Simon MAYR (1763–1845)
Il sogno di Partenope (The Dream of Parthenopia: Cantata Opera)
(1817)
Partenope - Andrea Lauren Brown (soprano)
Minerva - Sara Hershkowitz (soprano)
Urania - Caroline Adler (soprano)
Tersicore - Florence Lousseau (mezzo)
Mercurio - Cornel Frey (tenor)
Apollo - Robert Sellier (tenor)
Il Tempo - Andreas Burkhart (bass)
Members of the Bavarian State Opera Chorus
Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble/Franz Hauk
World première recording
rec. Kongregationssaal, Neuburg an der Donau, Germany, 2012. DDD
Libretto and translations available online.
Reviewed as lossless CD-quality download from
eclassical.com.
NAXOS 8.573236 [65:56]
Naxos have made several recordings of the Simon Mayr Chorus and Ensemble
under the direction of Franz Hauk in the music of their eponymous composer
which have been (very) well received by myself (the Te Deum)
and several of my colleagues:
• Concertos – Recording of the Month – review
– review
and review
• L’Armonia and Cantata on the Death of Beethoven
– review
• David in Spelunca Engedi – review
• Samuele – Recording of the Month – review
and review
• Il Sagrifizio di Jefte – review
• Te Deum (with Mozart Missa solemnis in C) – review
• Tobiæ Matrimonium – review
and review
I admit to being a little less entranced by the new recording. Il
Sogno di Partenope is classified as a cantata opera, a form which
briefly filled the gap between the old opera seria of the eighteenth
century and early nineteenth-century melodrama, of neither of which
I am over-fond. Having tried without much success with even Mozart’s
opere serie, La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo Re di
Creta – at least I’ve never come to love or even enjoy either as
much as Don Giovanni, Figaro or Die Zauberflöte
– I’m happy to confess that it’s probably a personal idiosyncrasy that
left me disappointed with the new release by comparison with my enjoyment
of the Te Deum. Nor am I a great fan of the early Rossini operas
to which, as Thomas Linder writes in the booklet, the cantata opera
opened the way.
Of the work which was performed for King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
in 1817, to celebrate the reopening of the Naples Theatre damaged by
fire the previous year, only the second part has survived. Perhaps part
of my comparative lack of enthusiasm can be laid at the door of the
fact that what we have is an incomplete work. With so many very fine
Mayr/Naxos recordings already on offer and, presumably, more to come
– Mayr was a very prolific composer – I’d advise sampling this new release
first if you can. Subscribers to the very valuable Naxos Music Library
will find it there,
together with a link to the booklet and libretto.
What remains consists of some attractive music which improves as the
act progresses: at least I found myself warming to it more beyond the
mid-point. It’s well, often very well, performed and, in any case, it’s
the first and only recording. Andrea Lauren Brown has the lion’s share
of the solo singing and she copes very well with some often taxing music
which might well merit the name of bel canto. I’d have liked
to have heard the Queen of bel canto, Joan Sutherland, in her
prime sing some of this music, but I doubt if she could have done very
much better. Try E fia ver già? track 13. The libretto, lauding
the King of the Two Sicilies who was present in the audience – the word
RE is even capitalised in the text – as the image of God, is hardly
conducive to modern appreciation, but lovers of fine singing will enjoy
the music and the performance of this aria.
Perhaps the performers warmed more and more to the music, like me, as
the act progressed? That was certainly my impression.
I know it’s not the case that I don’t warm to Mayr in general, as that
Te Deum review demonstrates, but I listened from Naxos Music
Library to another recording in this series just to be sure: Arianna
in Nasso (Ariadne on Naxos, 1818) is another dramatic cantata, this
time in one act and surviving in its entirety (Naxos 8.573065 – recorded
in 2007) and we don’t seem to have reviewed it. There are only two characters,
Ariadne and Bacchus, and the plot is less convoluted – the familiar
story of Ariadne’s abandonment and discovery by the god Bacchus (Dionysus),
which Gluck and Richard Strauss both employed for operas.
Cornelia Horak as Ariadne doesn’t have quite the same vocal range and
technique as Andrea Lauren Brown – both roles were written for Isabella
Colbran, later to be the wife of Rossini – but the text and music hang
together better than Il Sogno di Partenope and the recording
is a little more immediate.
Even at a higher volume than usual I found the recording of Il Sogno
a little distant. I started listening with my DAC set for 96kHz – it’s
a small problem with the otherwise excellent Dragonfly that it doesn’t
automatically read the correct setting but has to be changed manually
– but even changing to the correct 44kHz setting didn’t improve matters
very much. Just as I warmed more to the music and performances as matters
progressed, however, so the recording seemed to become rather more immediate.
The booklet offers helpful notes about the music but only a very brief
synopsis of the somewhat convoluted plot. The libretto and translation
are not included but can be found online. The text of the dedication
and the missing Part I are also included.
Overall, then, though I warmed much more to the music, performance and
recording towards the end of the work, I would suggest that those embarking
on their first exploration of the music of Mayr begin with one of the
other recordings that I have listed. Alternatively, you may wish to
sample Il Sogno di Partenope first.
Brian Wilson
Previous review: Göran
Forsling
