MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


 REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet
Download: Classicsonline


Jacques OFFENBACH (1819 – 1880)
Les Contes d’Hoffmann (1881) – excerpts (sung in Hungarian).
Il était une fois, ŕ la cour d’Eisenach [5:18]
J’ai des yeux [1:32]
Non aucun hôte vraiment [2:02]
Les oiseaux dans la charmille [5:45]
Elle a fui, la tourterelle [4:36]
Jour et nuit [6:51]
C’est une chanson d’amour [3:05]
Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour [4:08]
Amis l’amour tender et ręveur [2:37]
Scintille diamant [2:53]
Malheureux … O Dieu de qu’elle ivresse [5:39]
Hëlas, mon Coeur [3:00]
Intermezzo [4:06]
Voilŕ quelle fut l’histoire … et mois? [6:42]
Róbert Ilosfalvy (tenor) – Hoffmann; Sándor Palescó (tenor) – Nathanael; György Radnai (baritone) – Coppelius; Dapertutto; Lindorf; Karola Ágay (soprano) – Olympia; Júlia Orosz (soprano) – Antonia; Árpád Kishegyi (tenor) – Frantz; Olga Szönyi (mezzo) – Niklausse; Gabriella Déry (soprano) – Giulietta; Stella; Miklós Petri (bass) – Schlemil; Endre Várhelyi (bass) – Luther; Tibor Nádas (bass) – Hermann; Edit Domján (speaking role) – The Muse; Hungarian Radio and Television Chorus and Orchestra/Miklós Erdélyi
rec. no date or location given. Historical recording from Hungarian Radio Archives. Publ. 1983. mono.
HUNGAROTON HCD12444 [56:22]
Experience Classicsonline

Hungary has produced quite a number of superb opera singers, many of whom have had important international careers. In recent years sopranos Eva Marton and Andrea Rost come to mind. In the tenor department the most famous is probably Sándor Kónya, who among other things spent fourteen seasons at the Met, where – as well as at Bayreuth and Covent Garden – Lohengrin was one of his signature roles.
 
Konya was born in 1923. His slightly younger compatriot Róbert Ilosfalvy passed away in January this year (2009), aged 81. He too went international and had a stint at the Met. To the record-buying public he is probably best known for the 1969 recording of Roberto Devereux, opposite Beverly Sills. He also made recordings in Germany but it is valuable to have these excerpts from Les Contes d’Hoffmann, where he is excellent throughout. He proves brilliant as well as lyrical and with a deep understanding of the role. Considering that he was in his mid-fifties when the recording was made he sounds amazingly youthful. The Kleinzach song that opens the disc is sung with ardour and forward thrust and his duets with Antonia and Giulietta are splendid examples of vital tenor singing of a quality that can’t always be taken for granted.
 
He is surrounded by a highly competent supporting cast, none of which – with the exception of mezzo-soprano Olga Szönyi – are particularly well known outside Hungary. György Radnai sports a warm and rounded baritone, expressive but more lyrical than many singers assuming the roles of Hoffmann’s evil geniuses. Scintille diamant is uncommonly soft and mild, not as threatening as it should be but attractive even so. Árpád Kishegyi sings Frantz’s aria without too much clowning but with a sure sense for characterisation.
 
As Olympia, Karola Ágay manages to sound mechanical and impersonal though her technical prowess is impressive. Júlia Orosz is a middling Antonia whereas Gabriella Déry is a really good Giulietta.
 
Chorus and orchestra are excellent and Miklós Erdélyi leads the proceedings unerringly. The sense of theatre is also tangible, not least in the epilogue. The recording is mono but the sound is first class. It is sung in Hungarian but that’s no problem since the language is eminently singable.
 
The production is a worthy memorial to one of Hungary’s finest tenors.
 
Göran Forsling
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.