RECORDING OF THE MONTH     CHOPIN Waltzes and Impromptus Vladimir Feltsman £11 post free World-wide VIVALDI The four seasons London Mozart Players/Juritz £12 post free World-wide BEETHOVEN Symphonies 4 and 5 LSO/Yondani Butt £12 post free World-wide

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Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957) The Ring of Polykrates (1914) Opera in one act and ten scenes - a free adaptation of the comic drama of the same name by Heinrich Teweles Endrick Wottrich (ten) - Wilhelm Arndt, court music director Beate Bilandzija (sop) - Laura, his wife Jürgen Sacher (ten) - Florian Döblinger, timpanist and music copyist Kirsten Blanck (sop) - Lieschen in Laura's service Dietrich Henschel (bar) - Peter Vogel, Wilhelm's friend Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Klauspeter Seibel rec. 19-25 Sept 1995, Jesus-Christus-Kirche Dahlem. DDD CPO 999 402-2 [70.10]

This is the work of a seventeen year old composer - his first opera; more operetta, in fact, than opera. It was written in 1914 but not premiered until 1916 when it shared a double bill with his much more dramatic Violanta. The conductor was Bruno Walter and the cast included Maria Ivogün and Karl Erb. The plot: Arndt celebrates with Laura, his young wife, his appointment as music director and his new found wealth from a legacy via his aunt. The envious Vogel pays the couple a visit and suggests that all this good fortune can only be preserved by endangering it. Arndt decides to ask Laura about her former life. She is angered but the two reflect and reconciled decide that the sacrifice to good fortune should be the calculating Vogel. They show him the door. The music has brilliance but none of the super-heated exuberance of Die Kathrin, or Die Tote Stadt or Violanta or Der Wunder der Heliane. What strikes one consistently about this music is its light-hearted playfulness - a quality familiar from his music for his score for Errol Flynn's Adventures of Robin Hood film. Its levity links with Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem serail and Cosi fan tutte rather than with the bigger guns of Don Giovanni. The feathery joy and relaxation evident in scene 5 recalls the Dance Rhapsody of Frank Bridge. This work is more of a jeu d'esprit than anything else although at the start of scene 6 we get a premonition of the lunging romance of the fully mature writing in Die Kathrin. The music is however better summed up by the chuckling ensemble in scene 9. This is well documented, performed and recorded in a lively theatrical ambience. Not essential Korngold unless the lighter Viennese palette appeals in all its frothy caramel. Rob Barnett   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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