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After Twenty Years, a New Glyndebourne Figaro

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After Twenty Years, a New Glyndebourne Figaro MOZART hearer's room. Of course this results in a from tradition, but the harmonic substance Symphonies: No. 4o, in G minor, K. 55o; clarification of the by -ways of a score that is in evidence more than anywhere else, sometimes garishly No. 41, in C ( "Jupiter "), K. 551 the panoramic registration cannot obtain, and the colors flash - but it is imperious and seldom restful. The as we seldom see them. Orchestra of the Théâtre des Champs - - exposure of all the crossing routes in the An edition that must be heard, even by Elysées (Paris) , Hermann Scherchen, cond. finale of the Jupiter is an impressive coun- those who will deplore it. C. G. B. LONDON DTL 93020. 12 -in. $4.98. terbalance to the harshness of proximity. The orchestra is presented not in replica of This kind of sound gives a becoming MOZART public performance, with a recognizable fierceness to the G minor Symphony, tensely Die Zauberflöte panoramic character, but as it were vertical, conducted in spite of the slow pace of the Hilde Gueden (s), Pamina; Wilma Lipp lights in with the instruments arranged for a near - first movement. The interplay of (s), Queen of the Night; Emmy Loose (s), equality of distinctness and some readjust- the minuet and finale is very apparent, and Papagena; Leopold Simoneau (t), Tamino; ment of relative force. The effect is start- in both symphonies the contrasts of mass August Jaresch (t), Monostatos; Walter ling, particularly when reproduction is loud, and episode are striking in the care given Berry (bs), Papageno; Kurt Boehme (bs), solid but coruscat- by the conductor and the discrimination of like a cataract of sound, Continued on page 122 ing, making a spiny tangible pillar in the the sound. The Jupiter does not depart After Twenty Years, a New Glyndebourne Figaro Basilio in the Victor performance steps to Glyndebourne, where mobile in intonation, distinguishes her RETURNING out of obscurity in the crafty, agile nastiness HMV recorded the first, abbreviated, Figaro Countess beyond the distinction of any of Hugues Cuenod, whose innuendos will in 1934, HMV and Victor have pro- other, as it distinguished Cherubino in the in the Epic be admired and imitated as much for their duced a new version highly superior to the Columbia Figaro and Elvira vocal quality as for their clear -eyed charac- average of the singing, superior Don Giovanni. first in the terization. The keen communication by vitality of recorded sound, immensely The drop from this pair to the rather in the London's Basilio is shaded by such a pro- in that the recitativo secco has coarse and swaggering Cherubino of Rise superior jection. and inferior in many details Stevens is precipitous; but considered with- been included, Remain the orchestra, the direction, direction. out contrast this Cherubino is no worse of the and the sound. All considerations favor old Glyndebourne set of records than the average in the average opera The London. The Vienna Philharmonic glows belongs of course to history and ought not house, although admittedly the assurance ac- with a warmth almost to be called sentient, be used to contest for pre- eminence with with which the maladresse is flaunted to and varies its color and strength with a benefiting from twenty years of cents a blemish. (Miss Danco for London editions joyous responsiveness to the conductor's progress. There are three other is excellent; and so is Miss della Casa as technical never -stable demands. The sound is deep not sonically disqualified, of which the Countess, although not, in defiance of editions but detailed and kind to the. voices and in- best of all vocally, the Columbia nature, a second Jurinac.) one, the struments both. Orchestral refinements are of the Vienna Staatsoper The intelligent and active Figaro of Sesto representation apparent that are not essayed from Glynde- under Herbert von Karajan, is disqualified Bruscantini for Victor is notably more suc- less bourne, and the hard, brilliant Glyndebourne its excisions identical with those of the cessful than the equally intelligent but by sound, anemic from a shortage of bass, Glyndebourne; and another, the Lon- wieldy Figaro of Cesare Siepi for London: early makes a glitter even where there should be representation of the Vienna Staatsoper difference of the bulk and lie of the voices. don only tenderness. Erich Kleiber, issued two months Mr. Siepi's is the richer instrument, but it under In the great Mozart operas the conductor the only one to offer the score with- has the weight of riches. Mr. Bruscantini ago, is must intervene to contribute. The scores dismemberment. This is a brilliant is making a basso cantante of his buffo out are not explicit: the conductor must know edition, well sung, strikingly conducted, through what one assumes to be study and in from instinct or analysis when to swell his and the most proficiently registered of all. practice. The inflection of his Figaro - orchestra during the course of an aria or an Cetra version, vocally the poorest air and recitative is of a knowingness The - ensemble; when to yield to the voices, not bad, formerly valued because beyond instinct. although when to blend and when, occasionally, to retention of most of the recitative, is The Glyndebourne Count Almaviva is of its dominate. He must keep the drama alive to relative insignificance between more satisfactory than the London Count, ground and undulant, lest it have ascents and falls revolutions of the London and whose honeyed voice has been misled into the glittering of interest dependent on the vagaries of new Victor disks. plebeian stylization. The two fresh -voiced the singers. He must know when the cadence Glyndebourne of 1955 follows London's and lusty Bartolos can be considered equal. following an aria is formal and when it is integrity except for some trifling textual significant and hit accordingly. This of recitative and the rejection of omission knowledge, insight, experience this sine aria in the fourth act, "Il capro - Marcellina's qua non of direction in the Mozart e la capretta," seldom included in public operas is a Kleiber property and not performances of the opera. It has been - yet a Gui. It is a property that bends maligned and is worth the singing. It may the scales in London's favor. The hearty heard only in the London edition, en- be sound against the unhearty bends them to the singer of Susanná s part, not trusted lower. Despite Sena Jurinac and Hugues Marcellina's. Both editions include Basilio's Cuenod, the best Marriage of Figaro is "In quegli anni," equally disdained in the London's. C. G. BURKE opera house, equally worth display. Glyndebourne has not such a happy bal- MOZART ance among her three leading sopranos as Le Nozze di Figaro London, but in sum they are probably not Graziella Sciutti (s) , Susanna; Sena Jurinac inferior. The surprise will be Graziella (s), Countess Almaviva; Rise Stevens (ms), Sciutti, a Susanna young and vivid, mistress Cherubino; Monica Sinclair (c), Marcel - her voice, alertly alive to shades of of lina; Hugues Cuenod (t), Don Basilio; characterization, a little less warm vocally Sesto Bruscantini (bs) , Figaro; Franco than Hilde Gueden for London but just as Calabrese (bs) , Count Almaviva; Ian Wal- true in the vocal line. Sena Jurinac is of lace (bs) , Don Bartolo. Chorus and Or- course indispensable for Mozart opera, and chestra of the Glyndebourne Festival, 1955; that rich comforting voice with the in- VOSE GREENOUGH Vitorio Gui, cond. fallibly delicate vibrato, pure in aria and nastiness." RCA VICTOR LM 6401. Four 52-in. $15.98. recitative, compelling in staccato and Hugues Cuenod: "crafty, agile MAGAZINE I20 HIGH FIDELITY .
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