Métamorphoses Nocturnes
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Metamorphosen, TrV 290 (1945) [30:24]
Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
Il tramonto, P 101 (1914) [17:26]
Arnold SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)
Verklärte Nacht, Op 4 (1917/1943) [34:05]
Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano), Appassionato/Mathieu Herzog
rec. live, 11 September 2021, Auditorium Patrick Devedjian, la Seine Musicale, Paris, France
NAÏVE V7423 [81:55]
This very well-filled disc presents a programme themed around the post-Romantic nocturne – and although it is perhaps slightly stretching the definition to include Strauss’ Metamorphosen, that is certainly dark and sombre enough as a work to merit inclusion.
I have surveyed two of the works here, as particular favourites of mine -
Verklärte Nacht and
Metamorphosen – but my point is that the competition provided
by previous recordings is extremely tough. The Respighi work was new to me,
however.
This Metamorphosen is the slowest performance I know, which is somewhat ironic as the only other live recording here – Furtwängler’s – is the fastest. I suggest
in my survey that one or two of the slower recordings are rather lugubrious yet none approaches this for heaviness. I find the string tone to be rather harsh and raw – indeed, at times verging on the shrieky - especially, there appears to be some conscious diminution of vibrato in line with more recent performance practice and the playing is not absolutely immaculate – understandable in a live performance, but my task is to indicate the best. The heavily bowed strokes rising by semitones at the climax of the work sound laboured rather than impassioned delivered this slowly; to me this lacks real tension.
It is recorded very closely, so the intake of the performers’ sniff before the downbeat and even the thwack of the double basses’ bows are very audible and there is little sense of space or atmosphere around it; I find it claustrophobic. There is also quite a lot of unidentifiable extraneous, ambient noise in quiet moments. Helpfully, cue points are given for the sections within all three works; many recordings provide only one track – but I do wish recording companies would provide overall timings for the pieces and the CD itself, as well as just those of individual tracks - and putting everything in lower case is now very passé and precious, besides being illiterate.
The Respighi item is a strange, diffuse, meandering work, beautifully sung by Adèle Charvet, who has a warm, expressive voice and sings pellucid Italian. The floating, delicate, nebulous quality of the music is well served but I am not sure that I am drawn to repeated listening.
I find the remoteness of the sound and lack of definition in the opening of Verklärte Nacht to be troublesome but perhaps I have been spoilt by the artificial perspective afforded by studio recordings. This, again, is a very slow reading, which is not necessarily bad but I do find that at several points the music simply stalls – then, lo and behold, at the transition between the opening and second movements, seven minutes in, Herzog goes hell-for-leather but then fails to deliver the ecstatic climax required; it’s under-nourished – but the crisis at 2:20, track 2, is much better. The glowing D major chord signalling forgiveness and redemption is warmly resonated. There is much lovely, deeply felt playing here, especially in the second half of the first Adagio and the shimmering finale which contains the finest playing of all, but this does not strike me as a completely “digested” account, if you understand me; it is erratic and lacks an overview.
The notes, including an interview with the conductor are in French and English, the narrative for Verklärte Nacht is supplied in German, French and English and the Italian text for Respighi’s Il tramonto, selectively lifted from Shelley’s poem The Sunset by Roberto Ascoli, is also provided in English and French.
I am sure this was highly enjoyable as part of the concert from which this is taken – generous applause is left in at the end of the last track - but in absolute terms, it is not competitive. Although the Respighi is a comparative novelty, the other two works are
liberally represented in the catalogue by superior versions.
Ralph Moore
