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             


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

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos 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

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Paul DUKAS (1865-1935)
Ariane Et Barbe-Bleue - opera in three acts (1907)  [116:15]
Ariane - Deborah Polaski (soprano)
Nurse - Jane Henschel (contralto)
Bluebeard - Kwangchul Youn (bass)
Sélysette - Ruxandra Donose (contralto)
Bellangère - Stella Grigorian (soprano)
Ygraine - Ileana Tonka (soprano)
Mélisande - Nina Bernsteiner (soprano)
An Old Peasant - Ante Jerkunica (bass)
Second Peasant - Erik Årman (tenor)
Third Peasant - Markus Raab (bass)
Slovak Philharmonic Choir/Blanka Juhanakova
Radio-Symphonyorchester Wien/Bertrand De Billy
rec. live, Wiener Konzerthaus, 5 May 2006
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94254 [69:42 + 46:33]

Experience Classicsonline


Alternative recording from Telarc
 
The French composer, Paul Dukas, was not prolific though he had composed a symphony, ballets, and L’apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). His full-length opera, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue was completed in 1907 and premiered in May of that year at the Opéra Comique in Paris. It tells the story of Duke Bluebeard, a tale that made the basis for operas set by Offenbach, Bartók and Reznicek. In the Dukas version, the drama is focused on Ariane. The entire opera is female-dominated as Ariane takes her fate into her own hands after unsuccessfully trying to convince the other incarcerated wives to follow her to freedom from Bluebeard.
 
Listeners will find the same attention to detail and colour in this work as Dukas’s more famous, L’apprenti sorcier. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue is a sombre work full of colour, mysticism, and beautiful melodies. It has often been compared to Debussy's opera, Pelléas et Mélisande (1902). I also find similarities to the orchestral impressions in Stravinsky’s seminal Firebird and Rimsky-Korsakov’s le coq d'or. There is also some of the same elegant nobility found in Wagner’s Parsifal.
 
The overall impression of the work is somewhat subdued but as it builds dramatically there are moments of great orchestral and vocal virtuosity. Notice in Act 1, movement 10, “Ariane, que faites-vous?” what a glorious ascent there is to the climax. The unfolding drama happens more inside the character’s head rather than outward.
 
This is such a lovely opera but it’s full of the sort of solemn refinement one would expect from a composer as refined as Dukas. This performance could, however, have benefited from a greater sense of mystery. Just imagine what this would have sounded like had Stokowski conducted it.
 
There are many marvellous moments from the Slovak Philharmonic Choir and Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien. The singing by Deborah Polaski in the title role is exemplary ranging from determined to fearful. There is a nice sense of vulnerability to her voice that lends itself well to the story. The recording has good stereo separation - female chorus clearly on the left and men on the right - and the audio has clarity with a wide dynamic range.
 
The soloists are well blended with the chorus and orchestra, though, I would have preferred the soloists being a touch more prominent in the mix.
 
The performance is first rate and there is little or no evidence that what we hear emanates from a live concert performance.
 
The English and German liner notes are not extensive and unfortunately there is no libretto.
 
Karim Elmahmoudi 

see also review of same recording (Oehms OC915) by Göran Forsling

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


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






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.