Gala Concerts of operatic music are often associated with a
variety of sources. Commemoration of an event often plays a
part, as on this occasion from the Vienna State Opera. Sometimes
an anniversary offers an opportunity to pay homage to a great
singer, composer or event as is the case with the Berlin concert
conducted by Abbado. The latter was scheduled for the New Year’s
Eve of the centenary of Verdi’s death. With the former musical
director of Milan’s La Scala on the rostrum and some of the
best singers of the day in the cast, very serious music-making
was likely to be the name of the game. At the other end of the
spectrum lie the selections from the annual Dresden Opera
Nights for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000. These are distinctly
less formal as occasions and more populist in the excerpts chosen.
But the word ‘excerpt’ has many connotations. A popular aria
is an excerpt, but so is a whole act of an opera. Both are to
be found in this diverse collection from three different venues
and five events, two in their entirety.
Some opera-lovers wouldn’t attend a gala concert even if you
paid them. They are in it for opera-house performances; that’s
their choice. I have attended multitudes of fully-staged operas
over the last sixty or so years and have also attended gala
events put on for a variety of reasons. The latter have provided
me with opportunity to see artists singing arias from works
I had not seen them perform on stage and have enjoyed the occasions
and the opportunity; each to their own. All the genres of gala
concert are present in this set and I hope my comments will
help guide you through the virtues, or otherwise, of each.
DVD1: A Verdi Gala from Berlin
As I noted in my review
of the Verdi concert when first issued Claudio Abbado is a conducting
polymath. I questioned why we had come to perceive him as a
great conductor of Verdi. The question arose because during
Abbado’s near twenty-year stewardship as Musical Director at
La Scala there was no production of Verdi’s great middle period
trio: Rigoletto, La Traviata and Il Trovatore.
Indeed, to the present day, Abbado has never conducted those
works complete. It seemed that he had only ever conducted seven
of Verdi’s twenty-eight operas, these in performances at Salzburg,
Vienna, Berlin and Milan. Unlike his successor at La Scala,
Riccardo Muti, he has not ventured into what are often referred
to as the composer’s early works. Abbado’s reputation in Verdi
owes much to the La Scala productions of the revised Macbeth
and Simon Boccanegra that were presented at that theatre
in productions by Giorgio Strehler. Although not captured on
disc these memorable performances and casts provided the basis
for the DG audio recordings of January 1976 and 1977 respectively.
Abbado went on to record Aida, Un Ballo in Maschera
and the original French version of Don Carlos for DG
before leaving La Scala to take the helm with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Not until the mid-1990s did he tackle Otello and Falstaff.
He recorded the latter with Bryn Terfel in the title role and
the Berlin Philharmonic in the April following this gala (DG
471 194-2).
Given on the evening before the hundredth anniversary year of
Verdi’s death the concert followed a similar pattern - but with
different content - to that given four years earlier. In view
of Abbado’s conducting history in Verdi, it is hardly surprising
that the most substantial extracts from this concert are taken
from Ballo (Chs. 2-5) and Falstaff (Chs. 11-13)
with several of the singers in the latter also appearing in
the audio recording. The Il Ballo extracts have Abbado’s
characteristic rhythmic verve allied to his consideration and
support for his singers. Ramon Vargas as Riccardo sings with
good tone and phrasing. In the strict sense Andrea Rost has
too full a voice to portray the vocal pertness of Oscar in Saper
vorreste (Ch. 5). That caveat apart these scenes provide
an excellent introduction to some of the singers and to Verdi’s
most melodic music. Vargas is a vocally appealing Duke of Mantua,
singing with verve in Questa o quella (Ch.7) and with
élan in La donna e mobile (Ch.8). In the act one scene
from La Traviata, he sings Alfredo with good tone whilst
Andrea Rost essays her true fach with coloratura flexibility
in Sempre libera (Chs.9-10). The Don Carlos extract
(Ch.6) is the least convincing, mainly due to Stella Doufexis
being somewhat over-parted as Eboli. She is far better as Meg
Page in the Falstaff extracts, the role she sings on
the recording. The Falstaff excerpts are acted out to
the full, with the help of a couple of stage props in the form
of a laundry basket and screen for Fenton and Nannetta, both
roles superbly sung. It would have been great to have had Terfel
present as Falstaff, but in the joy and exhilaration of these
scintillatingly performed extracts, particularly of the last
scene and its fugue, he was not missed unduly.
The picture quality has clarity and depth throughout. The video
director lets us share the enjoyment of the orchestral players
from time to time as well as that of the conductor and singers.
The playing of the Berlin Philharmonic is of the highest standard
and their luxuriant sound is well caught. An excellent balance
is maintained between them and the singers.
DVDs 2 and 3. Gala Concert from the Vienna State
Opera
Austria was annexed by Hitler’s Germany 12 March 1938. On the
night of 12 March 1945 the Austrian capital, Vienna, paid a
very heavy price for its country’s involvement with Germany’s
Fascist regime. The annexation - Anschluss - to make a Greater
Germany was expressly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles
after the end of World War I. It followed a plebiscite with
Austrians welcoming the German invasion. Vienna had been the
home of some of the world’s greatest composers and was immensely
proud of its musical heritage. The Allies sought to shorten
the War by the blanket-bombing of cities much as Hitler bombers
had done systematically to Britain in the 1940s. Among the great
cultural centres to go was Dresden known for its pottery as
well as its museums and other cultural institutions in February
1945. Given the feelings in Britain’s High Command after so
many brave airmen had died in repulsing Hitler, as well as those,
like me, who had seen their cities burn in 1940, the choice
of date for the bombing of Vienna was not coincidental. That
March night Vienna’s wonderful opera house went up in flames.
The stage and auditorium were destroyed and only a few areas
were left intact. Those still intact included the façade, the
main entrance, great staircase and magnificent foyer with its
frescoes.
Despite being faced with massive devastation at the end of the
war, it was quickly announced that the State Opera would be
rebuilt. No less than ten per cent of the budget for restoration
of all Vienna’s public buildings would be allocated to the rebuilding.
What was destroyed on that March night took ten years to replace
with the rebuilt State Opera re-opening on 5 November 1955.
The concert preserved on the present DVD was given fifty years
later.
In the period after its reopening the Vienna State Opera rapidly
built a reputation for importing the best singers in the world
in traditional repertoire. There have only been five world premieres
since the reopening among three hundred and seven new productions
in the fifty year period. The policy was a different opera nearly
every night in the week. Singers flew in, performed, and flew
out again. I remember one British soprano recounting how she
met her tenor on the stage as he introduced himself in the wings
as the conductor’s baton started the overture. Such minimal
rehearsal did not lead to great histrionic nights, but on the
evidence of the vociferous applause the audience appreciation
was phenomenal. In the leaflet to this double DVD, Domingo notes
that he sang three different roles in ten days with the company
early in his career. Matters have changed a little since those
days. There is now a nucleus of artists based at the State Opera
with stars now flying in, staying a little longer and benefiting
from rehearsal time.
This Gala Night presents a mixture of company artists and international
stars who have trod the boards over many of the fifty years
since reopening. Seiji Ozawa opens proceedings with Beethoven’s
Leonore No. 3 (Disc 1 CH.2), often used to introduce
the second act of Fidelio. He does so without a score,
a practice I first saw adopted by Josef Krips (1912-70) at Covent
Garden many years ago. The Vienna-born Krips was banned from
conducting by the Nazis from 1939 to 1945. He did much to restore
Vienna’s operatic reputation after the War. He re-opened the
Salzburg Festival in 1946 conducting Don Giovanni but
gets no mention in the leaflet. Ozawa’s interpretation is lacking
in the dramatic impulse. That’s a pity because that tautness
is needed if the overture is to introduce that vital last act
of the composer’s revision of Leonore as Fidelio.
Thankfully Ozawa’s conducting of the finale from act 2 (Disc
2 CHs. 16-18) is more appropriately dramatic and flowing. This
allows his singing cast and chorus to do the music full justice
with Deborah Polaski and Johan Botha giving excellent performances
as Leonore and Florestan.
The music on the first DVD is wholly Germanic in origin, albeit
the excerpts from Don Giovanni are sung, as composed
by Mozart, in Italian. These start with solos involving Ferruccio
Furlanetto singing The Catalogue Aria (CH.3) and
Edita Gruberova Non mi dir (CH.4). It goes on to the
scene involving Masetto, Zerlina and Giovanni to become the
finale to Act One (CHs.5-11). These excerpts illustrate perfectly
the strengths and weaknesses of the singing wrought by the occasion.
It must be many years since Furlanetto and Gruberova sang these
roles anywhere and neither brings vocal distinction to their
interpretation. Thomas Hampson as Giovanni has the suave figure
and vocal equipment for the role of the lecherous roué (CH.5)
whilst the others, like Zubin Mehta on the rostrum, are adequate
company members with only Soile Isokoski bringing distinction.
It is the latter, as the Marschallin, together with Angelika
Kirschlager as Octavian, who bring real vocal distinction to
the proceedings for the final trio and duet from Act Three of
Rosenkavalier (CHs.12-13).
The second half of the concert featured some Italian opera from
Verdi with the whole of Act Three of Aida (CHs.3-6).
That rare thing these days, genuine Verdi singing, is in evidence
from Ferruccio Furlanetto as a sonorous Ramfis. Johan Botha
and Violeta Urmana really fill the roles vocally as Radames
and Aida. The duet from Act Four is sung by Placido Domingo
as Radames and Agnes Baltsa as Amneris (CHs.7-8). It is nearly
thirty years since Baltsa sang the role at the Salzburg Festival
under Karajan, but looking imperious she can still muster vocal
distinction as can the everlasting Domingo who made his first
recording of Radames way back in 1969. Daniele Gatti provided
some of the best conducting of the evening for the Verdi.
Christian Thielemann brought more drama and involvement to his
contribution to the second half than was present in the first
part with his accompaniment of orchestra, chorus and particularly
Bryn Terfel in the excepts from Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg (CHs. 9-11). The bass-baritone, at the peak
of his powers, evinces real vocal distinction as did the chorus
and orchestra even if it is somewhat lacking in young faces.
If Gatti impressed me, so did Franz Welser-Möst in his handling
of Richard Strauss’s often-neglected Die frau ohne schatten
(CHS.12-15) alongside Deborah Polaski’s notable singing. The
evening concluded with the finale of Act Two of Fidelio.
Seiji Ozawa had really found form by this time and that most
human yet dramatic scene really came alive driven by conductor,
Botha and Polaski. The two singers rise to heights of excellence
as husband and wife re-united after great adversity. It was
a fitting end to something of a mixed blessing. Good in parts,
less so in others.
The applause and credits at the end amount to nearly ten minutes
of Disc 2. For those who like a little puzzle, some famous faces
were on the seats on-stage when the singers enter and leave.
Who is the grey-haired lady that many recognised and acknowledged
as they left? A hint, she was an international artist on both
stage and record. She was greatly admired by the likes of Karajan,
Solti and others as well as by record producers.
DVD 4 Great Stars of Opera. Dresden Opera Nights -
1998, 1999, 2000
To quote the leaflet blurb: “Dresden Opera Nights take place
every year on a mild summer evening in front of as spectacular
a backdrop as anyone could wish for. The grandiose architecture
of the opera house Gottfried Semper designed for Dresden … stars
of the world’s opera houses vie with one another to delight
audiences of 4,000 people.” No mention of the Semperoper
having to be rebuilt after the 1945 conflagration. Nor do any
of the three orchestras featured appear to have any connection
with the Sächsische Staatskapelle, the house band. And, just
to put fact into the matter, in 2000 it was not a warm
summer night. The audiences were dressed for autumn and the
breath of the singers can be clearly seen.
As to the singers vying with one another, that is nearer the
mark. The American Neil Schicoff dominates the tenor roles in
1998 and 1999. Soft singing and elegant phrasing are not his
metier. He is more of the school of can belto than bel
canto. Strong singing might be appropriate in C'est toi!
C'est moi! (CH.6) from Carmen but Cavaradossi’s E
lucevan le stele (CH. 14) deserves more gentility
of phrasing and expression than he can find. Likewise I am sure
Mimi would have preferred not being shouted at, preferring to
be impressed by Rodolfo’s potted biography in Che gelida
manina (CH. 15). A little more of fellow American Jerry
Hadley in 1998 would have been welcome. He certainly knows and
practises a honeyed mezza voce from time to time. Schicoff’s
partner in the confrontation from Carmen is Agnes Baltsa. She
can do drama, even now well past fifty, without resort to excessive
chest notes and can also convey Carmen’s seductive capacity
in the Habanera (CH. 5). Earlier in that 1998 programme she
lacked the resonant depths for Rossini’s Italiana (CH.
2). What I wonder happened to Eva Marton in 1998. She appears
only in a party rending of The Brindisi from La Traviata
(CH.10) with each voice-part being doubled so that both Schicoff
and Hadley sing Alfredo whilst she and Sandra Schwarzhaupt do
the same for Violetta. If she sang any of Turandot, the
omission from this selection is questionable.
On the more popular front, from the 1998 concert, Sandra Schwarzhaupt
and Deborah Sasson were infinitely more successful in Die
Fledermaus (CH.7) and Die lustige
Witwe (CH.16) than Kurt Rydl in the song from
Fiddler on the Roof that the British know as If I
were a rich man (CH.9). The best singing in those first
two years of this sequence is that from Anna Tomowa-Sintow in
the aria from Adriana Lecouvreur (CH. 12) and Pace,
pace, mio Dio! from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino (CH.13).
In the Cilea she exhibits a slight vibrato but is vocally up
to it for Verdi’s final act aria.
The colder night of 2000 might have been warmed for the audience
by some distinctly better singing than in the two previous years.
Daniella Barcellona might not try Carmen on stage, but her rich
mezzo and attention to words and phrases is heard to good effect
in Près des remparts de Séville (CH.18). Similarly her
aria from Rossini’s Barber of Seville is sung with richness
of timbre, appropriate coloratura and welcome expressiveness
(CH. 21). The Italian tenor Vincenzo La Scola is idiomatic in
the inevitable tenor virility symbol, Nessun dorma (CH.
19). His tone is less open than that of Schicoff and he does
reach the high notes if only to remind us of how Pavarotti did
it so much better. With a hairstyle that defies description,
Lucia Aliberti sings an excellent O mio babbino caro (CH.
`22) finishing with a ravishing final note.
If the Vienna concert was good in parts, this Dresden collection
is dominated by the mediocre.
Robert J Farr
Contents
1. A Verdi Gala from Berlin
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Un ballo in Maschera
Volta la terrea frontei [2.54]
Signori: oggi d'Ulrica [3.06]
Ve' se di notte [5.19]
Saper vorreste [2.25]
Don Carlos
Que de fleurs et que d'étoiles [8.32]
Rigoletto
Questa o quella [2.12]
La donna è mobile [2.14]
La Traviata
Libiamo ne' lieti calici [4.29]
Sempre libera [4.41]
Falstaff
Alice…Meg…Nannetta [14.54]
Quand'ero paggio [11.18]
Alto là! ….. Chi va là? [17.25]
Andrea Rost, Ramón Vargas, Alan Titus, Elizabeth Futral, Stella
Doufexis, Lucio Gallo
Johann STRAUSS (1825-1899)
Maskenfest-Quadrille [3.17]
Claudio Abbado conducts a New Year's Eve tribute to Verdi in
Berlin on the eve of the centenary anniversary of the composer’s
death
Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish;
Prague Radio Choir; Berliner Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado
DVD 2
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Fidelio
Overture Leonore III, Op.72 / Seiji Ozawa [14.59]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Don Giovanni / Zubin Mehta
Questo non piccioì libro ... Madamina, il catalogo è questo
[6.44]
Crudele? ... Non mi dir, bell'idoi mio [7.13]
Arias of Don Giovanni and Zerlina & Finale from Act I
Bravo! Arcibravo! ... Fin ch'han dal vino [2:21]
Masetto, senti un po'! [1:19[
Batti, batti, o bei Masetto [3:55]
Guarda un po' come seppe [0.39]
Presto, presto, pria ch'ei venga [4.01]
Bisogna aver coraggio [3 59]
Riposate, vezzose ragazze! [11.34]
Ferruccio Furlanetto (Leporello); Edita Gruberova (Donna Anna);
Thomas Hampson (Don Giovanni); Ildikó Raimondi (Zerlina); Boaz
Daniel (Masetto); Soile Isokoski (Donna Elvira); Michael Schade
(Don Ottavio)
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Der Rosenkavalier / Christian Thielemann
Final Trio and Duet from Act III
Marie Theres! [6.09]
Ist ein Traum, kann nicht wirkich sein [10:33]
Angelika Kirchschlager (Octavian); Soile Isokoski (Marschallin);
Genia Kuhmeier (Sophie); Georg Tichy (Faninal)
DVD 3
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Aida / Daniele Gatti
Act III
O tu che sei d'Osiride [5.05]
Qui Radamès verrà! [5 .53]
Ciel! Mio padre! [7.49]
Pur ti riveggo, mia dolce Aida [2.49]
Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti [6.28]
Tu! Amonasro! Tu! Il Rè? [4.50]
Ferruccio Furlanetto (Ramfis); Nadia Krasteva (Amneris); Violeta
Urmana (Aida); Franz Grundheber (Amonasro); Johan Botha (Radamès)
Duet from Act IV, Scene 1
L'aborrita rivale a me sfoggia [3 03]
Già i sacerdoti adunansi [8.40]
Agnes Baltsa (Amneris); Plàcido Domingo (Radamès)
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Die Meistersinger von Nùrnberg / Christian Thielemann
I Vorspiel zum 1. Aufzug [10.39]
Was duftet doch der Flieder [7.57]
Bryn Terfel (Hans Sachs)
Wach auf, es nahet gen den Tag [5.06]
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Die frau ohne schatten / Franz Welser-Möst
Excerpts and Finale from Act III
M'ir anvertraut [4.53]
Trifft mich sein Lieben nicht [2:23]
Nun will ich jubein [4.12]
Valer, dir drohet nichts [4.59]
Falk Struckmann (Barak); Deborah Polaski (Farberin); Johan Botha
(Kaiser); Ricarda Merbeth (Kaiserin)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Fidelio / Seiji Ozawa
Finale from Act II
Heil sei dem Tag [1.57]
Des besten Kònigs Wink und Wille [7.39]
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen [8.42]
Thomas Hampson (Don Fernando); Walter Fink (Rocco); Falk Struckmann
(Pizarro); Deborah Polaski (Leonore); lldikó Raimondi (Marzelline);
Johan Botha (Florestan); Herwig Pecoraro (Jaquino)
Vienna celebrates the 50th anniversary of the State Opera House's
reopening,
Chorus and orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/conductors as
listed
rec. 5 November 2005 - celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
State Opera House's reopening after its rebuilding following
the destruction by Allied bombing on 12 March 1945
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish
Originally released as 2054929 [74:00 + 114:00]
4. DRESDEN OPERA NIGHT 1998
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Die Fledermaus
Overture [8:19]
Mein Herr Marquis [3:33]
Sandra Schwarzhaupt (soprano)
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
L'italiana in Algeri
Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno! [4:09]
Agnes Baltsa (mezzo)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
O, wie will ich triumphieren [3:43]
Gunther Emmerlich (bass)
Ich gehe, doch rate ich dir [ 4:02]
Gunther Emmerlich (bass); Deborah Sasson (soprano)
Georges Bizet (1838-1375)
Carmen:
L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) [4:20]
C'est toi!" - "C'est moi! [10:14]
Agnes Baltsa (mezzo); Neil Shicoff (tenor)
Guido Maria Ferilli
Un amore così grande [3:17]
Sandra Schwarzhaupt (soprano); Kurt Rydl (bass)
Jerry Bock (1928)
Anatevka (Fiddler on the Roof):
Wenn ich einmal reich wàr [3:57]
Kurt Rydl (bass)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
La Traviata
Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (Brindisi) [3:38]
Neil Shicoff (tenor); Jerry Hadley (tenor); Agnes Baltsa (mezzo);
Deborah Sasson (soprano);
Èva Marton (soprano); Sandra Schwarzhaupt (soprano); Kurt Rydl
(bass); Gunther Emmerlich (bass)
DRESDEN OPERA NIGHT 1999
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Tosca
Recondita armonia [3:25]
E lucevan le stelle [3:25]
La Bohème:
Che gelida manina [5:28]
Neil Shicoff (tenor)
Francesco Cilea (1866-1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur
Ecco ... Io son l'umile ancella [3:47]
Anna Tomowa-Sintow (soprano)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
La forza del destino
Pace, pace, mio Dio! [5:59]
Anna Tomowa-Sintow (soprano)
Franz Lehár (1870-1948)
Die lustige Witwe
Es lebt' eine Vilja [4:47]
Deborah Sasson (soprano)
Georges Bizet (1838-1375)
Carmen:
La fleur que tu m'avais jetée [5:24]
Neil Shicoff (tenor)
DRESDEN OPERA NIGHT 2000
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Carmen
Près des remparts de Séville [2:44]
Daniela Barcellona (mezzo)
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Turandot
Nessun dorma [3:32]
Vincenzo La Scola (tenor)
Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893)
La Wally
Ebben? N'andrò lontana [3:45]
Lucia Aliberti (soprano)
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia
Una voce poco fa [6:14]
Daniela Barcellona (mezzo)
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro [2:45]
Lucia Aliberti (soprano)
Johann Schrammel (1850-1893)
Wien bleibt Wien [2:27]
1998. Prague Symphony Orchestra/Roland Sieffarth
1999. Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg/Roland Seiffarth
2000. Penderecki Festival Orchestra/Oleg Caetani
rec. Theaterplatz, Dresden, 1998-2000
Booklet notes: English, German and French
Prague Symphony Orchestra; Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg;
Penderecki Festival Orchestra/Roland Seiffarth, Oleg Caetani
Originally released as 2054028
EUROARTS 2058219 
[4 DVDs: 94:00 + 74:00 + 114:00 + 103:00] 
