The legend of Orfeo
is amongst the most durable of operatic
themes. It is the basis of Monteverdi’s
work of that name which many consider
the very first opera worthy of staging.
Gluck’s version came over 150 years
later. In the meantime the genre of
opera had grown massively and evolved
it own rather static conventions. With
his version of Orfeo, and in subsequent
works, Gluck sought to break away from
those static conventions of recitative
and aria, which focused attention on
the singers at the expense of the music
and drama of the piece. These were his
so called ‘reform operas’. Working closely
with his librettist Calzabigi (1714-1795)
Gluck’s Orfeo was created with carefully
constructed scenes. It introduced dances
and chorus to give ‘the language
of the heart, strong passions, interesting
situations and constantly varied spectacle’.
This instead of the static ‘flowery
descriptions, superfluous comparisons
and sententious, cold moralising’
of what had gone before. In my view
these objectives were magnificently
realised in this wonderfully melodic
and dramatically taut work. Its structure
is such as to have drawn Berlioz and
Wagner to make revised editions.
So far so simple. Gluck,
however, cast a contralto castrati as
his Orfeo for the first production in
Vienna on the 5 October 1762. But the
age of the castrati, the great primas
of Handel’s operas, was drawing to a
close. They had not been acceptable
in France where a form of high tenor
had evolved. For the work’s premiere
in Paris in 1774 (not 1776 as the booklet
title page indicates) Gluck re-wrote
the role of Orfeo for this high tenor
voice. He also, like Verdi and Wagner
later, had to provide additional ballet
music for Paris performance. These additions
have become integrated into many performing
and recorded versions of Orfeo such
as this one. Other performances and
recordings, particularly in the past
fifteen years or so, have reverted to
period instruments. These have also
involved the singing of the role of
Orfeo by a counter-tenor or falsettist
with no use of vibrato by soloists or
orchestra. The problem with most counter-tenors
is that whilst they are strong at the
top of the voice they often lack strength
lower down their range. The contralto
castrato at the premiere had a range
of three octaves. Ewa Podles, the Orfeo
on this recording, has a similar range
up to a brilliant top C.
Ewa Podles has sung
at all the world’s great opera houses
and with the greatest orchestras and
conductors. Her recordings of Rossini’s
Tancredi, Gluck’s Armide and Handel’s
Ariodonte have all received numerous
awards. On this recording her portrayal
of Orfeo is outstanding in respect of
both singing and characterisation. She
uses the wide range of her voice to
colour her elegant phrasing (CD 1 tr.
8) and varied expression (CD 1 tr. 11),
as she is variously plaintive, poignant
and passionate in her portrayal. In
a couple of places, at each end of her
range, there is a smudged note that
would have been corrected in a studio
recording. There are also times when
she softens the consonants too much
and her diction suffers. I don’t know
if this live recording is of a concert
performance or a staged one, but there
is no extraneous stage noise or off-mike
singing. Most importantly there is no
audience noise or applause during the
performance. The acoustic is warm with
the soloists and chorus set behind the
orchestra. From their names, I guess
both Ana Rodrigo as Euridice and Elena
de Merced as Amore are Spanish. They
are appropriately different in timbre.
Both are well-schooled voices that portray
their relatively small but important
roles in the evolving drama with good
tone, clarity and expression.
In this reform work
the orchestra and chorus are major protagonists.
Peter Maag lets the music and his singers
breathe. His pacing is not laggardly,
nor does he try to imitate period instrument
articulation and fast timing. The chorus
are resonant, accurate and well disciplined.
They sing with passion and commitment
whether as Furies or with ethereal tone
at the funeral urn (CD 1 trs. 2 and
5) or in the final Trionfi amore (Let’s
have triumph of love, CD 2 tr. 20).
The booklet has a brief essay in English,
German, French and Italian. The libretto
is printed in full with English translation.
The audience is enthusiastic at the
end. I am too, and strongly recommend
this performance to all those not concerned
about original version or period instrument
performance.
Robert J Farr
Orfeo, Ewa Podles (cont); Euridice, Ana Rodrigo
(sop); Amore, Elena de Merced (sop) 
