Jacques OFFENBACH (1819-1880)
Un mari à la porte1 (1859) [44:02]
Les fables de la Fontaine2 (1842) [25:11]
Gabrielle Philiponet (soprano) - Rosita; Anaïk Morel (mezzo) - Suzanna;
Stéphane Malbec-Garcia (tenor) - Florestan; Marc Canturri (baritone)
- Martel; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko1;
Nicolai Krügel2 (piano)
rec. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England, 22 November 2008 (Un
mari); Liverpool Philharmonic at the Friary, Liverpool England 18 November
2008 (Les fables)
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC LPOFFCD00211 [69:13]
I suspect Offenbach would be amused - certainly - and bemused - probably,
by the enduring success enjoyed by his ‘disposable’ operettas.
The word ‘disposable’ is in no way a slur on the quality but little
more than a reflection of the purpose of their creation. Offenbach’s
output was prodigious. He needed to feed the public’s demand for novelties
and so wrote between three and seven new works every year during his most
productive phase. These pocket operas - operetta in the literal sense - were,
and remain, a welcome antidote to the bloated Grand Operas that dominated
the Parisian opera houses in the middle of the 19th century. Offenbach’s
genius - and he undoubtedly was one - was that he took a form limited by law,
budget and the demands of a pleasure-seeking audience and from such unpromising
base materials created a sequence of sparkling works which are witty, chock-full
of memorable tunes and superbly crafted.
The piece offered on this disc, Un mari à la porte (a husband
at the door) is a classic example of the type he produced for the Bouffe-Parisiens.
Prior to 1858 there was a licensing law that prevented works having more than
three characters on stage at any one time. Although by the date this work
was first performed in 1859 the law had been repealed Offenbach chose to write
a piece ‘limited’ in just such a way although he cocked a snook
rather imaginatively by having the eponymous husband sing off-stage but through
the door. The sheer financial success of this raft of work - and especially
Orpheus in the Underworld in 1858 - ensured that producers around Europe
sought both to stage these works and commission similar works by local writers.
So Operetta was in effect born.
Few would argue that the work under consideration - here in its first complete
recording - is a lost masterpiece. There is one famous song that has had a
‘life’ in concert and on disc. This is the soprano song; “J’entends
ma belle” otherwise known as Rosita’s Waltz song or the Valse
Tyrolienne. Away from that number - which is the clear showstopper - there
are easily appealing waltz songs aplenty and sparkling ensemble writing. I’m
not sure Offenbach knew how to write a bad tune. It is the ensembles that
work best on this recording - none of the four solo voices are as simply beautiful
or engaging as one might wish but when singing together they do impress. To
say the plot is slight and inconsequential is an overstatement. Even by the
standards of the nineteenth century this is flimsy stuff and the implied “naughtiness”
of a husband catching a - albeit innocent - man in his wife’s room is
unlikely to get the jaded pulse of the 21st century racing. The
four voices divide neatly across the standard SATB range which again allows
the ensemble writing to achieve maximum effect. The heroine - Suzanne - is
a mezzo - Anaïk Morel. She has all the requisite technique but she sounds
a tad matronly for my taste. This impression is exaggerated by the curious
staging choice of this live performance that has the roles double cast.There’s
a singer for the musical sections and an actor for the dialogue. The actor
speaking the dialogue - of which there is quite a lot - sounds a lot younger
than her singing colleague to distracting effect. It does strike me as just
odd that in such a short piece it was not possible to find singers who could
act the rather two dimensional roles well enough. Another oddity is that although
the audience in this live recording are as silent as the tomb - even the applause
is edited out - the semi-staged movements of the cast clump and clatter around.
Rosita - “Suzanne’s friend” is a soprano sung by Gabrielle
Philiponet and she again is fully able to sing the notes of her display song.
Does she twinkle enough? - not for me. This is clearly a forerunner of the
coquettish characters from Adele in Die Fledermaus even up to Musetta
in La Bohème. Here she is a highly competent singer lacking
the vivacious personality to make this music bubble with good humour. Indeed,
I would level the same criticism at the conducting of Vasily Petrenko. No
surprise at all to relate that the reduced Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
play with superb neatness and skill and that this has all been caught in excellent
sound - stage noise aside - by the RLPO’s own label engineers. That
said, where are those subtle little insouciant rubati, those teasing little
lilts to the rhythms that lift this music from the interesting into the memorable
and moving. I am very pleased to have heard this work complete and I am sure
that admirers of the genre in general and the composer in particular will
snap copies up. However, if you are looking to expand your knowledge of Offenbach
beyond the ubiquitous Can-Can and even further than the classic ‘big’
operettas such as Orphée aux enfers or La
belle Hélène there are plenty of other one act works
I would suggest you sample first. Not that this disc should be ruled out of
court just yet - the forty minutes or so of the main work leaves room for
another rarity - Les fables de la Fontaine. This is no less than a
little song-cycle of six settings of Fontaine’s fables: the crow and
the fox, and the cricket and the ant are two of the most famous set here.
Whether or not they were conceived for different voices is not clear but here
they are performed using the same four singers who featured in the operetta.
The accompaniment this time is piano alone - neatly and unfussily played by
Nicolai Krügel. The songs date from nearly twenty years before the operetta
and lack the sheer professionalism of the later work. For sure they are well
crafted and easy on the ear but they are amiable rather than great. I prefer
all of the singers in the song-cycle to the operetta - it feels that they
are not working so hard to play the piece. The scale of the songs suits their
voices and their French-speaking origins ensure perfect enunciation of the
text. Again the audio production is good in an understated neutral way.
The single disc comes housed in a slim cardboard outer sleeve. This allows
the 38 page libretto - in the original French with an English translation
only - to be housed. Inside the jewel case is a separate liner which contains
the usual track details, synopsis, biographies and brief description of the
work. At his best Offenbach created works that can still make you laugh out
loud and tap your toe to the infectious tunes. This highly competent but rarely
inspired disc fills a gap in the repertoire but little more.
Nick Barnard
see also review by Paul
Godfrey
This highly competent but rarely inspired disc fills a gap in the repertoire
but little more.