For once I have
omitted a complete listing of the contents in the heading, but
follow this link
and you will find all the information needed. Let me say at
once that any compilation that aims at giving a 'wall-to-wall'
picture of the development of opera during its 400-year-long
history must be open to debate. Limiting the space to 2½ hours,
by necessity means that several important composers have to
be omitted. The choice of items excludes longer pieces of music.
Bearing this in mind this set is on the whole successful, even
though I might at times have opted for different selections.
One inhibiting factor is what is available to the record company.
A similar set from EMI or Universal would naturally have had
more to choose from and, at least in some cases, even better
performances.
To start on a
grumpy note: what would I have included? Well, Vecchi's L'Amfiparnaso
is of course interesting as an example of the link between the
madrigal polyphony of the late Renaissance and the monody of
the early baroque, but it wasn't intended as stage music,
while Peri's Euridice, allegedly the first real 'opera' -
although this was not yet the term for it - would have been
interesting, if nothing else to show how much more advanced
Monteverdi was only a decade later. From the high baroque I
would also have liked something by Alessandro Scarlatti, who
after all was the one who laid the foundation for the opera
seria stereotype with aria - recitativo secco - aria - and also created the so-called
Italian style overture. From the early 19th century
Weber, more than Beethoven, sounded the horn for early romantic
opera while one of the representatives of French Grand Opera
- Meyerbeer, although more interesting as a phenomenon than
for intrinsic musical values - might have been included, but
Berlioz will do as a substitute. Slavonic opera is a bit of
a Cinderella, represented only by Tchaikovsky where also Mussorgsky
should have found a righteous place. The more nationalist 19th
century opera - read Smetana and The Bartered Bride -
could have been there but the most serious omission is undoubtedly
Richard Strauss. From the 20th century something
relating to the influence of popular music - since Nick Kimberley
also writes about operetta and even musicals - why not some Lehar
or Gershwin? The post WW2 period is still very much contemporary
and not quite established, but 'The Finnish Wonders' -
Kokkonen, Sallinen, Rautavaara - definitely belong in the opera canon.
As anyone can see this would have implied a third disc and that
would probably have made the project less viable from a financial
point of view.
What actually is
on the set gives a good introduction to the fascinating world
of opera and the target group should be primarily newcomers
to the genre, maybe in the first place those who already have
a liking for Western Art Music, as some like to term it. I have
a sneaking feeling that Nick Kimberley's 25000-word-book presupposes
some basic knowledge concerning epochs and terminology. Maybe
a glossary wouldn't have gone amiss. His long text, however,
conscientiously traverses the main directions of opera. There
are direct track-references with short descriptions of what
happens in the different scenes and those composers I missed
on the discs are often dealt with extensively in the text. As
the basis for an evening course in opera history, lead by someone
with at least basic insight in the subject, this set should
function very well, preferably with each participant having
his/her own set for self-study.
There are a couple
of annoying errors. According to the text Weber died only weeks
after the premiere of Der Freischütz, while in reality
it was five years later after the premiere of Oberon.
Puccini's year of death is also in one instance given as 1928,
but the correct year (1924) is given elsewhere.
The quality of the
singing and playing is variable but by and large it is more
than acceptable and in many cases much more than that. Most
excerpts are culled from the Naxos catalogue, which today is
impressive indeed, but they have also licensed recordings from
associated companies like BIS and LSO Live. Knowing the majority
of the recordings from their original releases I have only made
some random samples, but let me pick some of the highlights:
The well-known aria
from Rinaldo (CD1 tr. 8), beautifully sung by Susanne
Rydén, Bo Skovhus in Don Giovanni's two arias (CD1 tr. 12 -
13), Inga Nielsen's Abscheulicher! from Fidelio
(CD1 tr. 15) - wrongly attributed to Edith Lienbacher in the
tracklist, Luba Orgonasova's Ardon gl'incense from Lucia
di Lammermoor (CD1 tr. 19), Miriam Gauci's Vogliatemi
bene from Madama Butterfly (CD2 tr. 4) and Gabriela
Benackova and Leonie Rysanek in a scene from Jenufa (CD2
tr. 11).
The timeline, concluding
the booklet, is a brilliant idea, where decade by decade we
get important operatic milestones and in adjacent columns events
in general history, art and architecture and literature.
At the asking price
this is a cheap way of getting an introduction to the history
of opera and the book alone will be a useful reference until
the beginner has acquired so much basic knowledge that it is
time for something more comprehensive.
Göran Forsling
NAXOS 8.558196-97 [79:30
+ 76:02]
