Saturday, August 31, 2002

[8/31/2012] "We'll live in Paris, together" -- a mystery theme and a mystery duet-fragment (continued)

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It was one of Beverly Sills's fondest (and finest) roles, and 40-plus years later Nicolai Gedda is sounding awfully good -- and so is Julius Rudel's conducting of this long and intricate score.


FIRST, LET'S HEAR THE WHOLE OF THE
PRELUDE TO JULES MASSENET'S MANON


The first performance here, conducted by Julius Rudel, a through-and-through Viennese who had an uncanny affinity for French music of all sorts, is the one we heard excerpted earlier in the post. The other performance isn't bad at all, but I would argue that at every point in just about every way it's just not as good.

MASSENET: Manon: Prelude


New Philharmonia Orchestra, Julius Rudel, cond. ABC-EMI-DG, recorded July 1970

Symphony Orchestra of the Monnaie (Brussels), Antonio Pappano, cond. EMI, recorded Apr.-May 1999


NOW WE COME TO OUR DUET-FRAGMENT WITH
THE ONLY-JUST-MET MANON AND DES GRIEUX


MASSENET: Manon: Act I, Scene, des Grieux and Manon, "Nous vivrons à Paris, tous les deux!" ("We'll live in Paris, together!")
DES GRIEUX: We'll live in Paris . . .
MANON: Together!
DES GRIEUX: . . . together, and our loving hearts . . .
MANON: In Paris!
DES GRIEUX: . . . bound to one another . . .
MANON: In Paris!
DES GRIEUX: . . . for ever reunited . . .
MANON [together]: We'll have only blessed days!
DES GRIEUX [together]: . . . there we'll live only blessed days!
TOGETHER: In Paris! In Paris, together!
We'll live in Paris! Together!
DES GRIEUX [approaching MANON tenderly; soulfully]: And my name will become yours!
[then coming back to himself; half-spoken] Ah, pardon!
MANON: In my eyes you must see well
that I am not angry with you.
And yet, it's wrong!
DES GRIEUX: Come! We'll live in Paris . . .
MANON: Together! &c.

[A] Nicolai Gedda (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Beverly Sills (s), Manon; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Julius Rudel, cond. ABC-EMI-DG, recorded July 1970

[B] Roberto Alagna (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Angela Gheorghiu (s), Manon; Symphony Orchestra of the Monnaie (Brussels), Antonio Pappano, cond. EMI, recorded Apr.-May 1999

[C] Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Licia Albanese (s), Manon; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Dec. 15, 1951

[D] Cesare Valletti (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Victoria de los Angeles (s), Manon; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Live performance, Dec. 18, 1954


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

Yes, we're going to be poking around Manon. It's not entirely impossible that we might sidestep into Puccini's parallel opera, Manon Lescaut.


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Tuesday, August 27, 2002

[8/27/2012] Urban Gadabout: WaHi Tours, September-October

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Tour Leader: James Renner
Telephone: 212-795-7830 Mobile: 917-533-3252
Email: JR6751@aol.com

AUTUMN 2012 SCHEDULED WALKING TOURS

Washington Heights and Inwood (WAHI) are communities that have, over the years, gained recognition in massive demographic changes. People from other parts of the city are visiting and moving here because of its affordable housing and beautiful parks. These tours will demonstrate to the resident and visitor alike how upper Manhattan has changed and adapted to suit the needs of its new inhabitants and tourists.

MARBLE HILL is the landlocked part of Manhattan to the Bronx that had been separated from Manhattan (Inwood) when the Harlem River was re-routed and dredged for improved ship navigation around Manhattan. The community has homes dating back to the 1870’s for those who are interested in architecture known as “Painted Ladies.” There are Dutch and English colonial sites and military sites from the American Revolution (Fort Prince Charles) within the community that will fascinate those interested in history.

DATE: Sunday September 2, 2012
TIME: 12:00 NOON
MEET: 225th Street and Broadway in front of Chase Bank

TUBBY HOOK (Dyckman Street, Riverside Drive and Broadway) is a community that is coming of age. It started as a fishing village nestled in the valley situated between Fort Tryon Park and Inwood Hill Park in 1819. During the American Revolution it was used as a transfer point for information between both parks in which the American army had fortifications. It was also known for its railroad and ferry service along and across the Hudson River. The Riverside-Inwood Neighborhood Garden is a beautiful oasis that is the centerpiece of the area.

DATE: Sunday September 9, 2012
TIME: 12:00 NOON
MEET: Northwest corner of Dyckman Street and Broadway

FORT GEORGE (190th to 193rd Amsterdam and Audubon Avenues) was named for the Revolutionary fort and the amusement park which overlooked the Harlem River. It is also home to two educational facilities (George Washington High School and Yeshiva University) and the Isabella Geriatric Center.

DATE: Sunday September 23, 2012
TIME: 12:00 NOON
MEET: Northeast corner of 190th Street and Audubon Avenue

SHERMAN CREEK was named for a working class family that occupied a fisherman’s shack in what is now Inwood in 1807. The family lived in the community for almost a century. During the American Revolution a ferry operated from Sherman Creek to the Bronx. The area was also home to the Dyckman Oval where the Negro Baseball League team the New York Cubans had played until the 1940’s when the ballfield was razed for the Dyckman Houses, an urban renewal project. The Dyckman Houses was home to basketball great Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

DATE: Sunday September 30, 2012
TIME: 12:00 NOON
MEET: Entrance of IRT #1 Dyckman Street Station

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER (165th to 168th Broadway to Haven Avenue) is one of New York City’s major hospitals and medical educational facilities. The tour of the complex will provide an opportunity to see and understand the center and how it operates in conjunction with the community. As a part of the tour several of the surrounding historical sites such as the Audubon Ballroom will be pointed out and their contributions to the neighborhood will be highlighted.

DATE: Sunday October 14, 2012
TIME: 12:00 NOON
MEET: Southwest corner of 168th Street and Broadway

FORT WASHINGTON-HUDSON HEIGHTS TOUR combines local history and real estate. The Battle of Fort Washington will be discussed at Bennett Park on Fort Washington Avenue and 184th Street where the last major battle of New York City was fought during the American Revolution. Hudson Heights is a real estate term used today by local realty companies to promote the neighborhood. Afterwards, other sites will include the estates of James Gordon Bennett, Dr. Charles Paterno, Lucius Chittenden, Augustus C. Richards and C.K.G. Billings will be visited and discussed. The Shrine of Mother Francesca Xavier Cabrini will also be visited as well.

DATE: Sunday October 21, 2012
TIME: 12:00 NOON
MEET: 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue, northwest corner

The costs of tours is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. No reservations necessary.


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Monday, August 26, 2002

[8/26/2012] When Haydn met London (and vice versa), neither was ever the same again (continued)

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HAYDN: The Creation, Part I:
Raphael (bass), "Im Anfange schuf Gott Himmel und Erede"
("In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth")

bass Kurt Moll

RAPHAEL: In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.
And the Earth was without form, and void.
And darkness was upon the face of the deep.
CHORUS: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said: "Let there be light!" And then there was light.
[Orchestral outburst (in C major) on the word "light"]
URIEL: And God saw the light, that it was good.
And God divided the light from the darkness.

Kurt Moll (bs), Raphael; Thomas Moser (t), Uriel; Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, cond. DG, recorded live, June 1986

[in English] David Thomas (bs), Raphael; Philip Langridge (t), Uriel; CBSO Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1990

For years, as a classical-music video skeptic, I had two recordings I thought I would talk about if I had a chance to write about videos that actually add something to the musical experience: the Bernstein-Bavarian Radio Creation (recorded at the same performances as this audio version), and Claudio Abbado's recording of the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto, to see the soloist in what I can only describe as a state of musical grace -- despite Riccardo Muti's ham-handed accompaniment.

And it's at this point that I wish I could offer you the video version of the Bernstein Creation. Not that there's anything "dramatic" going on. What we see is Kurt Moll preparing to sing the first sung words in the piece -- Haydn's setting of lines that happen to be among the best-known in the realm of mankind, and then singing them so astonishingly beautifully and purposefully, and then giving way to the chorus, and then Lenny bringing the orchestra crashing in to depict the advent of light.

I thought it might also be nice to hear this in English, as it's often performed in the English-speaking world (and as Haydn would have expected it to be performed in the English-speaking world -- and remember that it was his direct encounter with the world of English oratorio that planted the seed for the creation of The Creation, and then The Seasons) and has been recorded a number of times. Unfortunately the only version I could find among my CD holdings was this one. Oh well, it should make us appreciate Kurt Moll that much more, and Lenny B too.


NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED SYMPHONY

FIRST, HERE ARE MAESTRO TINTNER'S COMMENTS
ON THE DRUM ROLL SYMPHONY'S FOUR MOVEMENTS



Now we're going to hear those movements, in performances chosen to present each in different ways. (I'll leave it to you to discover how.)

HAYDN: Symphony No. 103 in E-flat (Drum Roll)

i. Adagio; Allegro con spirito
MAESTRO TINTNER: This particular symphony is particularly original. After that famous drum roll, the lower instruments -- the cellos, basses, and bassoons -- play a rather solemn tune, but in a way that has never been done before. Usually the cellos and basses play an octave apart, but in this particular case they play the same notes, and that gives the sound a certain density that has never been heard before. This tune appears in the middle of the movement, in a very fast tempo, so one has to listen very carefully to recognize it, and near the end of the movement again, like at the beginning.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, cond. EMI, recorded 1958-59

Symphony Nova Scotia, Georg Tintner, cond. Broadcast performance, Apr. 20, 1988

ii. Andante più tosto allegretto
MAESTRO TINTNER: The second movement is a set of variations, and the most original thing about it is that the theme of the variations is in the minor mode, but every second [section] is in the major mode. So the theme is minor, the first variation is major; the second variation is minor; and so on. I daresay that Gustav Mahler was particularly fond of this movement, because his own works show influences of that kind.

Dresden Philharmonic, Günther Herbig, cond. Deutsche Schallplatten/Edel, recorded c1976

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded October 1971

iii. Menuet
MAESTRO TINTNER: The third movement, with its Hungarian rhythms and echo effects and very bold modulations, is also unique, even in his output. And there is a sort of waving trio about it.

New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Feb. 10, 1970

New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, cond. BMG, recorded 1994

iv. Finale: Allegro con spirito
MAESTRO TINTNER: The last movement is full of happiness and good humor.

Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded 1963

Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Adám Fischer, cond. Nimbus, recorded 1987

original version of the Finale, with alternative ending
H. C. ROBBINS LANDON, the great Haydn scholar, wrote in the notes for the Dorati-Decca recording of the original version of the Finale: Haydn was a rigorous self-critic, and many are the beautiful pages of music which he ruthlessly removed from his scores. Of all these cuts, one of the saddest was made in the final pages of Symphony No. 103. After the terrific tension generated by the monothematic fanaticism of this great finale, Haydn introduced a great Falstaffian touch: a modulation to C-flat marked pianissimo and preceded by two whole bars of rests. It is as funny, and as touching, as Verdi's treatment of the fat knight. But Haydn thought that the movement was now too long, and he crossed out the whole section. Perhaps, if we may be so bold as to suggest it, Haydn was for once in his life too ruthless here. This original version is here recorded for the first time.

Philharmonia Hungarica, Antal Dorati, cond. Decca, recorded 1971-72


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Monday, August 19, 2002

[8/19/2012] Simon and Maria Boccanegra -- no longer alone in an unkind world (continued)

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Alas, as this sneak peak at the end of the opera shows, the Boccanegras don't live happily ever after. (That's Anja Harteros with Plácido Domingo -- jeez, you'd think nobody else had ever sung the title role.)


LET'S PRESS JUST A BIT FURTHER INTO THE BOCCANEGRA-AMELIA SCENE

Act I, Scene 1, Boccanegra, "Figlia il cor ti chiama" . . . "Figlia a tal nome io palpito" . . . Maria, "Padre! vedrai la vigile"

Note: I apologize for the abrupt cutoff of the version of Boccanegra's "Figlia a tal nome io palpito" in the clip we heard at the top of this post. It was an ugly but necessary compromise, since the final syllable of his utterance is overlapped by the first syllable of Maria's reply, as we'll hear now. We pick up just before "Figlia a tal nome."
SIMON B: Daughter my heart calls you!
MARIA B: Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON B: Daughter! At the name I tremble
as if Heaven had opened up to me.
You reveal to me
a world of unspeakable joy;
your loving father will create
for you a paradise;
the luster of my crown
will be your glory.
MARIA B: Father, you shall see
your watchful daugher
always near you;
I will wipe away your tears.
We shall taste undiscovered joys,
known only to heave;
I will be the dove of peace
at your royal palace.

Anselmo Colzani (b), Simon Boccanegra; Renata Tebaldi (s), Maria Boccanegra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Jan. 30, 1965


OOPS, WE'VE VIOLATED ONE OF OUR BASIC RULES.
WE HAVEN'T HEARD HOW THE OPERA STARTS


And I think we should correct this deficit before proceeding. Here's the muted, somber, almost hypnotic little orchestral prelude with which Verdi has the revised version of Simon Boccanegra open, with its newly created Prologue.

VERDI: Simon Boccanegra: Prelude


Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded December 1988


BEFORE WE HEAR THE FULL BOCCANEGRA-AMELIA SCENE,
WE'RE GOING TO BACK UP TO AN EARLY POINT IN IT


We're not going to break down the whole scene, as we've done with other scenes we looked at, including the Elektra Recognition Scene. But I do want to spotlight a chunk from near the start.

When we get to the full scene, you'll notice that the Doge's tone in approaching Amelia isn't wildly sympathetic. His timing in pressing his unspeakable underling Paolo's suit isn't great, since as mentioned, Amelia has just committed herself to marrying the dashing young Patrician Gabriele Adorno. Does she know that the Doge has come calling in order to strong-arm her into marrying Paolo? Before the Doge brings him up, she does, branding him a miscreant. When the Doge expresses a measure of sympathy interest in her, she seizes the opportunity to share a secret.

Amelia, "Non son una Grimaldi" . . . "Orfanella il tetto umile"
"AMELIA": I am not a Grimaldi.
BOCCANEGRA: Heavens! You are?
"AMELIA": The lovely roof of a poor woman
sheltered me as an orphan,
where Pisa rises
near the sea --
BOCCANEGRA: In Pisa, you?
"AMELIA": That good woman, heavy with years,
was my only support;
I tempted Heaven's wrath,
and she was taken from me.
With a trembling hand
she gave me a painted miniature
and said it was the likeness
of the mother I had never known.
She kissed me and blessed me,
and raised her eyes to Heaven in prayer.
To all my cries to her,
echo alone gave answer.
BOCCANEGRA [to himself]: Merciful heaven, if the hope
which now smiles upon my soul
be a dream, let me die
if that delusion should vanish.
"AMELIA": How dark a future loomed up
before me in my grief!

Renata Tebaldi (s), "Amelia Grimaldi"; Anselmo Colzani (b), Simon Boccanegra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Jan. 30, 1965

Leyla Gencer (s), "Amelia Grimaldi"; Tito Gobbi (b), Simon Boccanegra; Vienna Philharmonic, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 9, 1961


OKAY, WE HAVE ONE MORE LOOSE END STILL
DANGLING: ABOUT THAT FINAL "FIGLIA!"


Baritone 1 has less trouble than you might expect with the high F, but then kind of crash-lands (it's a live performance, remember) on the low one. Baritone 2 has the more expectable opposite problem: He apparently can't do a soft high F but manages the easier low one quite nicely. What we're looking for, I think, is something more along the lines of baritones 3 (a bass-baritone, you'll note) and 4.


(1) Tito Gobbi (Salzburg Festival, 1961; Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond.)
(2) Leo Nucci (Decca recording, 1988; Sir Georg Solti, cond.)
(3) José van Dam (Marseille, 1993, Lyrinx; Michelangelo Veltri, cond.)
(4) Anselmo Colzani (Metropolitan Opera, 1965; Fausto Cleva, cond.)


NOW, FINALLY, WE'RE GOING TO HEAR THE COMPLETE SCENE

The translation, by the way, is mostly Lionel Salter's, for the Abbado-DG recording.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA, the Plebeian doge of Genoa, has come calling on the young woman, ward of a Patrician family who is known as AMELIA GRIMALDI, who has just affianced herself to a doughty young Patrician, to persuade her to marry his loathsome henchman PAOLO ALBIANI.

SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Is the Doge addressing Amelia Grimaldi?
"AMELIA GRIMALDI": That's what I'm called.
BOCCANEGRA: And desire for their country
does not haunt your exiled brothers?
"AMELIA": Indeed . . . but . . .
BOCCANEGRA: I understand.
The Grimaldis disdain to bow to me.
This is how the Doge answers such pride.
[Hands her a paper.]
"AMELIA" [reading it]: What do I see? Their pardon?
BOCCANEGRA: The gift of clemency is due to you.
Tell me, why do you hide such beauty
in this seclusion?
Do you never pine for
the glittering attractions of the world?
Your blushes answer me . . .
"AMELIA": You are wrong. I am happy.
BOCCANEGRA: At your age, love --
"AMELIA": Ah, you have read my heart!
I love a pure soul
who ardently returns my love;
but a miscreant who desires me
hankers after the Grimaldis' wealth.
BOCCANEGRA: Paolo!
"AMELIA": You have named the villain. And since
you show such concern for my future,
I will tell you the secret which cloaks me:
I am not a Grimaldi.
BOCCANEGRA: Heavens! You are?
"AMELIA": The lovely roof of a poor woman
sheltered me as an orphan,
where Pisa rises
near the sea --
BOCCANEGRA: In Pisa, you?
"AMELIA": That good woman, heavy with years,
was my only support;
I tempted Heaven's wrath,
and she was taken from me.
With a trembling hand
she gave me a painted miniature
and said it was the likeness
of the mother I had never known.
She kissed me and blessed me,
and raised her eyes to Heaven in prayer.
To all my cries to her,
echo alone gave answer.
BOCCANEGRA [to himself]: Merciful heaven, if the hope
which now smiles upon my soul
be a dream, let me die
if that delusion should vanish.
"AMELIA": How dark a future loomed up
before me in my grief!
BOCCANEGRA: Tell me, did you see no one there?
"AMELIA": A seaman used to visit us.
BOCCANEGRA: And Giovanna was the name
of the woman fate snatched from you?
"AMELIA": Yes.
BOCCANEGRA [draws from his breast a locket and hands it to AMELIA, who does likewise]: And was the portrait not like this?
"AMELIA": They are the same.
BOCCANEGRA: Maria!
"AMELIA": My name!
BOCCANEGRA: You are my daughter!
"AMELIA": I?
BOCCANEGRA: Embrace me, o my daughter!
MARIA BOCCANEGRA: Father! Ah! Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON BOCCANEGRA [simultaneously]: Ah! daughter my heart calls you!
[Orchestral outburst]
SIMON B: Daughter, daughter my heart calls you!
MARIA B: Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON B: Daughter! At the name I tremble
as if Heaven had opened up to me.
You reveal to me
a world of unspeakable joy;
your loving father will create
for you a paradise;
the luster of my crown
will be your glory.
MARIA B: Father, you shall see
your watchful daugher
always near you;
I will wipe away your tears.
We shall taste undiscovered joys,
known only to heave;
I will be the dove of peace
at your royal palace.
[MARIA, accompanied by her father all the way to the threshold, enters the palace. SIMON contemplates her ecstatically as she disappears.]
SIMON B [and he says one last time]: Daughter!

Tito Gobbi (b), Simon Boccanegra; Leyla Gencer (s), Maria Boccanegra; Vienna Philharmonic, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 9, 1961

Anselmo Colzani (b), Simon Boccanegra; Renata Tebaldi (s), Maria Boccanegra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Jan. 30, 1965

Leo Nucci (b), Simon Boccanegra; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Maria Boccanegra; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded December 1988

José van Dam (bs-b), Simon Boccanegra; Daniela Longhi (s); Orchestra of the Opéra de Marseille, Michelangelo Veltri, cond. Lyrinx, recorded live, January 1993


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Monday, August 12, 2002

[8/12/2012] In "Elektra," a "recognition" scene in which neither party actually recognizes the other (continued)

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A celebrated partnership: Birgit Nilsson as
Elektra and Leonie Rysanek as Chrysothemis


CHRYSOTHEMIS IS A TERRIBLY DIFFICULT ROLE, AND
IT'S OFTEN CAST -- OUT OF NECESSITY -- TOO LIGHTLY


The role really demands the vocal weight of a full-fledged dramatic soprano, and such singers are generally in such limited supply that they often feel they might as well go all the way and attempt Elektra Before we move on, then. I thought we would pay a tribute of sorts to one anomalous case: Leonie Rysanek.

Rysanek actually made a career specialty of Chrysothemis, a role to which she was perfectly suited. Throughout her career she was asked frequently by impresarios and conductors to sing Elektra but only relented for the film directed by Götz Friedrich, with a studio-recorded soundtrack conducted by her longtime cohort Karl Böhm. About a million live versions of her Chrysothemis have been issued. I thought we would hear her in this chunk with the ranking Elektras of the 1950s through 1970s. (It's important to bear in mind that for all her voice's size and potential beauty, it had built-in structural problems that sometimes intruded minimally and sometimes took over the voice.)

By way of dramatic context: At this point Elektra has just been through a bruising confrontation with her mother -- bruising mostly to Klytämnestra, who for all her brutality toward Elektra would desperately love some sort of kindly contact, or why would she admit to her daughter, "I have no good nights"? The scene was interrupted by the arrival of news from the outside world which has the startling effect of lighting the queen up with joy. Elektra is left unable to imagine what her mother has been told. She's about to find out.

Chrysothemis, "Orest! Orest ist tot!" ("Orest! Orest is dead!")
[CHRYSOTHEMIS rushes in through the courtyard gate, howling loudly like a wounded animal.]
CHYRSOTHEMIS: Orest! Orest is dead!
ELEKTRA: Be quiet!
CHYRSOTHEMIS: Orest is dead!
I came out -- they knew it there already. They were all
standing around and they all knew it already.
Only we didn't.
ELEKTRA: No one knows it.
CHYRSOTHEMIS: They all knew it!
ELEKTRA: No one can know it, for it is not true.
It is not true! It is not true! I tell you, however,
it is not true!
CHYRSOTHEMIS: The strangers stood by the wall. The strangers
who were sent here to announce it: two --
an old one and a young one. They had
already told everyone. They were all standing
in a circle around them and they all,
all knew it already.
ELEKTRA: It is not true!
CHYRSOTHEMIS: No one thinks of us. Dead! Elektra, dead!
Died in a foreign land! Dead!
Died there in a foreign land,
by his own horses killed and dragged along.
[She sinks down on the doorstep beside ELEKTRA. A YOUNG SERVING MAN hurries out of the house and stumbles over the sisters.]

Leonie Rysanek (s), Chrysothemis; Astrid Varnay (s), Elektra; Cologne Radio Orchestra, Richard Kraus, cond. Broadcast performance, 1953

Leonie Rysanek (s), Chrysothemis; Christl Goltz (s), Elektra; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. Live performance, Aug. 26, 1955

Leonie Rysanek (s), Chrysothemis; Inge Borkh (s), Elektra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Joseph Rosenstock, cond. Live performance, Mar. 25, 1961

Leonie Rysanek (s), Chrysothemis; Birgit Nilsson (s), Elektra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. Live performance, Dec. 10, 1966


WE KNOW A BIT ABOUT ELEKTRA'S STAKES IN
THE REUNION SCENE. WHAT ABOUT OREST'S?


I think it's only natural, humanly speaking, when we've been through a really grueling ordeal, to carry a nice fat chip on our shoulder, a chip that says to one and all, "You see what I have suffered? You see?" Which is, I think, part of his mindset when he finally slips back to Mycenae following his unimaginably horrendous exile, which Aeschylus after all needed not one or two but three plays to document, the trilogy we know as the Oresteia.

I think the scene itself will make clear what Orest thinks he is doing at this moment, while he waits (as he insists so emphatically, "I must wait here") to be summoned to the palace. But life is full of surprises, and the poor boy is about to get a shocker.

I think we could forgive Orest if, upon his interminably delayed and necessarily super-secret return, he's enjoying the feeling of superiority that comes from knowing he has suffered about as much as any human in history ever suffered. While he waits, though, he encounters a hideous, disgusting creature, and when he finally figures out who she is -- actually he never does figure it out; she has to tell him, and he still doesn't believe it -- he's going to realize that his suffering has been, by comparison, a walk in the park.


ONE LAST THING BEFORE WE BEGIN MAKING
OUR WAY THROUGH THE RECOGNITION SCENE . . .


I thought it would be useful to once again have the crucial moment of recognition in our heads. And extraordinary as they are, what's most extraordinary here isn't the harmonically out-on-the-fringes outburst that depicts the extreme disorder of poor Elektra's mind or the astonishing beauty of the safely tonal murmurs of "Orest!," but the orchestral transition from the one to the other, bringing us to the closest thing we will ever witness Elektra having to a moment of mental peace.
ELEKTRA [struck by the STRANGER's tone]: Who then are you?
[The gloomy old servant, followed by three other servants, rushes in silently from the courtyard, prostrates himself before THE STRANGER, kisses his feet, the others his hands and the hem of his garment.]
ELEKTRA [almost beside herself]: Who are you then? I am frightened.
THE STRANGER [gently]: The dogs in the courtyard recognize me,
[more intense] but my sister -- not!
ELEKTRA [crying out suddenly]: Orest!
[Orchestral outburst]
ELEKTRA [very softly, trembling]: Orest! Orest! Orest!

Alessandra Marc (s), Elektra; Samuel Ramey (bs), Orest; Vienna Philharmonic, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. DG, recorded September 1995

Birgit Nilsson (s), Elektra; Tom Krause (b), Orest; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1966-67


OK, LET'S GET TO IT . . .

Paul Schoeffler (1897-1977), seen here as Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio (from the 1955 reopening of the Vienna State Opera, finally rebuilt after being something like half destroyed in Allied bombing during World War II), was a celebrated Orest. Below, we hear him in the complete Recognition Scene.

I'm going to simply accept the track divisions of this CD issue of the recording of the complete Recognition Scene which was included on the Eurodisc (later RCA) LP of Strauss scenes that Christa Ludwig recorded in either 1963 or 1964 with her then-husband, bass-baritone Walter Berry. (As I recall she did the duo LP one of those years and a solo LP, with repertory including Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene and Ariadne's great monologue, the other.) There's nothing especially logical about these divisions. The CD editor just thought people might want to be able to arrive directly at these particular moments.

Ludwig sensibly never did sing Elektra; she always had in her mind that this was the role that her mother -- who was, like her, a mezzo with certain latent dramatic-soprano potentialities -- had been lured into singing, by none other than the young Herbert von Karajan, with disastrous results for her voice. Luckily, though, we have this complete Recognition Scene, handsomely sung by both Ludwig and Berry, and surprisingly alertly conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser, a conductor of whom I didn't often think fond thoughts.

A couple of notes about the English texts below. (1) You'll see that I have basically stuck to the German forms of the Greek names, in the interest of sanity. (2) Although Hofmannsthal and Strauss made no attempt to conceal the identity of the mysterious messenger who turns out to be Orest -- and after all, the audience's program will have identified the character as "Orest" -- I have designated him as "the Stranger" for as long as that's who he is to Elektra, out of respect for her. (3) Though I've tinkered with it, the translation is generally the pretty good one circulated by the publishers, Adolf Fürstner and Boosey & Hawkes, eventually credited to G. M. Holland and K. Chalmers.


(1) Elektra, "Was willst du, fremder Mensch?"
("What do you want, stranger?")

Having finally accepted the reality of the death of Orest, Elektra has tried to persuade, indeed seduce her sister into partnering with her to accomplish the death of their mother and her lover, but Chrysothemis would have none of it, earning a curse from Elektra and the stark line "Nun denn, allein!" ("Now then, alone!"). Her first task is to dig up the axe she has hidden away -- the one used by the murderers to do Agamemnon in, which she has carefully saved for use when Orest would return.

Throughout the scene what's fascinating is each of the siblings' degree of awareness of the other's identity, and in Orest's case the role he's trying to play -- of messenger bearing news to his mother of his own death; just listen to the myth-of-the-ages tone Strauss conjures for his simple line "I must wait here."
[ELEKTRA begins to dig by the wall of the house, silently, like an animal, looking round from time to time. As THE STRANGER appears in the gateway, ELEKTRA springs up hastily.]
ELEKTRA: What do you want, stranger? Why are you
wandering round in the dark, watching
what others are doing?
I have business here. What is it to do with you?
Leave me in peace.
THE STRANGER: I must wait here.
ELEKTRA: Wait?
THE STRANGER: But you must
belong to the household? You are one of the maids
of this house?

Christa Ludwig (s), Elektra; Walter Berry (bs-b), Orest; Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Heinrich Hollreiser, cond. Eurodisc/BMG/Tessitura, recorded c1964


(2) Elektra, "Ja, ich diene hier im Haus"
("Yes, I serve here in the house")

The Stranger tries to sticks to his role (note the strange majesty of that line "bei Tag und Nacht," "by day and night"), and Elektra to hers.
ELEKTRA: Yes, I serve here in the house.
But there's nothing here that concerns you.
be content and go.
STRANGER: I told you, I must wait here
until they call me.
ELEKTRA: Them inside there?
You lie. I know full well that the master is not home.
And she, what would she have to do with you?
THE STRANGER: I and another man
who is with me, we have a message
for the lady.
We were sent to her
because we can bear witness, that her son
Orest died before our eyes.
For he was killed by his own horses.
I was as old as he was, and his companion
by day and night.
ELEKTRA: Must I still see you?
Must you come creeping
into my sad corner,
you herald of misfortune? Can you not
blare out your message in there, where it will please them?
Your eyes stare at him, and his are moldering away.
Your mouth opens and shuts, and his
is stopped up with earth.
You are alive and he, who was better than you,
and nobler, and it was a thousand times more important
that he should live, he is dead.
THE STRANGER: Leave Orest be. He enjoyed himself
too much in his lifetime. The gods above
do not tolerate too loud a noise
of merriment. So he had to die.
ELEKTRA: But I! but I! To lie there and
to know, that the child will never come again,
never come again,
that the child abides down there
in the abyss of horror, that those inside her
are alive and enjoying themselves,
that this foul brood in its lair lives
and eats and drinks and sleeps,
while I -- in loneliness and horror such as not even
the beast of the forest knows -- I am here alone.



(3) Orest, "Wer bist denn du?"
("Who then are you?")

Finally it has penetrated to the Stranger that what's coming out of the mouth of this hideous-looking creature doesn't fit her appearance. Note that he never does "figure out" who she is; she has to tell him, and even then he doesn't seem to believe it.

From this point, however, events move swiftly. Orest has the sudden realization I referred to that, however much he has suffered, it's hardly anything to what Elektra has endured. But now he is forced with the necessity of forcing her to listen to him, and finally he has to give up the one secret that, for the sake of his own safety, he has been keeping locked inside him. And note here that he refers to himself not as "Orest" but as "Orestes."

Why? Clearly because the dramatic situation requires it. Everywhere else Strauss has enjoyed the luxury of setting the name as the simpler two-syllable "Orest." But here, in order to create the starkly simple four-syllable, double-iamb line "Orestes lebt" ("Orestes lives"), he needs the extra syllable.
THE STRANGER: Who then are you?
ELEKTRA: What does it matter to you
who I am?
THE STRANGER: You must be of kindred blood to the two
who died, Agamemnon and Orest.
ELEKTRA: Kindred? I am that blood! I am the shamefully
outpoured blood of King Agamemnon!
Elektra is my name!
THE STRANGER: No!
ELEKTRA: He denies it!
He huffs me and takes away my name!
THE STRANGER: Elektra!
ELEKTRA: Because I have no father . . .
THE STRANGER: Elektra!
ELEKTRA: . . . nor brother, I am a laughingstock for boys!
THE STRANGER: Elektra! Elektra!
Do I behold you? Do I really see you? You?
Have they let you starve,
have they beaten you?
ELEKTRA: Never mind my dress, do not stare at it so.
THE STRANGER: With what horrors have they filled your nights?
Your eyes like ghastly.
ELEKTRA: Let me be!
THE STRANGER: Your cheeks are hollow!
ELEKTRA: Go into the house.
In there I have a sister, who is saving herself up
for festivities!
THE STRANGER: Elektra, hear me!
ELEKTRA: I do not want to know who you are.
I want to see no one.
THE STRANGER: Listen to me, I have no time.
Listen: Orestes lives.
[ELEKTRA turns around quickly.]
If you move, you betray him.
ELEKTRA: So is he free? Where is he?
THE STRANGER: He is safe and sound,
like me.
ELEKTRA: So then save him, before they
kill him.
THE STRANGER: By my father's body, I came here for that!
ELEKTRA [struck by the STRANGER's tone]: Who then are you?



(4) Elektra, "Wer bist du denn?"
("Who are you then?")

This is more or less where we came in in Friday night's preview. (Actually we picked up just a bit earlier, at Elektra's "Who then are you" at the end of the previous track.) Now, however, we allow Elektra to continue on beyond those initial three "Orest"s, and here is one place where it's especially nice to have as beautiful -- if uncharacteristically un-Elektra-ish -- a voice as Christa Ludwig's.

It's worth noting that at this point Strauss asked Hofmannsthal to add some lines to his original play text, which would give him a chance to dramatize Elektra's state of mind. He assured the wordsmith that the lines would be throwaways, which would hardly be noticed -- it was the effect he was after. Whether he was kidding Hofmannsthal, or himself, or he just changed his mind (maybe even in response to the quality of what Hofmannsthal provided him), this chunk of text is hardly thrown away.
[The gloomy old servant, followed by three other servants, rushes in silently from the courtyard, prostrates himself before the STRANGER, kisses his feet, the others his hands and the hem of his garment.]
ELEKTRA [almost beside herself]: Who are you then? I am frightened.
STRANGER [gently]: The dogs in the courtyard recognize me,
[more intense] but my sister -- not!
ELEKTRA [crying out suddenly]: Orest!
[Orchestral outburst]
ELEKTRA [very softly, trembling]: Orest! Orest! Orest!
No one is stirring! Oh let your eyes
gaze at me, dream-phantom, a vision which
has been granted me, fairer than any dream!
Sublime, ineffable, noble countenance,
oh stay with me, do not melt
into air, do not vanish from my sight.
Even if now I have to die,
and you have revealed yourself to me
and come to fetch me, then I wll die
happier than I have lived! Orest! Orest! Orest!
[As OREST comes to embrace her]
No, you must not embrace me!
Go away, I am ashamed in your sight. I do not know
how I must appear to you.
I am only the corpse of your sister,
my poor child! I know
you are horrified
at the sight of me, and et I was a king's daughter!
I think I was beautiful: When I blew out
the lamp before my mirror, I felt it with innocent awe
when the thin rays of the moon
bathed in my body's white nakedness
as in a pool, and my hair
was such that it made men tremble --
this hair, disheveled, dirty, degraded.
Do you understand, brother? I have had
to sacrifice all that I was. I have
sacrificed my modesty, the modesty that is sweet
above all things, the modesty that like the milky,
silvery vapor of the moon surrounds
every woman and keeps away horrible things
from her body and her soul. Do you understand, brother?
These precious feelings I have had to sacrifice
to our father. Do you think,
when I rejoiced in my body,
that his sighs and groans
did not penetrated to my bedside?
The dead
are jealous; and he sent me hate,
hollow-eyed hate as a bridegroom.
So I became a prophetess evermore,
and have brought forth nothing out of myself
and my body except curses and despair!
Why do you look round so anxiously? Speak to me!
Speak! But your whole body is trembling?
OREST: Let it tremble! It senses
the path along which I shall lead it.



(5) Elektra, "Du wirst es tun? Allein?"
("You'll do it then? Alone?")

Now Strauss can build the rest of the scene to its amazing climax. In Elektra's long peroration I think we have a pretty good clue that the peace of mind we witnessed briefly a moment ago is just a brief respite, that the long years of abuse have take to high a toll and that she's not going to come back from it.

Apologies for that tacky concert ending tacked on at the end. Eventually down below we're going to hear a performance that continues on the way the opera does, or would if we allowed it to here.
ELEKTRA: You'll do it then? Alone? You poor child?
[From here there's much overlapping of text.]
OREST: They who imposed this task on me,
the gods, they will be there to help me.
ELEKTRA: You will do it!
Happy is he who will perform the deed!
OREST: I will do it. I will do it speedily!
ELEKTRA: The deed is like a bed, on which the soul reposes,
like a bed of balsam on which the soul can rest,
when it is like a wound, a firebrand,
an ulcer, a flame!
OREST: I shall do it!
ELEKTRA: Happy is the one who comes to do the deed,'
happy is the one who yearns for him,
happy the one who beholds him.
Happy is the one who knows him,
happy the one who touches him.
Happyis the one who digs up the axe for him,
happy the one who holds the torch for him.
Happy, happy is the one who opens the door to him!



FINALLY, LET'S LISTEN TO THE
COMPLETE RECOGNITION SCENE



Inge Borkh (s), Elektra; Paul Schoeffler (bs-b), Orest; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 14-16, 1956

Astrid Varnay (s), Elektra; Hans Hotter (bs-b), Orest; Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, Richard Kraus, cond. Broadcast performance, 1953


UPDATE: NEXT WEEK IN SUNDAY CLASSICS

Simon Boccanegra has its turn -- preview and main post.


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Saturday, August 10, 2002

[8/10/2012] Preview: Together again, and all's right with the world -- more or less (continued)

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Sister and brother reunited: Susan Bullock as Elektra and Yevgeny Nikitin as Orest at the Met, 2009


As noted, we're going to be poking around two scenes I've had it in mind to present as long as we've been doing Sunday Classics. So here are the promised somewhat less-stripped-down versions.


1. Simon Boccanegra recognizes his long-lost daughter

VERDI: Simon Boccanegra: Act I, Scene 1, Boccanegra, "Maria!"; Amelia, "Il nome mio!" ("My name!")
SIMON BOCCANEGRA, the Plebeian doge of Genoa, has come calling on the young Patrician woman known as AMELIA GRIMALDI to persuade her to agree to marry his loathsome henchman PAOLO ALBIANI. She startles him with information about her personal history which gradually makes him realize she's someone he hasn't seen since she was abducted when she was a small child.

SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Maria!
"AMELIA GRIMALDI": My name!
SIMON BOCCANEGRA: You are my daughter!
"AMELIA GRIMALDI": I?
SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Embrace me, o my daughter!
MARIA BOCCANEGRA: Father! Ah! Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON BOCCANEGRA [simultaneously]: Ah! daughter my heart calls you!
[Orchestral outburst]
SIMON B: Daughter, daughter my heart calls you!
MARIA B: Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!

Leo Nucci (b), Simon Boccanegra; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), "Amelia Grimaldi"; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded December 1988

Tito Gobbi (b), Simon Boccanegra; Leyla Gencer (s), "Amelia Grimaldi"; Vienna Philharmonic, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 9, 1961 (mono)


2. Elektra recognizes her long-exiled (and presumed-dead) brother

R. STRAUSS: Elektra, Op. 58: Elektra, "Wer bist denn du?" ("Who then are you?")
Since the murder of her father, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, at the hands of her mother, KLYTÄMNESTRA, and her lover, AEGISTH, the princess ELEKTRA has been subjected to unimaginable physical and psychological abuse by her mother and stepfather, and has lived only for the mysteriously and horrendously delayed return of her brother OREST, to join in avenging the death of their father. Now word has come to the palace of the death of OREST, and two strangers have arrived to provide confirming details. ELEKTRA, having accepted the unimaginably horrible news with the greatest reluctance, is now tormented by the presence of one of the strangers, waiting to be summoned to the palace to provide his witness. In this scene the STRANGER has been horrified to realize gradually the identify of this wretched creature, long before she has any glimmering of who he is.

ELEKTRA [struck by the STRANGER's tone]: Who then are you?
[The gloomy old servant, followed by three other servants, rushes in silently from the courtyard, prostrates himself before the STRANGER, kisses his feet, the others his hands and the hem of his garment.]
ELEKTRA [almost beside herself]: Who are you then? I am frightened.
STRANGER [gently]: The dogs in the courtyard recognize me,
[more intense] but my sister -- not!
ELEKTRA [crying out suddenly]: Orest!
[Orchestral outburst]
ELEKTRA [very softly, trembling]: Orest! Orest! Orest!

Alessandra Marc (s), Elektra; Samuel Ramey (bs), Orest; Vienna Philharmonic, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. DG, recorded September 1995

Birgit Nilsson (s), Elektra; Tom Krause (b), Orest; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1966-67


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSSICS POST

We're going to take a longer listen to one of these scenes. I think I know which, but I won't know for sure till, well, it happens. (But if your bookie offers you decent odds on Elektra, you might want to go with that.)

UPDATE: Elektra it is.

2ND UPDATE: Simon Boccanegra has its turn the following week -- preview and main post.


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Monday, August 05, 2002

[8/5/12] Dvořák's "Slavonic Dances": a world, or 16 worlds, in 16 miniatures (continued)

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Here's something you don't hear every day (fortunately): the same dance we saw and heard Václav Talich conducting at the top of this post, the dumka, No. 10 in E minor, Op. 72, No. 2, in an orchestral arrangement with solo-violin and solo-cello parts, played by Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa.


BEFORE WE MOVE ON, SOME NOTES ABOUT OUR
THREE VERSIONS OF THE HUNGARIAN DANCE NO. 5


As you'll have noted, the orchestration isn't by Brahms, who orchestrated only a few of the 21 Hungarian Dances, though everyone in the world picked up the slack with No. 5, arranging it for every conceivable instrumental combination -- like the Joachim violin-and-piano arrangement we heard played by Fritz Kreisler.
IF YOU WANT EASY ACCESS TO OUR THREE VERSIONS,
THANKS TO THE MIRACLE OF CUT-AND-PASTE . . .


BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 5: Allegro

original version for piano duet: in F-sharp minor

Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1956

orchestral version by Martin Schmeling: in G minor

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner, cond. Denon/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1989

violin-and-piano version by Joseph Joachim: in G minor

Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano. Victor, recorded Feb. 17, 1916

A couple of quick notes about obvious differences:

(1) Note that the orchestrator raised the key from F-sharp minor to the orchestrally more comfortable G minor. Joachim, you'll note, also chose the string-friendlier key of G minor for his violin version.

(2) In the little contrasting central section, pianists don't do much of a slowdown for those sustained chords, for the obvious reason that string instruments can sustain those chords in a way that a piano can't -- in fact, not just sustain them but give them a nifty swell. Who could resist the temptation to draw them out?

HERE'S ONE OF THE HUNGARIAN DANCES
THAT BRAHMS HIMSELF ORCHESTRATED


I believe the number is three (out of 21). I should probably look it up.

BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor: Allegro molto

Original version for piano duet

Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, piano. DG, recorded January 1976

Orchestral version by the composer

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner, cond. Denon/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1989

This orchestration is a lot more atmospheric, don't you think?

FINALLY, I THOUGHT WE'D TACK ON
ONE MORE HUNGARIAN DANCE . . .


. . . from a group comprising the final five, which attracted an even more persuasive orchestrator. Note that this gentleman didn't shy away from the key of F-sharp minor.

I would suggest that No. 17 is about as close as the Hungarian Dances come in terms of emotional weight to Dvořák's Slavonic Dances. And for our piano version, since the Kontarsky brothers (who were best known for their performance of "modern" four-hand piano music) take a rather sharp-edged approach to this music, I thought that here we might hear both their performance and Alfred Brendel and Walter Klien's.

BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 17 in F-sharp minor: Andantino

Original version for piano duet

Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, piano. DG, recorded January 1976

Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1956

Orchestral version by Antonin Dvořák

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner, cond. Denon/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1989

A NOTE ABOUT THE CHOICE OF HUNGARIAN DANCES

It could be argued that I've misrepresented the Hungarian Dances by plucking out three minor-key ones. As we'll see, minor-key outings are a highly select (but important) minority among Dvořák's Slavonic Dances (only 5 out of the 16), but among Brahms's Hungarian Dances, 14 out of 21 are in the minor -- including 4 out of the 5 that Dvořák orchestrated.


NOW, MOVING ON TO
THE SLAVONIC DANCES

The first set of eight Slavonic Dances, Dvořák's Op. 46, was so successful that the publisher came back to the composer for more, which eventually yielded the Op. 72 set of eight. I've picked out three dances from each set to hear today, in both the four-hand-piano originals and the composer's orchestrations. That's in addition to the opening dance, which we heard Friday night, and again through the miracle of cut-and-paste we can easily enough hear again today.
Slavonic Dance No. 1 in C, Op. 35, No. 1: Presto (Furiant)

Original version for piano duet

Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Orchestral version by the composer

Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 4-5, 1963

Dvořák cast the 16 Slavonic Dances in the form of: three each of dumka, sousedská, and skočná; two furiants; and one each of polka odzemek, špacírka, mazur (or starodávný), and kolo. We're not going to hear samples of each, but we will hear five, doubling up on the furiant (the opening and closing dances of Op. 46) and sousedská. I don't see any point in trying to define, or sending you to a definition of, each of these forms, since at least for the five that are represented below, you're about to hear Dvořák's version.

The basic form, again, in A-B-A. with "B" a contrasting middle section. In general each of these sections is noticeably more fully developed chez Dvořák than was the case with Brahms in his Hungarian Dances.

No. 2 in E minor, Op. 46, No. 2: Allegretto scherzando (Dumka)

A classic slow-fast-specimen whose slow section is perhaps the most soulful section of this soul-rich series. (Is it any wonder Fritz Kreisler pounced on this dance?) Antal Dorati lets it breathe without oversentimentalizing it.


Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1959

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the Minnesota Orchestra), Antal Dorati, cond. Mercury, recorded Apr. 5-6, 1958

[arr. Kreisler, from Op. 46, No. 2, and Op. 72, No. 1 (which we hear below)] Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano. Victor/BMG, recorded Dec. 6, 1928

No. 4 in F, Op. 46, No. 4: Tempo di menuetto (Sousedská)

Another slow-fast-slow dance -- utterly luscious without aiming for quite the elegiac tone of the other sousedská we're going to hear today, Op. 72, No. 6. For technical reasons too complicated to go into, this is our only all-native-Czechoslovak performance (under other circumstances I might have tried to stick to all-native performances), and I don't think it's an accident that it comes in Op. 46, No. 4.


Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Šejna, cond. Supraphon, recorded Jun 16-18, 1959

No. 8 in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8: Presto (Furiant)

As noted above, Op. 46 concludes the way it began: with a furiant, but a minor-key one -- though it keeps slipping into the major. In a way we're also beginning the way we started: with the Cleveland Orchestra, which had produced one of the great sets of Slavonic Dances in 1963 under George Szell and produced another distinguished version under the most accomplished of Szell's successors in Cleveland, Christoph von Dohnányi.


Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1959

Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Decca, recorded August 1989

No. 9 in B, Op. 72, No. 1: Molto vivace (Odzemek)

The Op. 72 set kicks off with another explosion of the special energy Dvořák seemed able to generate at will -- and was so adept at modulating into his equally special lyrical mode.


Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, cond. DG, recorded June 1974

No. 15 in C, Op. 72, No. 7: Allegro vivace (Kolo)

Another irresistible high-energy attention-getter, which is careful not to overstay its welcome.


Alfred Brendel and Walter Klein, piano. Vox, recorded 1959

Gewandhaus Orchestra (Leipzig), Kurt Masur, cond. Philips/Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded 1984-85

No. 16 in A-flat, Op. 72, No. 8: Grazioso e lento, ma non troppo, quasi tempo di valse (Sousedská)

The second set comes to rest on the most achingly beautiful of the dances -- again, it's not hard to hear what attracted Fritz Kreisler to Op. 72, No. 8. The orchestral version naturally lends itself to a more expansive rendering, and Neeme Järvi delivers a peach of a performance.


Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard, piano. EMI, recorded Feb. 9-12, 1976

Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, cond. Chandos, recorded Mar. 17-18, 1985

[arr. Kreisler] Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano. Victor/BMG, recorded Dec. 6, 1928


AND AS LONG AS WE KEEP LISTENING TO OP. 72, NO. 2 . . .

Here's a violin-and-piano arrangement played by David Oistrakh (not at his best).




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