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Arts are producing
some fine discs devoted to the memory
of Peter Maag. I was admiring of their
Mozart
symphonies box, in which Maag displayed
so many of the characteristics that
made his performances of this composer’s
works so treasurable. And now they resurrect
this live (the audience is quiet in
the main but there is some applause)
1967 broadcast of a work he longed to
record commercially. It will have to
stand, by proxy, as the recording he
never lived to make.
The recording quality
suffers a mite as it’s rather vertical
and lacking in bloom and there are some
small cuts – in two or three of the
arias and some of the recitatives –
but we do also have some treasurable
Mozartian voices and a stylish band
under Maag’s sure direction. Stich-Randall
had recorded a fine Così
with Moralt in 1956 with inter alia
Waldemar Kmentt as Ferrando and
Walter Berry as Guglielmo. Here she
starts somewhat slowly and is not always
in the absolute best of voices – her
heyday was just past – but by Act 1
Scene V’s Quintet (Discrivermi ogni
giorno) her colour and soft shading
is still exquisitely intact, and few
could do it better than she. But it’s
evident even later on – see Come
scoglio - that she can be rather
squally and the voice hardens appreciably
under pressure. The Dorabella is Janis
Martin, a Senta of renown and a sensitive
artist. Much of that applies equally
here but she can also be rather shrill
(Smanie implacabili). Werner
Krenn is Ferrando and he was a proven
Mozartian. His Un’ aura amorosa
is fine, though it could do with a shade
more lightness in the delivery, but
he is very attractive and not at all
throaty in his duet with Stich-Randall
(Fra gli amplessi) and even better
in his ardent singing of the recitative
Barbara, perché fuggi?
Victor Conrad Braun’s Guglielmo
is redoubtable and aptly complex – his
voice always had something of an Italian
sound to it anyway so he is good casting
- whilst the Don Alfonso of Carlos Feller
is well sung. Adriano Martino is Despina
and she despatches Una donna a quindici
ani with élan if maybe a
shade too much metal in her voice.
The orchestra plays
with spirit and no little subtlety (horns
are first class, flutes not far behind).
Maag moulds the recitatives with real
verve and buoyancy, the comic business
is potent but not artificial, but it’s
perhaps the ensembles that score most
highly in this performance. They are
its high water mark. Obviously it can
hardly be considered a contender in
the marketplace. But admirers of conductor
and singers will rightly want to make
its acquaintance and savour its attractive
features.
Jonathan Woolf
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro RAI di Roma/Peter
Maag 