Stanislaw MONIUSZKO (1819-1872)
Flis (The Raftsman) – Opera in one Act (1858) [55:38]
Franek – Boguslaw Bidzinski (tenor); Zosia – Iwona Socha (soprano); Antoni
– Leszek Skrla (baritone); Jakub – Michal Partyka (baritone); Szóstak – Janusz
Lewandowski (bass-baritone); Feliks – Pawel Wolski (tenor)
Choir and Orchestra of The Castle Opera/Warcislaw Kunc
rec. The Castle Opera, Szczecin, September 2009
text and English, German and Italian translations included
DUX 0736 [55:38]
Although his operas Halka and The Haunted Manor are known outside
Poland, at least by reputation, as the foundations of Polish opera, I would
doubt if many other than specialists could name even one of his other works.
There were in fact some sixteen or so operas and operettas as well as much
instrumental and vocal music. Flis was written in between his two better
known works. It has a plot that is more than usually bizarre – Zosia, the
daughter of Antoni, a wealthy fisherman, is in love with Franek, a brave but
poor raftsman. She has been betrothed to Jakub, a barber (described as a salon
hairdresser in the translation) and cannot persuade her father to break the
betrothal. Franek decides therefore to leave the village to seek his long-lost
brother, but in duet with Jakub the latter is revealed to be that brother,
and Jakub therefore stands aside to allow Franek to marry Zosia. It is unsurprising
that such feeble stuff did not inspire music of great emotional depth in the
composer, and the buffo elements, mainly connected with Jakub, are
very tame - no mention of a strawberry mark, even.
What makes it worth hearing is what I take to be its strong folk influence.
The Overture begins with a lovely slow section followed by a dance-like allegro
which is turn leads to a chorus describing the progress of a summer storm.
Later there is a choral prayer and an aria in the form of a dumka for
Zosia. All of these are delightful, if scarcely at the level of inspiration
of his two better known works.
The booklet tells us that The Castle Opera was founded in Szczecin in 1956
and now performs in the Pomeranian Duke’s Castle. It also says that it is
the only opera company in Poland that has all of Moniuszko’s operas in its
repertoire. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that the performance sounds
thoroughly idiomatic even if the singers are not individually impressive and
some have a somewhat rough and ready approach to intonation. The orchestra
is good, the chorus much less so. All in all it is comparable to, say, the
D’Oyly Carte recordings of the 1950s where the authenticity of approach made
up for - or did not, depending upon your view - substantial shortcomings in
technical ability. The recording has an occasional tendency to boom but is
otherwise acceptable. The booklet has a translation whose general meaning
is clear but seems to owe something to P.G. Wodehouse (“Here comes the blighter”,
“What a brave chap”, “C’mon brothers, get to work”, “I know what are corsets”
and so on). It all adds to the humour of the opera, and as I have criticized
many recent issues of little known operas for not including a libretto it
would be churlish to object to the helpful if unintentionally comic effort
included here. On the contrary Dux should be congratulated for continuing
to provide this essential but nowadays unfashionable addition to recorded
opera.
It would be an exaggeration to describe this as other than a minor work most
likely to appeal to those with a special interest in opera, especially nationalist
opera, of the period, or in Polish opera in particular. Such an enthusiast
will need no recommendation to buy this – alternative recordings are few.
Others wanting to explore Moniuszko’s works would do better to start with
Halka.
John Sheppard
What makes this worth hearing is its strong folk influence. Some delightful
moments if scarcely at the level of inspiration of his better known works.