011 Bullock retains that fresh tone, and her diction is absolutely clear, but there is a worrying vibrato under pressure as the support underpinning her voice evaporates. Bullock's beautiful inward singing at the start of her final confrontation with Wotan shows what might have been if her Brünnhilde had been captured ten years earlier.>> (my emphasis).

This is typical of the problem. So sub-standard singers (especially those whose voices aren't up to the job long-term) are promoted essentially faute de mieux. And, of course, they end up on recordings as well as on stage. How on earth critics miss (or dismiss) this problem, I've no idea, because it's blatantly obvious to the ear. All I can say is that one has to choose one's reviewers carefully - which is why I'm such a fan of Ralph Moore's opera surveys at MusicWeb, because he never ducks the issue:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/Ralph_Moore.htm

And one more thing: I never take singers' promotional material at face value! CVs, by definition, are designed to promote the individual. I've never read one which is totally honest!

Finally, to return to Le roi Arthus, Bullock is up against Teresa Żylis-Gara, one of the great sopranos of the 20th century. They say comparisons are odious and in this case they definitely are! Here's the great Żylis-Gara:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5SHL5GqBMU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsUphe132pE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHQl7H-jxMg (Where is there singing like this today?)

[semloh]

Thank you for that explicit and helpful reply, Alan. I have limited experience of listening to opera, especially featuring the current generation of singers, so I'll explore the links and see if they help me appreciate the differences you describe. 

Apologies for drawing the discussion away from Chausson's music!

[Alan Howe]

Not at all. It all started with Bullock v. Żylis-Gara - an uneven contest if ever there was one.