François AUBER (1782-1871)
Ouvertures et ballets rares
Jenny Bell (1855): Overture [7:35]
L'enfant prodigue (1850): Overture [7:35]
La sirène (1844): Overture [8:41]
Vendôme en Espagne (1823): Boléro [3:56], Air pour le second ballet [6:34]
Le dieu et la bayadère (1830): Overture [7:38], No. 5 ballet [9:58]
La muette de Portici (1828) - ballet (1861): No. 1 [1:53], No. 2 [0:47], No. 3 [0:50], No. 4 [1:01], No. 5 [2:15]
Le premier jour de bonheur (1868): Overture [5:37]
Gothenburg Opera Orchestra/B. Tommy Andersson
rec. Artisten, Gothenburg University, June 2000
STERLING CDS1039-2 [64:25]
"With so much unknown material potentially in the offing,
I can only speculate pleasurably about such intriguing possibilities to come
as Julie (1805) who, according to her intriguing subtitle, is responsible
for l'erreur d'un moment; L'ambassadrice (1836) which
I take to be an early draft of Call me madam; and Jenny Bell (1855) whose
comparatively proletarian name, I'd like to think, suggests that her
opening aria might announce that Alas, there's trouble at t'mill."
Those somewhat whimsical thoughts concluded my recent review of an enjoyable
Naxos release, marketed as the first in a series of discs of Auber overtures,
performed by the Orchestre de Cannes under conductor Wolfgang Dörner (review).
Now, however, thanks to Herbert Schneider's useful booklet notes for
this somewhat older Auber collection on the Sterling label, I know that, far
from being an archetypal Gracie Fields mill girl made good, young Jenny is
an eighteenth century operatic diva who, in Eugène Scribe's rom-com
libretto, entertains the Hanoverian court with the likes of God save the King
and Rule, Britannia - and not, after all, with a quick burst of Sing as we
go. That may be something of a disappointment, but it's more than made
up for by my positive delight in discovering so much attractive and relatively
unknown music on this disc.
Turning first to the overtures, four of the five were completely new to me,
while I'd only ever made the acquaintance of the fifth - L'enfant
prodigue - when it was played on that recent Orchestre de Cannes release.
Despite having been composed at various different points over a 24 years timespan,
the three that open operas comiques - La sirène, Jenny Bell and Le premier
jour de bonheur - all demonstrate an essentially consistent approach, as Auber
introduces and develops some of the more tuneful melodies that follow in the
complete works. If none of them turns out to be quite as memorable as the
overtures to those old favourites of the genre Fra diavolo, Le domino noir
and Les diamants de la couronne, they are still full of Gallic charm, high
spirits and joie de vivre. Someone once described Auber's compositions
as "champagne in music" and it is easy to see why.
The two grand opéra overtures are equally successfully and enjoyably carried
off. Le dieu et la bayadère is another one of those manifestations of 19th
century Western Europe's fascination with the "exotic" East,
though I'm not sure that you'd guess that fact, if you were
unaware of its title. To my own ears, Auber's musical conception of
Hindustan might just as well be a depiction of Hauts-de-France. In similar
fashion, while the L'enfant prodigue overture is supposed to be introducing
a story set in biblical Judea, there are precious few musical indications
of that in its score. Given, too, that the deeply serious moral point of the
original parable is transformed by librettist Scribe into the simple lesson
that, as the booklet note neatly puts it, "if you travel to distant lands
and leave your family in the lurch, you will experience astonishing events",
it's perhaps not so surprising that Auber's way with L'enfant
prodigue emerges as less grand opéra than Grand Tour.
In addition to the five overtures, this disc also gives us the chance to hear
several examples of Auber's writing for dancers. Nineteenth century
operatic ballets have not generally had a good press. They have usually been
characterised as cuckoos in the operatic nest, sometimes holding up the on-stage
drama for as much as 20 or 30 minutes. Nonetheless, some of them not only
have good tunes, but are artistically worthwhile both in what they add to
the opera and in their own right (see here
for an interesting piece by the Royal Opera's writer in residence Sarah
Hibberd on the importance of the ballet episodes in Rossini's William
Tell). The dance selections on this disc may have been written over a period
of almost four decades but, just as with the overtures, Auber maintains an
essential consistency of style, even while incorporating, with varying degrees
of success, supposedly "Spanish", "Hindustani" and "Neapolitan"
rhythms, orchestrations and effects into his scores in an attempt to match
the locations of the on-stage action.
This disc includes the world premiere recordings of both the first dance music
Auber ever wrote for the Paris Opera, Vendôme en Espagne, and the ballet for
Le dieu et la bayadère. Some of the numbers from the ballet sequence added
to the 1828 opera La muette de Portici more than three decades after its premiere
are, on the other hand, more familiar: they have appeared on CD before, albeit
in restructured form as the well-known stand-alone exhibition piece - and
regular dance competition favourite - the Grand pas classique. As is the case
throughout this disc, the Gothenburg Opera Orchestra under conductor B. Tommy
Andersson plays both idiomatically and with immense enthusiasm. Their performances
- delivered with a touch more theatrical panache than those of the Orchestre
de Cannes, as well as on a somewhat sonically larger scale - have been recorded
in crystal clear and well-balanced sound by an obviously skilled engineering
team.
A "personal note", added to the booklet notes by the Sterling label's
executive producer Bo Hyttner, makes his own enthusiasm for this music very
obvious. I suspect, however, that it will not be enough to convince many listeners
that these scores are any more than lightweight, if undeniably tuneful, romps
that remain generally formulaic and inevitably constrained by the requirements
of mid-19th century theatrical convention. While it's certainly convenient
to have orchestral excerpts from seven of Auber's operas made available
on a single disc, the experience of listening to them in sequence one after
the other tends to rob them of any individual identity, to which they might
otherwise have laid claim. For the composer's individuality - such
as it may be - to emerge, I suspect that his music needs to be programmed
alongside that of other contemporaries, as was generally the case years ago,
when record companies frequently put out releases of miscellaneous "favourite"
overtures. Such an exercise might throw Auber's distinctive qualities
into sharper relief and be a more effective means, perhaps, of justifying
Mr Hyttner's admiration.
"Champagne in music" this may be, but I suspect that most listeners
will find that, just like the finest vintage, it's best appreciated
by the single glass rather than by the magnum at a single sitting.
Rob Maynard
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