Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Op. 11/Sz48 (1911/1918)
Juliet Stevenson (narrator)
Michelle DeYoung (mezzo)
Sir John Tomlinson (bass)
Philharmonia Voices
Philharmonia Orchestra/ Esa-Pekka Salonen
rec. live, 8 November 2011, Konzerthaus, Vienna
Libretto included (Hungarian/English)
SIGNUM SIGCD372 [66:42]
Thanks to librettist Béla Balázs Bartók’s
realisation of Charles Perrault’s La Barbe
bleue has a strong, well-constructed platform on which to
build. It certainly contains some of the composer’s most
striking and colourful music, as Bernard Haitink’s glorious
recording with Ann Sofie von Otter and Sir John Tomlinson so amply
demonstrates (EMI/Warner). The playing of the Berliner Philharmoniker
is peerless, the singing is splendid and the music has a darkly
obsessive cast that I’ve rarely encountered on record or
in the theatre.
For many years the legendary István Kertész account
with Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry was the version to have;
indeed, it sounds as fresh and vivid as ever in its Decca Legends
incarnation, although a re-mastered Blu-ray Audio release would
be most welcome. Among my clutch of comparative versions is the
Iván Fischer on Philips/Channel Classics, which doesn’t
strike me as one of that conductor’s best efforts; sonically
impressive it’s also undermined by his Judith, Ildiko Komlósi,
who is overstretched too much of the time. No qualms about Marin
Alsop’s Bournemouth account which, although less immediate
than some, sustains a subtle and compelling narrative that suits
this interior drama very well (review).
For those who want Bluebeard on video soprano Sylvia
Sass and bass Kolos Kováts make an eye-catching pair in
Miklós Szinetár’s imaginative production (review).
The downside is that they mime to their 1981 audio recording with
Sir Georg Solti and the London Philharmonic. Clad in flowing white
Sass certainly looks the part – innocent, virginal –
and she’s a tolerable actor; alas, her poor lip-synching
is a big drawback. Kováts, whose goading, high-collared
presence is su[remely unsettling, is rather more accomplished
in this respect; still, this isn’t a frontrunner, even as
a CD, especially since Sass’s occluded tone gets in the
way of her otherwise decent performance.
Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Bluebeard, recorded live, is
prefaced by Juliet Stevenson’s nicely distanced but curiously
deadpan prologue. Just sample the more theatrical – and
sinister - Sandor Elès for Haitink. The music that steals
in thereafter is also rather subdued, and Bartók’s
colour palette isn’t nearly as subtle or as varied in Vienna
as it is in Berlin. I don’t much care for Michelle DeYoung
either, as she lacks the vocal reach or dramatic calibration of
her best rivals. As for Sir John Tomlinson he’s not the
secure, mesmerising Bluebeard he was for Haitink in 1996; his
incipient vibrato then is much more disfiguring now.
Thankfully Salonen turns up the wick at the First Door, but DeYoung
is strained here and in Bartók’s ever-mounting climaxes.
By contrast von Otter is confident across the range; now vulnerable,
now coquettish, but always alive to the music’s dramatic
shifts she’s one of the finest Judiths I've ever heard.
Alongside Haitink’s big, bold reading Salonen’s is
undercharacterised. That said, he’s undeniably exciting
at the opera’s nodal points; the first glimpse of Bluebeard’s
torture chamber is suitably unnerving, and there’s some
fine playing both here and in the treasure room.
In terms of sound EMI excelled themselves for Haitink; indeed,
it’s one of their finest efforts, period, so anything else
is apt to pale in comparison. Signum’s sonics aren’t
in the same league – even allowing for the fact that it’s
a live recording - although the combined organ and orchestra at
the Fifth Door do pack a terrific punch. Alas, the vocal strain
really shows here; DeYoung is terribly pinched and Tomlinson’s
wobble is worse than ever. Even more frustrating, Salonen allows
all that pent-up energy to dissipate much too soon.
If that weren’t enough I don’t detect the emotional/psychological
tussle between Tomlinson and DeYoung that I do between him and
von Otter and, especially, between Ludwig and Berry. This is a
cruel, voyeuristic tale that surely demands a strong sense of
theatre, of powerful contrasts and searing tensions; frankly you’d
never guess it with Salonen. Whether it’s just instinct
or the product of many years in the opera house Haitink paces,
builds and projects this music better than anyone I’know;
it helps that the Berliners are in blistering form and his singers
are in splendid voice.
Salonen’s Bluebeard burns with all too low a flame;
not only that, it’s apt to flicker and fade just when it
needs to flare once more. His overwhelmed soloists are even more
of a let-down and the recording, while adequate, is not that involving
either. To be fair, this Signum issue never stood a chance in
such exalted company; as a live event it may have been rather
special, but it’s certainly not a recording I’d want
to hear again. The decent liner-notes and libretto are very welcome,
though.
Bursts of brilliance, but otherwise bland; disappointing soloists
too.
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei
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