Bruno MADERNA (1920-1973)
Hyperion – Suite dall’opera for soprano, flute, oboe, reciter, chorus and orchestra
Annette Meriweather (soprano)
Angelo Persichilli (flute)
Augusto Loppe (oboe)
Carmelo Bene (reciter)
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro della RAI di Milano/Marcello Panni
rec. live, 16 October 1981, Sala Grande del Conservatorio Verdi di Milano, Italy
TACTUS TC920290 [52.30 + 31.25]
The history and background to this extraordinary and unique work is complex but I will attempt to explain its development as best I can, up to the point when this performance took place over forty years ago.
There is not much to say about the Hyperion. He was the Titan sun-god in Greek mythology, the father to three sons including Helios and appears in Homer’s Odyssey.
The tracks are listed beneath this review and can be thought of as a series of scenes in a slender plot. Certain ideas do connect them, however. We begin with a lengthy Prologue for soprano with flute and orchestra. The first staging of the work in 1964 did not include this section; indeed, the entire work consisted of music Maderna had composed over the previous decade. Now things get complicated but here is the basic outline:
After 1964 the composer regularly rewrote the work, and In May 1968 it was performed in Brussels in that version. He extracted a suite first heard in 1969 which included two extensive choral items. In 1978, Marcello Panni was given a recording of this suite by Maderna’s widow and reconstructed the work for a performance in 1979. Speaker, soprano, flautist and oboist now clearly took centre stage. After this success, famous Italian actor, poet, film director and screenwriter Carmel Bene, featured on this disc, was entrusted to make another version. The work was utterly changed into one using Hőlderlin fragments and poems translated into German and Italian and even poetry by Auden; in addition, new and various characters and situations were added. This is the version we encounter on this disc.
There are many passages in Italian for narrator here with very little in the way of music, for example, ‘Klage’ and ‘Battaglia’. Tactus offers the full text on-line but at the time of writing this review I could not access it. In any case, it would be quite extensive and would need to be printed off. In consequence, I cannot give you the full details about what is going on. The booklet notes however, by Gianluigi Mattietti, are helpful and provide a good resumé of every scene.
It is very likely that Maderna highlights the flute, oboe and musette because he was thinking of ancient Greek instruments like the aulos, and the choral writing, which often verges on dense chanting, is also part of that imaginary world. He did, however, have something of a penchant for the oboe, having written three concerti for Heinz Holliger between 1962-72 and the oboe ‘d’amore features in scene VI depicting sorrow after the battle.
The use of earlier works by the composer continues throughout this semi-opera. The movement ‘Battaglia’ uses part of his ‘Etropia III’. The final part is ‘Aria’, which is a transcription for a flute in G of music originally for soprano and orchestra and makes a magical ending to the work. The extensive and beautiful choral passages in ‘Schicksalslied’ use the ‘Song of Destiny’ originally set in 1969. There are many other such quotations.
With the exception of an occasional cough, the audience is amazingly quiet, attentive and, at the end, enthusiastic. The recording has many balance problems but that is not surprising bearing in mind the disparate forces involved. The speaker is very closely miked.
For reasons which may now be obvious, this avant-garde work of the 1960s and 1970s, although highly original, will probably have a limited appeal, especially in the UK. Maderna was a well-known conductor of contemporary music and had he not died so young could have developed into an Italian Boulez. His music is not without merit and I remain very fond of his orchestra work ‘Aura’. This piece, however, acts more as a valedictory note to a period of fearless experimentation. It had its place at the time but it is difficult to see now how it would appeal to most modern listeners.
Gary Higginson
