MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


alternatively Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (A kékszakállú Herceg Vára), Op. 11/Sz 48 (1911/18)  
Duke Bluebeard – Gustáv Beláček (bass)
Judith – Andrea Meláth (mezzo)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
rec. 17-18 May 2007, Concert Hall, Lighthouse, Poole, UK. No libretto provided
NAXOS OPERA CLASSICS 8.660928 [57:45] 



Judith’s scream at the opening of the fifth door in Bluebeard must be among the most chilling moments in all opera. But then – at one level – Béla Balázs’s libretto is all about a wife discovering her husband’s hidden violence. It’s also a remarkably compact work that responds well to different interpretations. The classic Kertész recording with Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry is gripping from start to finish (remastered on Decca Legends 466 3772), but for me the Haitink disc with with Anne Sofie von Otter and John Tomlinson remains the benchmark. Vividly recorded and gloriously sung it is also unerringly paced (EMI 56162).
 
So how does Alsop’s Bournemouth performance stack up? Surprisingly well, as it happens, but those who prefer their Bartók red in tooth and claw may find this recording a little tame. Persevere, though, because although Alsop’s reading sounds more intimate and chamber-like than usual it has a compelling dramatic logic that holds your attention all the way through.
 
The Bournemouth band play well for Alsop who is bound to be missed in Poole, now that she’s taken up her post in Baltimore. The somewhat recessed soundstage suits the conductor’s more low-key approach to the score. That said the C major chords for full orchestra and the fortissimo organ entry at the fifth door are thrillingly caught, though for sheer tingle the EMI recording is hard to beat.
 
The singing is similarly deceptive. Andrea Meláth’s Judith sounds much more girlish and vulnerable than usual but she clearly understands this role and sings it with a pleasing, secure tone. Even the vocal demands of the infamous fifth door hold no terrors for her. While the Slovak bass Gustáv Beláček is perhaps less commanding than Tomlinson one could argue that his outward charm makes Judith’s wifely compliance – ‘I’ll warm the cold stone ... I’ll warm it with my body’ – that much easier to understand.
 
Bartók’s colourful but unnerving orchestration sounds a little veiled when compared with the more lucid EMI recording, where the Berliner Philharmoniker bring out – or should one say wring out – every last detail of the score. Predictably all those Bartókian touches – the solo trumpet and woodwind trills at the Armoury (door two) and the harp glissandi, tremolo strings and solo horn that reveal the Garden behind door four – are superbly realised. The real surprise for me is that Haitink, not normally a conductor I warm to, has a solid grasp of the work’s dramatic structure and conveys a growing sense of unease that Alsop, for all her strengths, can’t quite match.
 
It all comes down to a difference of emphasis, really, but such is the score’s hypnotic power that it rarely fails to entrance the listener. Naxos have produced a robust and intelligent Bluebeard that is well worth hearing, not least for its idiomatic singing. The recording is commendably warm and atmospheric, even if it lacks that last ounce of immediacy. Regrettably there is no libretto either with the disc or online, which may be a drawback for those who don’t know the opera. That said a basic synopsis and background notes are included and the disc is generously cued.
 
Whether you’re new to Bluebeard or you already have the Kertész and/or the Haitink this outwardly rather restrained performance burns with a slow, steady flame that is impossible to ignore. A fitting climax to Alsop’s tenure with the BSO and an absolute bargain to boot.
 
Dan Morgan
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.