Joseph HAYDN (1732 - 1809)
Die Jahreszeiten
Die Schöpfung
Helen Donath (soprano) - Hanne, Gabriel, Eve; Adalbert Kraus (tenor) - Lukas,
Uriel; Kurt Widmer (bass) - Simon, Adam, Raphael
Süddeutsches Madrigalchor, Orchester der Ludwigsburger Festspiele/Wolfgang
Gönnenwein
no information on recording dates or venues
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94384 [4 CDs: 73:08 + 68:23 + 57:34 + 49:03]
Having in vain tried to find any information about the origin of these two
oratorio recordings I can only report that the Brilliant issue is licensed
from Vox and that there are some LP sets still available on the secondhand
market. The recordings are analogue and thus presumably from the 1970s. Wolfgang
Gönnenwein was artistic director from 1972 until 2004. The sonics are
not exceptional in any way but I detected some high-frequency metallic sounds,
reminiscent of a triangle, here and there in Die Jahreszeiten but not
in Die Schöpfung. The choral singing is excellent, and in particular
the more dramatic choruses have a forward thrust that makes the music come
alive. Ach, das Ungewitter naht! (CD 1 tr. 17) near the end of Der
Sommer, is a true thriller. In Der Herbst the trio with chorus
So lohnet die Natur (CD 2 tr. 2) is another high-spot. The same goes
for the scene beginning with Simon’s swinging aria Seht auf die breiten
Wiesen hin! and to the very end (CD 2 tr. 6-10) with the chorus for peasants
and hunters and the concluding drinking chorus. This is Haydn at his very
best. Otherwise Die Jahreszeiten is more idyllic than dramatic. It
was a good idea to place Die Schöpfung last, with its more extrovert
dramatic power. Also there the choruses are the core of the performance with
a riveting reading of Vollendet ist das grosse Werk (CD 4 tr. 7).
Gönnenwein’s readings are rather middle-of-the-road. Comparing
his Schöpfung with two of my other recordings he is neither pompous
like James Levine (DG) nor springy and airy like Andreas Spering (Naxos)
with period instruments. This has been my preferred recording since I reviewed
it more than seven years ago. By his side Gönnenwein sounds ordinary
and a little uninspired. His soloists are also a bit pale. Levine has Kathleen
Battle, Gösta Winbergh and Kurt Moll in tremendous form; Spering has
Sunhae Im, Jan Kobow and Hanno Müller-Brachmann, all three wonderfully
alert and youthful. Helen Donath has been a favourite since I bought Solti’s
Rosenkavalier back in 1969, where she is a lovely Sophie.Her
voice is in good shape here too but occasionally she is a bit fluttery and
rather monochrome. She is best in Die Schöpfung where Nun beut
die Flur das frische Grün (CD 3 tr. 8) offers the best solo singing
on the whole set, together with Auf starkem Fittiche (CD 3 tr. 13).
Adalbert Kraus is a small-scale tenor, rather sensitive in recitatives but
he is nowhere as elegant and beautiful of tone as Winbergh and Kobow. Concerning
Kurt Widmer I am in two minds. His voice, more baritone than bass, is not
very beautiful, he lacks the lowest notes that Kurt Moll in particular has
almost in the extreme and he sometimes struggles and adopts a vibrato that
is unattractive. But - and this is an important but - he is expressive and
he delivers the text with the utmost clarity and understanding. He makes you
listen. Sometimes he can be over-explicit. Im Anfange schuf Gott Himmel
und Erde at the beginning of Die Schöpfung he is so extremely
slow that one gets the feeling that he will never come to the end of the recitative.
That said, he certainly makes you listen.
I don’t think I will take down this box from the shelf very often especially
when I instead can be impressed by the breadth and magnificence of Levine.
It also compares unfavourably with Spering’s historically informed and
vital reading of Die Schöpfung or Morten Schuldt-Jensen’s
Die Jahreszeiten, also on Naxos. Someone wanting to buy his/her first
recording of the two oratorios could feel satisfied with Gönnenwein,
considering Brilliant Classics’ budget price, but the ones mentioned
above are to be preferred by far.
Göran Forsling
As a first recording of the two oratorios one could feel satisfied with Gönnenwein
but others are to be preferred.
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