In recent months there has been quite a revival
of interest in the recorded legacy of Ernest Ansermet (1883-1969). The
reissues of many Decca studio recordings on the Australian Eloquence
label has made a major contribution to this Ansermet renaissance. However,
the Swiss label, Cascavelle, has been playing a significant part too.
My colleague, Jonathan Woolf has already
appraised
five volumes of live recordings taken from radio broadcasts by Radio
Suisse Romande and the two sets under discussion here form part of the
same series. Collectors should also note another Cascavelle set, also
reviewed
by Jonathan, which contained studio recordings made between 1916 and
1955.
The disc containing works by Fauré and Strauss looks attractive
but, sadly, need not detain us long. The performance of the Fauré
benefits from the presence of Gérard Souzay, who is in fine voice.
However, it’s hobbled by some turgid tempi set by Ansermet - only
in the ‘Agnus Dei’ does he choose a speed that imparts any
real movement into the music. For the rest I’m afraid the music
sounds ponderous and excessively religious. The orchestral playing is
reasonably satisfactory, though if the full orchestral scoring
must
be used then a far lighter hand is needed on the tiller, but the choir
is, frankly, sub standard. It’s a large body of singers. They
sound ponderous and produce a tone that is consistently dull. The sound
produced by the tenors is particularly unpleasant, I find (and I speak
as a tenor myself, so that’s particularly disappointing.) Teresa
Stich-Randall’s delivery of the ‘Pie Jesu’ is marred
by a tendency to approach some notes from underneath, though elsewhere
in the movement her tone falls very pleasingly on the ear.
I’ve lost count of the number of recordings I possess of Strauss’s
radiant
envoi to the soprano voice and the interpretations of
many distinguished Strauss sopranos are on my shelves. But I had not
previously come across a recording by Teresa Stich-Randall. Recalling
her excellent Sophie in Karajan’s 1956
Rosenkavalier recording
I approached this disc with high hopes but, alas, expectations were
not fully met. There are many good things in this performance but the
orchestra sounds thin - though this may be due to the age of the radio
recording. As for Miss Stich-Randall, as in the Fauré, she produces
some lovely sounds, especially in the last three songs, but the tendency
to approach notes from below occasionally mars one’s enjoyment,
which is a great pity. The booklet refers to another broadcast by the
same artists; I wonder if that’s a better representation of their
partnership in this work?
But if the Fauré/Strauss disc has limited claims on the attentions
of collectors the same is far from true of the companion set. In particular
it contains a far from inconsiderable performance of
War Requiem,
which I’ll come to in a minute. The American soprano, Chloé
Owen (1919-2010), is featured in a performance of Berg’s
Sieben
frühe Lieder. So far as I can tell - it’s not a work
I know very well - Miss Owen gives a fine performance. I enjoyed listening
to her voice and Ansermet appears to be an attentive accompanist. He’s
an equally effective partner to the great Suzanne Danco (1911-2000)
in
Les Illuminations. Mlle. Danco sings the songs marvellously
and what a joy it is to hear them sung by a Francophone singer!
But the chief interest in this set lies in the inclusion of
War Requiem.
Ansermet was quite an exponent of Britten’s music - he led the
premières of
The Rape of Lucretia and of
Cantata Misericordium
- but since he recorded for Decca, the same label as Britten himself,
there was no opportunity for him to make recordings of Britten’s
music. The performance captured here was at least Ansermet’s second
traversal of
War Requiem - he had given the Swiss première
in 1965 - and from first to last it’s abundantly evident that
he has the full measure of the score. His direction of the whole ensemble
- he conducts the chamber orchestra also - is sure-footed at all times.
That’s all the more commendable since the work was only four years
old at this time and so the performance tradition was still being established.
Ansermet benefits from having a distinguished solo team. Heather Harper
and Peter Pears had both taken part in the first performance of the
work, Miss Harper deputising for Galina Vishknevskaya. When Britten
made his recording, the great Russian soprano was able to take part
but though that was emotionally right her histrionic style and very
Slavic timbre is not to all tastes. It was not until 1991 that Heather
Harper was invited to record the work and she made a very distinguished
contribution to Richard Hickox’s splendid Chandos recording but
this present vrsion gives us, surely, a more accurate representation
of how she must have sounded in that first performance. In a word, she’s
superb. In the ‘Liber scriptus’ she’s commanding -
and far more certain in pitch than was Vishknevskaya on the Decca recording.
Later, in the ‘Lacrymosa’, she’s moving in expression
and clean in tone. She’s utterly authoritative - and accurate
- in the ‘Sanctus’ and absolutely searing at ‘Tremens
sum factus’ in the ‘Libera me’.
I’m not going to comment in any detail on Peter Pears’s
performance, which is on a par with the studio recording in my view.
Those, like me, who admire him in this role - at least at this stage
in his career - will know what to expect. However, the contribution
of Thomas Hemsley (b. 1927) calls for more comment since, to the best
of my knowledge, there is no other recording of him in this role. He
sings extremely well. He may lack some of the histrionic power of Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau but he’s still very impressive at ‘Be slowly
lifted up’. His timbre is lighter than that of Fischer-Dieskau
and that brings its own rewards in passages such as ‘Bugles sang’
or ‘After the blast of lightening’, where he’s very
eloquent. He combines well with Pears in the duet in the Offertorium
and makes as strong a mark as does Pears in the harrowing, intense ‘It
seemed that out of battle I escaped’. It’s very good news
indeed that his artistry in this work has been preserved through this
recording.
The choral contributions are very good. At a couple of crucial moments
the choir is insufficiently quiet and distant - I’m thinking,
for example, of the very start of the work and also at ‘Pleni
sunt coeli’ in the ‘Sanctus’. However, it may be that
this is due to close placement of the microphones in a resonant acoustic.
Elsewhere the singing, including that of the trebles, is accurate and
committed. The orchestra does well; there are a few brass fluffs and
not all the detail comes through but one can forgive such small blemishes
when the performance as a whole is one of such stature.
This set of Britten and Berg performances constitutes a very important
addition to the Ansermet discography. The documentation accompanying
both sets is a bit disappointing. There are no texts and each volume
contains two brief, rather fulsome essays, which could be more informative
- neither Berg nor his music merits so much as a mention! The recorded
sound for all the performances is pretty good bearing in mind the age
of the recordings and their provenance as radio tapes. The transfers
are good.
John Quinn
Valuable archive material showing the artistry of Ansermet, including
a very fine War Requiem.
Britten review index & discography:
War
requiem ~~
Les
Illuminations
Masterwork Index:
Vier
letzte Lieder
