Orff, Bussotti, and Zimmermann on DG
Ray Tuttle (Dept. of Psychiatry)
Inge Borkh (Antigonae); Gerhard Stolze (Ein Waechter); Carlos
Alexander (Kreon); Claudia Hellman (Ismene); Ernst Haefliger
(Tiresias); Fritz Uhl (Haemon); Kim Borg (Ein Bote); Ferdinand
Leitner conducting members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus.
--- Deutsche Grammophon 437 721-2 (52:20,55:33,51:56) [ADD]
ZIMMERMANN: Presence (1). Perspectives (2). Intercommunicazione
for Cello and Piano (3). "Monologues" for Two Pianos (4).
Aloys (1-4) and Alfons (2,4) Kontarsky, pianos; Saschko Gawriloff,
violin (1); Siegfried Palm, cello (1,3).
--- Deutsche Grammophon 437 725-2 (78:15) [ADD]
BUSSOTTI: The Rara Requiem (1). Bergkristall (2). Lorenzaccio
Symphony (3).
Gianpiero Taverna conducting the Saarbrucken Radio Symphony
Orchestra and the Saarbrucken Conservatory Choir (1); Giuseppe
Sinopoli conducting the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra
(2,3).
--- Deutsche Grammophon 437 739-2 (69:55,42:52) [ADD]
Deutsche Grammophon's "20th Century Classics" series continues
on its unpredictable way with these three recent reissues. Each of
these releases has something to offer, but they are hobbled to
various degrees by a failure to communicate.
In the case of the Orff, the failure must be laid squarely on
Deutsche Grammophon's shoulders. There seems to be a conspiracy
of silence about this opera; in its original LP issue in the 60s, a
German libretto was provided, but without translations. Now we
are denied even that. To be fair, this opera's text is taken from
Holderlin's German translation of Sophocles's Greek original, so
one could obtain a "libretto" from the library or the bookstore. But
why should one have to go through the trouble of doing so after
already having plopped down about $30 for the CDs? _Antigonae_
is an unusually talky opera with no traditional set-pieces, and so
the prospect of 160 minutes of incomprehensible German gabbling
is far from inviting. It is difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy
this opera without understanding the words. Why is Deutsche
Grammophon marketing this set outside of German-speaking
countries if they are unwilling to support it adequately?
Having said that, my rudimentary understanding of German and the
equally rudimentary plot summary by Lionel Salter are sufficient
to convince me that there's much that is worth exploring in this
work. The more that one hears Carl Orff's music, the more it
becomes clear that _Carmina Burana_ is (thankfully?) atypical.
_Antigonae_ is stark and monolithic, a tragic ritual which the
characters are doomed to repeat until the end of time, and the
ascetic music is effective and completely appropriate. The sound-
world is simultaneously antique and modern. Harmony is used
sparingly. The orchestra is silent except when it is needed to
supply a steely rhythmic heartbeat, and the voices prefer pitched
declamation and occasional melismas to melodic singing. This
score needs singers who can act, and it gets them in this
recording, which was made in 1961 in the presence of the
composer. It is the only commercial recording that the score has
received, and it's hard to imagine it being bettered, although it's
easy to imagine it being presented in a more user-friendly way.
Texts also are withheld from Bussotti's _Rara Requiem_, whose
words come from Homer, Tasso, Michelangelo, Racine, Baudelaire,
Adorno, and others. Again, the question that one must ask is
"Why?" If Bussotti thought that the words were unimportant, then
why didn't he just write for orchestra? The pretentious program
notes compound the problem; we are told that "the entire
composition is presented as a series of slow circular journeys
which repeat ad infinitum, if not ad nauseam, the act -- doomed to
failure -- with which thought desperately seeks for the
impossible possession of what time has snatched away or has not
yet set free: The _Rara Requiem_ mimes the progressive
approximation to a soft, dark nucleus whose still fleeting contours
the music forces itself to fix and establish." Is that so?
Bussotti's music doesn't need these pseudo-intellectual rantings.
It is wispy and beguiling, with considerable use of extended vocal
techniques, e.g. moaning, coughing, and wheezing. It means very
little to me, but I still find it entertaining when I'm in one of
those avant-garde moods. If there's someone out there who wants
to ascribe Deep Meaning to _Rara Requiem_, then they're welcome
to write in and tell us about it. The second disc contains two
noisy works for large orchestra: _Bergkristall_, a one-act ballet
cum symphonic poem, and the thirteen-minute _Lorenzaccio
Symphony_, a work adapted from Bussotti's stage work about
intrigue within Florence's Medici family. With their dense scoring,
a pointillistic approach to melody, and frequent orchestral
tantrums (particularly in the latter work), both are heavy
listening, but they don't sound quite as faded as _The Rara
Requiem_ does.
Bernd Alois Zimmermann's works have the advantage of economy:
they're neither inflated nor overscored. Of the discs reviewed
here, his exhibits the widest range of affect. _Presence_ and
_"Monologues"_ are rather playful, partly because of their heavy
use of quotations (including Richard Strauss and Prokofiev in the
former, and Debussy and Bach in the latter). _Presence_ presents
musical incarnations of Don Quixote (violin), Molly Bloom (cello),
and Roi Ubu (piano), while _"Monologues"_ collides present, past,
and future in a much more meaningful way than Bussotti's _Rara
Requiem_ does. The other two pieces are more serious:
_Perspectives_, "music for an imaginary ballet," is thorny, while
_Intercommunicazione_ treats the two soloists more as
independent entities than as collaborators. There's no gainsaying
the difficulty of Zimmermann's music, but it feels considerably
less modish than Bussotti's. This release is the most
self-sufficient of the three.
Also, it is curious what Deutsche Grammophon _hasn't_ released in
the "20th Century Classics" series yet. One would think that large
amounts of Stockhausen and Kagel would have been early reissues,
but so far they haven't been served well. In the meantime, these
three reissues contain much that is intriguing . . . and frustrating.
Raymond Tuttle
University of Miami
Reviewer for _Fanfare_
Gabriel M. Kuper
> Also, it is curious what Deutsche Grammophon _hasn't_ released in
> the "20th Century Classics" series yet. One would think that large
> amounts of Stockhausen and Kagel would have been early reissues,
> but so far they haven't been served well. In the meantime, these
> three reissues contain much that is intriguing . . . and frustrating.
>
I doubt if the Stockhausen will come out on DG--They're out
over here on what looks like his own label, so I suspect
that DG have simply given the rights back to him.
The good side is that they are available. The bad side is
that I'm pretty sure they're at full-price.
Gabriel Kuper