Benda is among the
most interesting composers of the second
half of the 18th century,
an eclectic figure who boldly risked
security in the attempt to pursue his
own artistic vision. Like his younger
contemporary, Mozart, this brought him
some successes but more frequently there
were failures and frustrations.
Benda was a member
of a famous family of musicians. He
and his father Jan Jirí travelled
north to Berlin in search of fame and
fortune. Benda’s first important appointment
was as kapellmeister to Duke Friedrich
III of Saxe-Gotha, whose court musical
life was sufficiently sophisticated
to allow him the opportunity for musical
experimentation.
Among the enthusiasms
thus engendered was the development
of the genre known as the ‘melodrama’,
linking music of expressive feeling
to the declamation of poetic texts.
It was in this context that Benda composed
the music of his melodrama Ariadne
auf Naxos for Charlotte Brandes,
the wife of the German writer Johann
Christian Brandes.
This, his first melodrama,
uses the device of alternating the passages
of speech and music. Only occasionally,
at moments of high tension such as the
release of Ariadne’s anxiety, does Benda
choose to link the music and the voice
together. The result is therefore the
more compelling, and the music itself
has abundant attractions, not least
in the effective opening paragraph that
sets the tone.
This performance is
certainly full of interesting and sensitive
responses to Benda’s score. The orchestral
playing is of a good standard and the
pacing and phrasing of the conductor
are exemplary. What is less convincing
is the whole presentation of the product.
There is the usual multi-language booklet,
but it fails to tell us anything of
the details of the story-line, nor are
texts and translations included. Therefore
the listener who is not familiar with
the original language will struggle
to avoid confusion.
Worse than this, Ariadne
auf Naxos is the only piece included,
and runs for less than forty minutes:
poor value indeed. There are no separate
cue-points, so finding one’s way around
the piece and understanding what is
going on becomes practically impossible.
Arco Diva may not be a major company,
but is it right to make false economies
in this way? As a result this must be
regarded as a frustrating issue, a case
of what might have been. For Benda is
an interesting composer, and as a work
of art his Ariadne auf Naxos remains
worthy of our attention more than two
centuries after it was written.
Terry Barfoot
Czech Chamber Philharmonic orchestra/Jaroslav
Krcek 
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