RICHARD STRAUSS - DAPHNE           DYNAMIC CDS 499/1-2

Strauss’s single act opera Daphne premiered at Dresden’s Staatstheater in 1938, when Germany Nazism was rampant (the original librettist, the Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, had to be replaced by Joseph Gregor). Drawn from classical myth, Daphne tells the story of a young virgin, the daughter of Gaea (here human, but named for the goddess of the earth) and Peneios (a fisherman, named for a river god). On the slopes of Mt. Olympus, Daphne proclaims her love of nature and daylight while Leukippos, her childhood friend, tries vainly to win her heart. At the feast of Dionysus, a thunderstorm rages and the god Apollo arrives in the guise of a mortal to fall in love with Daphne. Leukippos, disguised as a woman, dances with her, provoking the god’s jealousy. Apollo gives away Leukippos’ masquerade then angrily kills him, leaving Daphne filled with grief and remorse. Apollo, moved by her sorrow, begs pardon from Dionysus and asks Zeus to grant Daphne’s wishes. In the moonlight, she is transformed into a sacred laurel tree, her wordless song echoing from its branches to express her deep identification with nature. The opera is a masterpiece of early 20th-century vocal music, with refined orchestration and demanding vocal writing for all the main characters. On this excellent double CD recording, the soprano June Anderson is outstanding as Daphne and Birgit Remmert, a mezzo with an amazing vocal range, makes a splendidly dignified Gaea. The other leading soloists are Roberto Saccà, Scott Mac Allister and Daniel Lewis Williams, and the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenicey di Venezia is conducted by Stefan Anton Reck.

WEIGL - DIE SCHWEITZER FAMILIE         GUILD  GMCD 7298/9

The prolific Viennese composer and conductor Joseph Weigl (1766-1846) can be seen as a link between Mozart and Schubert. He was born in Eisenstadt and studied music under Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri before becoming Kapellmeister at the court theatre in Vienna in 1792. He wrote several operas, both in Italian and German, most of them being comic, as well as 18 ballets, 11 masses, two oratorios, 22 cantatas and much chamber music. He also directed many music performances and became a favourite at the imperial court. After composing his first Opera at the aged only 16 he went on to write many other stage entertainments, most notably Die Schweitzer Familie (The Swiss Family) and L’amor marinaro, from which  Ludwig van Beethoven used a theme in the finale of his Trio for clarinets in B Major, op. 11. The Swiss Family became one of the most popular German-language Singspiels in the first half of the 19th century - more successful even than Beethoven’s Fidelio and some of the Mozart operas. Following its première in 1809 at the Vienna Kärntnertor Theatre, it was performed on stage almost everywhere between Paris and St. Petersburg as well as in Stockholm and Milan. After its apparently last production in Munich in 1918 it was not performed again until 2004. This fascinating world premiere recording features Tobias Müller-Kopp as a rich landowner, Count Wallstein and Petri Mikael Pöyhönen as his steward. Stephan Bootz and Olivia Vermeulen play a poor Swiss farmer and his wife, with Marília Vargas is their unhappy daughter, Emmeline, and Roman Payer portrays her lover, Jacob. The Chorus and Orchestra Dreieck are conducted in authentic style by Uri Rom.

VIVALDI - MOTEZUMA       DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON/ARVHIV PRODUKTION

The prolific composer Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, Italy. Of the forty operas that Vivaldi wrote, only about twenty are known to survive. Although though the libretto for his opera, Motezuma, had survied, the music had been missing since its world premiere in 1733. Fortunately a fragment of the whole representing 12 of 22 arias was found among the archives of the Berliner Singakademie in 2002. After being seized by the Soviet Army at the close of World War Two, the archive emerged in Kiev in 1999 and was returned to Germany a few years later. As was common with ‘opera seria’, the score consists of long recitatives interspersed with arias. This splendid three-CD box set from Deutsche Grammophon/Archiv Produktion features the world premiere recording of this rediscovered work, one of Vivaldi’s most ambitious, colourful and exotic scores. The story is loosely based on the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés and the downfall of its former emperor Moctezuma (also ‘Montezuma’ - there are a variety of theories as to why the librettist adopted ‘Motezuma’), though the libretto includes a fictional love story between Moctezuma’s daughter and Cortés’s brother. The harpsichordist, conductor and Baroque music specialist Alan Curtis has assembled a fine cast of vocalists for this recording, including Vito Priante (Motezuma), Marijana Mijanovic (Mitrena) and Maite Beaumont (Fernando). Curtis also contributed to the meticulous editing and reconstructing of the music that was missing from the recovered manuscript, collaborating with leading Vivaldi experts to produce the new edition heard on this recording. This is remarkable discovery and all concerned should be congratulated for rescuing such an important opera from oblivion.

BRITTEN - THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA       PEARL GEMS 0231

Benjamin Britten two-act opera, The Rape of Lucretia, has an English libretto by Ronald Duncan based on André Obey’s play Le Viol de Lucrèce. The work was first performed at Glyndebourne on July 12, 1946, and featured Kathleen Ferrier’s operatic debut as Lucretia. Her character is wife to the Roman general Collatinus and is reputed to be the only chaste woman in Rome, making her an irresistible challenge to the loathed Etruscan Prince, Tarquinius. The rape drives Lucretia, her honour lost, to suicide. An interesting aspect of this opera is the telling of the story by a Greek Chorus - a tenor and a soprano. The story is set about 500BC, but the Chorus is Christian. Thus the pagan myth of Lucretia is juxtaposed with the Christian morals identified by the Chorus, who comment on the action ‘out of time’ (as in Greek tragedy). For both economic and aesthetic reasons, Britten devised this work, first performed a year after Peter Grimes, as a chamber opera utilising a small cast and an orchestra of only thirteen players. The pared-down textures enhanced the composer’s operatic vision and later inspired Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw. This two-CD set features rare recordings made in Glyndebourne in 1946 and 1947, with a cast that includes Peter Pears and Owen Brannigan as well as the irreplaceable Kathleen Ferrier. The second CD also has a 1949 recording of the incidental music that Britten wrote for his friend, Ronald Duncan’s play, Stratton. This is an invaluable addition to the available recordings of one of the Twentieth Century’s most important composers.

IL TROVATORE/MANON LESCAUT - ROYAL SWEDISH OPERA   CAPRICE CAP 22051

The Royal Swedish Opera was founded in 1773 on the wishes of King Gustaf III, who decreed that all opera be sung in Swedish. The beautiful Opera House opened in Stockholm in 1782 but ten years later the King was assassinated. His death was immortalised by Giuseppe Verdi in A Masked Ball and the same composer wrote Il Trovatore, first produced in 1853. This has long been a popular work in the repertoire thanks largely to the wonderful melodiousness of the score. Jussi Björling made his debut at the Royal Opera House and returned in 1957 to take the part of Manrico in Il Trovatore, with the Norwegian soprano Aase Nordmo as Leonora and the superb baritone Hugo Hasslo as Count Luna. Luckily, a member of the choir placed a tape recorder in the wings at the request of the mezzo-soprano Margaret Bergström, who had the role of Azucena. Stefan Johansson, now head dramaturgist at the Opera, borrowed it for a radio broadcast in the 1980s and caused a sensation. Because the first scene is missing on this recording, there has been room for a bonus: Jussi Björling in all the des Grieux solos as well as the final scene with Hjördis Schymberg in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut - a 1959 recording of one of his last performances at the Opera. Björling is in terrific form and this two-CD set of rare recordings make up the first volume in a series called the Royal Swedish Opera Archives. In eight volumes, the Royal Opera and Caprice will present some of the finest ‘house recordings’ made during the years 1956-60 with soloists such as Björling, Schymberg, Nilsson, Sigurd Björling and Kerstin Meyer. Others so far in this invaluable series feature Der Rosenkavalier and Fidelio with Birgit Nilsson (CAP 22052), Samson et Dalila and Les Troyens (CAP 22054) and Aida, Lohengrin and Parsifal (CAP 22055).

JUDITH WEIR - BLOND ECKBERT          NMC D106

Born in Cambridge of Scottish parents, Judith Weir studied with John Tavener in London and at King’s College, Cambridge with Robin Holloway. Her interest in theatre, narrative and folklore has resulted in several full length operas as well as collaborations with the Royal National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. She has also composed a song cycle for Jessye Norman as well as music for Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO and a series of chamber works for the Schubert Ensemble. Blond Eckbert, Judith Weir’s first opera, is based on Ludwig Tieck’s dark and complex tale of an elderly couple whose quiet life unravels as their fantastical past catches up with them. Eckbert and his wife Berthe live in seclusion in the Harz Moutains. One stormy night, Eckbert’s friend Walther arrives and, to while away the time, Berthe tells him her life story. Walther seems to know a great deal about Berthe’s early life and Eckbert’s suspicions grow, eventually leading him to murder Walther during a hunting expedition. Eckbert then revisits the fairy-tale scenes of Berthe’s childhood, accompanied by a magical singing bird, and learns the terrible truth about Walther, Berthe and himself. The music’s apparent simplicity, with echoes of Weber’s Freischütz, belies its underlying darkness. This excellent recording, originally released by Collins Classics in 1994, features the Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera, conducted by Sian Edwards, with soloists Nicholas Folwell, Anne-Marie Owens Christopher Ventris and Nerys Jones. This is a touching and beautiful work by one of Britain’s most accomplished composers.

CANTOLOPERA - MEZZO SOPRANO 3     BELLA MUSICA  BM 31.2401

Cantalopera is an impressive new anthology that gathers together some of the most famous arias in the opera repertoire. This is a stimulating musical itinerary through an art form that has characterised the history of Italian music for over two centuries and whose appeal continues to grow. Uniquely, Cantalopera gives you the opportunity to hear a complete performance model and then stand in for the soloists by singing to the accompaniment of a symphonic orchestra. This approach offers opera enthusiasts an occasion for entertainment as well as for testing their personal talent. Apart from being great fun, it can also be a valuable support to aspiring singers and a useful application tool for professionals, providing an in-depth teaching aid. On this CD in the series, the soloists to emulate and aspire to are the Italian Santina Lanza and Russian singer Galia Tchernova, and the Compagnia d’Opera Italiana are conducted by Antonello Gotta. The arias here are by Bellini, Ponchielli (from La Gioconda), Verdi (Don Carlo and Il Trovatore), Bizet (Carmen), Massenet (Werther) and Cilea (L’Arlesiana). The entire project consists of 140 arias by Italian and foreign composers, from Gluck to Mozart, from Gounod to Wagner, in addition to Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. It provides a fascinating world view of opera that should appeal to opera lovers, students, teachers and professionals alike.

JOSEF FOERSTER - EVA           MARCO POLO 8225308-09

Czech composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951) was born in Prague and studied at the Prague conservatory. He married the singer Bertha Lauterer in Hamburg and earned his living as an organist, critic and teacher both there and in Vienna. He moved back to Czechoslovakia in 1939 and seven years later was the first person to be declared a National Composer. His varied compositions include five symphonies as well as other orchestral works, chamber music (including five string quartets and a popular wind quintet), concertos for cello and violin, and much liturgical music. The most famous of his six operas is Eva, first staged in 1899 and based on Gabriela Preissova’s sensational play, Gazdina roba (The Farmer’s Woman). Foerster had earlier reviewed the play, which tells the story of a socially respectable farmer’s wife who  scandalously leaves her husband to live unmarried with another man. The music is lyrical but Foerster doesn’t shrink from showing the harshness of country life as the tragic story unfolds. The soloists on this double-CD include soprano Iveta Jiríková in the title role, Kostyantyn Andreyev, Denisa Hamarová, Igor Tarasov, Elizabeth Batton and Roland Davitt. The Wexford Festival Opera Chorus and Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra are conducted by Jaroslav Kyzlink. This recording, made in 2004, is one of a series of unjustly neglected operas performed at the Wexford Festival, including productions of Saverio Mercadante’s La Vestale (Marco Polo 8.225310-11) and Walter Braunfels’ fairy-tale opera, Prinzessin Brambilla, first performed in Stuttgart in 1909 (Marco Polo 8.225312-13).

MOZART 250th ANNIVERSARY EDITION - OPERAS 1     WARNER 2564 62329-2

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, Jan. 27, 1756. He began composing minuets by the age of five and was already writing symphonies by the time he was nine, as well as being a virtuoso keyboard player and violinist. He went on to excel at every type of music in which he composed, helping to perfect the grand forms of symphony, opera, string quartet and concerto during the classical period in music. Mozart's operas in particular contain remarkable psychological insights and were central to the composer's creative life, representing the peak of his genius. In the 1780s, he wrote three unsurpassed operas with the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte that deal with love in its many forms, from the humanely comic (The Marriage of Figaro) and mythically resonant (Don Giovanni) to the elegantly cynical (Così fan tutte). All three operas are included in this superb box set of nine CDs, issued to mark the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. They feature outstanding recordings made in the early 1990s by Daniel Barenboim with the RIAS Kammerchor and Berlin Philharmoniker. The first-class array of soloists includes Lella Cuberli (Fiordiligi in Cosi), Cecilia Bartoli (a delightful Cherubino in Figaro), Joan Rogers (Despina, Zerlina and Susanna), John Tomlinson (Don Alfonso, Leporello and Figaro), Waltraud Meier (Donna Elvira) and Andreas Schmidt (Count Almaviva). Other great value box sets in this desirable ANNIVERSARY EDITION series include OPERAS 2 (eight CDs: Warner 2564-62330-2) featuring Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus musicus Wien in some of Mozart’s less well known works: La finta giardiniera, Lucio Silla, and Il re pastore. The soloists are Thomas Moser, Edita Gruberova, Uwe Heilmann, Dawn Upshaw, Ann Murray and Thomas Hampson. OPERAS 3 (nine CDs: Warner 2564-62331-2) has four undisputed masterpieces: La clemenza di Tito, Die Zauberflöte, Idomeneo and Die Entfürhrung aus dem Serail. The soloists here are Philip Langridge, Lucia Popp (a wonderful Lucia), Ruth Ziesak, Ann Murray, Barbara Bonney (delightful as Pamina) and  Matti Salminen. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Chor and Mozart-Orchester des Opernhauses Zürich.

EMMA BELL - HANDEL OPERATIC ARIAS           LINN CKD 252

The outstanding young British soprano Emma Bell studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she won several awards, before joining the Glyndebourne Chorus in 1998, making her Glyndebourne Touring Opera debut in a performance of Handel’s Rodelinda. She subsequently repeated this role for the Glyndebourne Festival and her other performances have included Donna Elvira and Radamisto for Opera North and Almirena in Rinaldo for Grange Park Opera. She has also sung for Geneva Opera and the Komische Oper, Berlin, and has given recitals at the Bath, Buxton and Brighton festivals, as well as in the Wigmore Hall. Emma Bell made her début with the English National Opera as Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito and this new disc, issued in SACD format, coincides with her Royal Opera House debut as Leonore in Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade. She sings 11 arias representing the whole of Handel’s London operatic career, from his first (Rinaldo, 1711) to the last (Deidamia, 1741), showing his wide range of moods. Tracks include the heartbreaking ‘M’hai resa infelice’ (Deidamia), ‘Piangerò la sorte mia’ (Guilio Cesare) and ‘Se’l mio duol’ from Rodelinda, a role which Emma Bell is rapidly making her own. The excellent Scottish Chamber Orchestra is directed from the harpsichord by Richard Egarr. This impressive album shows that Emma Bell’s fresh and sensual voice is as much at home in the world of Baroque opera as it was for late Romantic lied in her acclaimed debut release last year of songs by Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss and Joseph Marx (LINN CKD 238). ‘Emma Bell sings Rodelinda with gorgeous tone and spectacular vocal control over the role’s well-nigh impossible range’ - The Guardian.