Your favorite Bluebeard's Castle (Bartók)

[Michael Lee]

I've got two accounts right now that I really like. The first is Anne Sofie von Otter and John Tomlinson, with Bernard Haitink conducting the Berlin Philharmonic (EMI). Very polished performance all around. The other is a classic: Tatiana Troyanos and Siegmund Nimsgern, with Pierre Boulez conducting the New York Philharmonic (Sony). I actually prefer the latter, but it's missing the Prologue at the beginning (which I actually like to hear, even though it's often omitted for being a little over-the-top).

I've been looking for another recording with which to supplement these. Maybe Jessye Norman and Lászlo Polgár w/ Boulez/Chicago Symphony, or Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry w/ István Kertész/London Symphony, although I also see well-reviewed recordings out there by Sylvia Sass and Kolos Kováts w/ Solti/London Philharmonic, Olga Szőnyi and Mihály Székely w/ Antal Doráti/London Symphony, Ildikó Komlósi and Kolos Kováts w/ Iván Fischer/Royal Concertgebouw, and Elena Zhidkova and Willard White w/ Valery Gergiev/London Symphony.

Does anybody want to vouch for one of these recordings (or another one entirely)?

[Jerry]

Worth seeking out (if you can find it) is the CD that accompanied the
BBC Music Magazine from October 1993 (Gwynne Howell & Sally Burgess,
conducted by Mark Elder). It includes the spoken prologue (in English)
and is sung in English. This is really a dialogue work and there is
an immense benefit to Anglophone listeners to be seamlessly immersed
in the unfolding drama.

Jerry


drama

[Michael Lee]

Thanks! I don't mind the Hungarian, actually, although I've yet to hear the work in English or German (another common translation). I've got a copy of the libretto that I like to leaf through when I listen, anyways. I bought it for last year's production by the Met Opera (double-billed with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta). I thought Mikhail Petrenko and Nadja Michael were both very good (Gergiev's direction of the orchestra was as well, although not up to my usual high expectations for Gergiev). The event itself was slightly marred by the protester who ascended the stage at the end of Iolanta.

The orchestra on that BBC Music Magazine CD appears to be the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. I'll borrow a copy from Juilliard or Columbia sometime this week, just to get a listen in before buying.

[sunn...@gmail.com]

Kubelik (live recoridng on Audite. 24bit flac is available on audite.de) is worth listening just for his conducting alone.

[Alan Dawes]

In article <21968d69-ab2e-4fd7...@googlegroups.com>,

I've just found my CD - it is BBC MUSIC Volume 2 number 2 MM114.

You need to be aware that for the first couple of years of the BBC Music
magazine the CDs were pressed by PDO in the UK and thus some have
deteriorated due to "bronzing" so you need to check before buying. This is
complicated by the background of the label side being an overall light
bronze colour which is not "bronzing". Look on the silvery playing side if
it has started to "bronze" the outermost track will show patches of rust
colour and when you play the last track (ie the outermost one) there will
be crackling and skipping which gets worse the nearer the end of the CD
that you get.

I've just played my CD and it is still OK after all these years, but
several others of my CDs from the early BBC MUSIC magazine did bronze,
luckily the only one that I wanted to keep (Mahler 10 Mark Wigglesworth
MM124) was replaced by Pat Burns of PDO about 18 years ago (unfortunately
PDO stopped the replacement service about 10 years ago).

Alan

--
alan....@argonet.co.uk
alan....@riscos.org
Using an ARMX6

[Raymond Hall]

I have the Kertesz/LSO disk, but remember being slightly underwhelmed, maybe due to the very high expectations I was led to expect.

I have been pondering the Boulez recording with the BBC SO on Sony. I think that above you are saying this is with the NYPO, but I think you might be mistaken here.

Ray Hall, Taree

[Michael Lee]

Yes, you're right, of course. I have the 4-disc set "Boulez conducts Bartók, Scriabin." Most of the performances are by the NYPO, but the BBC Symphony plays on Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta and on Bluebeard's Castle. Regardless, it's an excellent performance, although (as the Gramophone review of the performance attests: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/bart%C3%B3k-duke-bluebeards-castle-3), neither singer is a native Hungarian speaker, so some elements of interaction between the text and score feel slightly lost. One of the reasons why I'm considering opting for a couple of the recordings I listed (many of which boast a native speaker playing Judith and/or Bluebeard).

[cooper...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, August 21, 2016 at 11:41:47 PM UTC-4, Michael Lee wrote:

How about one of the Ferencsik recordings, perhaps the one with Klára Palánkay and Mihály Székely. Very powerful; listen to samples (and download lossless) here: https://hungarotonmusic.com/opera/bartok-bluebeard-s-castle-p3235.html. Or the one with György Melis and Katalin Kasza (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Hungaroton/HCD11486) Melis is phenomenal; Kasza less so. Of the others that you list, I'd probably go for Szőnyi/Székely/Doráti. I find Haitink *too* polished, but do like Boulez very much.

AC

[ljk...@aol.com]

From the "Bluebeard's Castle" survey in "Opera on Record 3."

The author of the chapter, David Murray, says that Ferencsik II's
Gyorgy Melies, "makes an uncommonly youthful Bluebeard, [but] he has
the advantage that the role lies perfectly for his voice," while
Katalin Kasza "is Judith to the life, nervily eager, selflessly
intense. She is as precise with her music as any Judith (more than
most) and commands an astringent lower register, without any throaty
bark or adipose richness. By comparison, Christa Ludwig's Judith
sounds almost maternal, too sympathetic and cuddlesome: how could she
prosecute such a dangerous enterprise? The immediate pathos of the
Kertesz reduces the objective dimension; Solti and Boulez, in their
different ways, are hieratic at the expense of dramatic urgency and
contrast. Theirs are distinguished performances, but Ferencsik strikes
a true balance."

Also, Murray comes up with this line:

"[While] the opera does not lend itself to excerpts, someone did exclaim excitedly after a Boulez
concert performance, 'They ought to release the Fifth Door as a single!' "

Larry Kart

[cooper...@gmail.com]

Thanks for sharing the review. I like the conflation of György Melis with Georges Méliès: there is something lunar (loony?) about "Bluebeard's Castle" :-) Yes, Kasza is definitely "astringent" (not just in her lower register) but her performance is thrilling, and if there is a better Bluebeard than Melis, I haven't heard him.

What does David Murray say about Palánkay, who was so closely associated with the role of Judith for so long? And does he mention Ferencsik's recording with Nesterenko and Obraztsova (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBIsUF2yCC4)? If I were Bluebeard in that performance I'd worry about being done in by Judith :-) (Nesterenko is in glorious voice, though.)

Anyway, the links that I posted previously allow for some comparison of the two key Ferencsik performances.

AC

[Oscar]

On Monday, August 22, 2016, sunn wrote:
>
> Kubelik (live recoridng on Audite. 24bit flac is available on audite.de) is worth listening just for his
> conducting alone.

An astounding performance. I have it on Compact Digital Disc.

[ljk...@aol.com]

Unfortunately, I don't own the book, and the library where I checked it out has since de-acessioned it.

Larry Kart

[Paul Goodman]

I went to the concerts with the CSO/Boulez/ Jessye Norman and loved
that performance. I remember it took a long time afterwards for the
recording to be released, so I ended up getting the Dorati on Mercury
Living Presence. It has been a long time since I listened to this
performance, but I don't think you can go wrong with this one.

--
Paul Goodman

[furrybear57]

I rescued my Ormandy recording (sung in English, no prologue) by having the LP professionally cleaned and then transferred to CD. Sound is excellent and Jerome Hines sings with a wonderfully cavernous voice. His Bluebeard was terrific and I found Ormandy a very sympathetic conductor. Rosalind Elias is so-so. along with all the other recordings you've listed, one should make room for Ormandy's.

[Michael Lee]

On Monday, August 22, 2016 at 7:27:32 AM UTC-4, Raymond Hall wrote:

Actually, I realized that I do, in fact, also have a Troyanos/Nimsgern recording with the New York Philharmonic. It's taken from a live performance in 1981. Not conducted by Boulez, however, but by Rafael Kubelik. I quite enjoy that one as well; it presents a much more dramatic reading of the text than the Boulez/BBC recording, and the NYPO's playing is thrilling.

[Raymond Hall]

Has this been issued commercially?

Ray Hall, Taree

[Michael Lee]

Yes, directly by the New York Philharmonic on a 10-disc box set titled "Historic Broadcasts, 1923-1987." It's on CD 10, along with a 1967 recording of Charles Munch conducting Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune."

[Terry]

Esa-Pekka Salonen's recording with John Tomlinson, Michelle DeYoung, Juliet Stevenson and the Philharmonia Orchestra is really very fine, probably my favourite, just ahead of the Kertesz you mention. The Gergiev is very well done, too. I don't like the Dorati at all, which surprised me, because I admire that conductor. A pity, because the singing is good.