I
am thoroughly ashamed to have thought of Paul Dukas as a Mickey-Mouse
composer for so long – only because of the association of a musical
rodent with his tone poem on Goethe’s Sorcerer’s
Apprentice. But somehow I managed to ignore him to the point
that if someone had told me that he was Czech, I might well have
believed it. Beyond the Apprentice I had some foggy awareness
of a ballet score La Péri, and nothing else.
That
frightful ignorance has been put to an end to by the overdue
exposure to his opera Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, a different
take on the story that Bartók deals with in his contemporaneous
Bluebeard’s Castle. Why it took until 2007 for the
first good recording of this wonderful opera to appear is anyone’s
guess – perhaps I am not the only one in having (had) a patronizing
prejudice toward the name “Dukas”. A 25 year old recording by
Armin Jordan/Erato is long out of print, the 40 year old recording
under Tony Aubin/Gala weak in most aspects.
Leon
Botstein is making something of a habit out of bringing out-of-favor
and out-of-repertoire 20th century operas back to our
attention. Thankfully he has a supportive record company at his
side to aid him in these efforts. Richard Strauss’s Die
Liebe der Danae and Die Ägyptische Helene and
Ernest Chausson’s gorgeous Le Roi Arthus have already
been issued over the last years. Now Telarc has released Ariane
et Barbe-Bleu.
Dukas
composed turn-of-the-century French music, a tad old fashioned
(like Saint-Saëns and Fauré, maybe), yet achieving colors not
unlike Debussy, whose Pelléas et Mélisande came out
five years prior to Ariane. And behind this opera’s
shadowy, gloomy veil are moments of ethereal beauty not found
anywhere else … not even in Erich Korngold (see below).
Lori
Phillips navigates through the extensive, difficult, beautiful
and taxing part of Ariane with aplomb and then some. Ariane
et Barbe-Bleue is essentially a one-woman show, with guest
appearances by her nurse (Patricia Bardon), the other wives
of Bluebeard, and Bluebeard himself (Peter Rose), who has a
total of eight lines. The liner notes (David Murray, Leon Botstein,
and John Ashbery) point out the women’s liberation struggle
that is portrayed in this opera. Indeed, the Maeterlinck libretto
(originally intended for Edward Grieg) could well be seen that
way. Ariane discovers the previous five wives – not
ghosts yet – of Bluebeard and attempts to instill in them newly
gained self esteem in them and lead them to liberty. But the
wives, despite having been forced to spend years in a miserable
dungeon, refuse to leave Bluebeard.
Talk
about “Escape from Freedom” – years before Erich Fromm gave
us the analysis for this curious behavior. Ariane herself, also
thrown into prison but escaping easily, does not go for revenge,
either. When Bluebeard, who is beleaguered and thrashed by the
peasant folk like Dr. Frankenstein or Count Dracula, is injured
and at her mercy in Act III, she nurses him to health before
she leaves him behind with the five immobile (ex?) wives.
Leon
Botstein conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers
in an idiomatic, highly professional performance. In combination
with the rarity of the opera and the beauty of the music it
all adds up to the best opera recording of the year.
Jens
F. Laurson
see
also Review
by Tony Haywood
