Tage Door, to No Avail. Finally the Two Village Near -Unacceptability
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Broommaker and Woodcutter ask him to return to sound helps too; unlike some EMI issues from Ger- the town; all the children of Hella bear a grudge many, it achieves that fullness without sacrifice of against their elders for mistreating him and the detail-note the firm, solid timpani strokes. At only Kiinigskinder. The Fiddler will have nothing of it, one point was I conscious of an intermediary hand but finally agrees, at the urgent pleading of the chil- between me and the performance: When the Fiddler dren, to lead them on a search for the missing pair. goes off with the children in Act III, he sings a folk - The two craftsmen remain behind, to keep warm in like tune that verges on sentimentality to start with, the cottage. Now-naturally-the Klinigskinder turn and Hermann Prey's voice has been packaged in an up, starving and frozen; they beg for food at the cot- obviously fake echo that raises the corn quotient to tage door, to no avail. Finally the two village near -unacceptability. worthies discover a loaf of bread in the cottage (re- Prey is one of the strong features of the cast, his member the Witch's baking in Act I?), and they force bluff manner ideally suited to the Fiddler (it was a the King's Son to barter his crown for it. The lovers pleasure to come back to him after hearing the dry, eat and then die quietly, covered by falling snow. ungenerous singing of Otto Goritz, the original Fid- The Fiddler and the children return and discover dler of the Met production), even when his singing is what has happened; they carry the bodies off into the rougher than it might ideally be. Helen Donath, too, sunset. has the right spirit and manner for the Goose -Girl, Quite obviously, this tale inhabits a Wagnerian though Ican imagine a tone with slightly more universe, right down to the kindergarten version of bloom; in my imaginary opera house, Judith Blegen Siegfried's funeral at the final curtain. It touches will be cast in this part. Hanna Schwarz is billed as upon questions of growing up, of finding out who an alto, but she has to push her chest register a good you are (and of recognizing who others are despite deal to make the right effect as the Witch; one sup- outward appearances), of learning to care for others, poses that Humperdinck had Schumann-Heink's and of keeping faith. Some of it is sentimental: That voice or vocal type in mind (Louise Homer sang it at final episode must be even harder to bring off with- the Met but left no recordings), and there aren't many out provoking laughter than the swan's funeral in of those around these days. Parsifal. Some of itis theatrically impractical, The weakest bit of casting is Adolf Dallapozza as though evidently not impossible: The gaggle of geese the King's Son, a part that wants a good deal of ring that attends the heroine must be even more of a prob- in the tone without suffering the heft of the true Wag- lem than Fricka's ram -driven chariot, and unfortu- nerian tenor. Hermann Jadlowker and Karl Jam did nately more essential to the story (one of the geese it at the Met, and there is an old Cologne Radio tape has to hide and then recover the King's Son's crown!). in which Peter Anders shows us how it should But much of it is genuinely touching-not least be- sound; Dallapozza simply hasn't the ring or, indeed, cause Humperdinck has the gift of simplicity and di- the technique to manage all the notes with security. rectness; his debts to Wagner are at once obvious and Karl Ridderbusch is a luxury as the Woodcutter, in firm control, so that the music never overreaches though I suspect he would not be so bland were he to and swamps the story. For example, the festival essay the part on-stage a few times; Gerhard Unger, scene in Act II owes a great deal to Die Meistersinger, more accustomed to character roles, is more vivid as but is in no way a copy; Humperdinck keeps it on a his sidekick. The others are more than tolerable. smaller scale, and the climactic moment when the Among the operatic exhumations of recent years, deep bells begin striking noon is both original and KOnigskinder strikes me as one of the most reward- impressive (sure, the idea came from Parsifal, but its ing-at least on records. (I'd love to see it in the the- treatment here is really quite different). At this dis- ater, but the problems of casting and staging are so tance, as perhaps was not possible in 1910, we can formidable that I have small expectation of encoun- hear what is distinctive about this music at least as tering it there.) More ambitious than Hansel, it is as clearly as what is derivative. expertly made and sincerely felt; if short of the blaz- All of the Wagnerian apparatus is scaled down to ing genius that we find in Richard Strauss's contem- match the directness and simplicity of the material- poraneous works, it is also without the glaring lapses much of it, as in Hansel, of basically folklike charac- of taste that sooner or later mar them. I hope it will ter. There are leitmotifs, of course, and musical form give you as much pleasure as it has given me. is built by departures from and returns to thematic material and key areas, with great skill in transition. HUIIPERDINCK: Konigskinder. The textures are lively and beautifully scored, rhyth- Goose -Girl Helen Donath (s) Broommaker's Daughter Brigitte Lindner (s) mic movement is never sacrificed to contrapuntal Witch Hanna Schwarz (ms) complexity. Only at the opera's end-a theatrical Innkeeper's Daughter Heidrun Ankersen (ms) Stable Maid Ortrun Wankel (a) danger point, as already suggested-does the music King's Son Adolf Dallapozza (t) fail to contribute much more than sentimentality; Broommaker Gerhard Unger (t) Tailor Friedrich Lenz (1) elsewhere, it is unfailingly strong and vivid, varied Fiddler Hermann Prey (b) and coherent. Senior Councillor Theodor Nicolai (b) Woodcutter Karl Ridderbusch (bs) Electrola's recorded performance isn't perfect, but Innkeeper Gunter Wewel (bs) it's enormously effective, thanks to Heinz Wallberg's TOlz Boys' Choir, Bavarian Radio Chorus and Orchestra, Heinz sure hand on the helm. His orchestra is not of the top Wallberg, cond. [Theodor Holzinger and Helmut Storjohann, rank, hut it plays with much spirit and feeling, and the prod.] EMI ODEON 1C 157 30698/700, $29.94 (three SO -en- shape of the opera, as well as its always ingenious or- coded discs, manual sequence; distributed by Peters Inter- chestration, is well conveyed. The full, rich recorded national). 90 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE.