Ullmann wrote Der
Kaiser von Atlantis in Terezin.
The allegorical opera was one of a large
number of works the Schoenberg student
composed in that holding and transit
camp. Its survival was fortuitous, only
receiving a premiere in Amsterdam in
1975. The most prestigious recording
was the well-known Decca performance
conducted by Lothar Zagrosek, with Walter
Berry and Herbert Lippert amongst the
cast members, an assignment taped in
Leipzig. The subject is Death, right
from the Asrael-derived four
note motif that so haunted that magnificent
Suk Symphony. The means of expression,
the musical and prevalent influences,
number Weill and Zemlinsky (Schoenberg’s
brother-in-law who employed Ullmann
as his operatic factotum and later assistant
at the German Theatre in Prague). Alongside
the Angel of Death motif runs Bachian
Chorale – prominently and movingly Ein’
feste Burg, reminiscent in some ways
of the Berg Violin Concerto. All these
ingredients may seem inimical or contradictory;
but they are welded into a performance
of compressed parody and cynicism and
ultimately hope. The German Anthem is
subjected to parody as the Death-Hitler
figure at the opera’s mad centre is
introduced but Ullmann also faintly
quotes Mahler as well; the two are compatibly
conjoined in fierce and unremitting
irony.
Given the limited orchestral
and vocal forces available to him Ullmann
employs them with considerable mastery;
it was as if, in a further brittle irony,
that his formerly unfocused musical
direction could now, in such circumstances,
be directed with clarity toward a more
precise musico-dramatic object. The
Vermont/DeCormier performance is one
of a number devoted to their Terezin
project, an admirable one, performed
by an essentially non-professional cast
and in English. As with Brundibár
from the same team the immediacy of
the translation is a distinct advantage.
The thirteen members of the Vermont
Orchestra take to the roles with vigour;
they point up the Weill-influenced instrumentation
of the recitative and duet No more.
What Song was that? [No.4] as indeed
the chorus sings the chorale that ends
the work with touching and moving simplicity.
The solo singers are right inside their
roles and give dramatic credence to
them; true, they don’t all rise to the
level of the singers on the rival Zagrosek
recording but that is not to compare
like with like. This recording in some
ways mirrors the kind of forces Ullmann
would have had at his disposal (would
because the work was never performed
at Terezin) and generates a sense of
touching immediacy. Though you must
have the Zagrosek recording, this Arabesque
disc would be an apt and moving ancillary
purchase.
Jonathan Woolf
Members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra/Robert
DeCormier 