Hans Werner HENZE (1926-2012)
Das verratene Meer (The Sea Betrayed): Music drama in two parts (1986-9)
Libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel after Yukio Mishima
Fusako Kuroda, Vera-Lotte Boecker (soprano)
Ryuji Tsukazaki, Bo Skovhus (baritone)
Noboru/Number Three, Josh Lovell (tenor)
Ringleader, Number One, Eric van Heyningen (baritone)
Number Two, Kangmin Justin Kim (countertenor)
Number Four, Stefan Astakhov (baritone)
Number Five, Martin Häßler (bass)
Voice of a ship’s mate, Jörg Schneider (tenor)
Vienna Opera Orchestra/Simone Young
rec. live, 14 October 2020, Vienna State Opera
Text and translation included
CAPRICCIO C5460 [61:24 + 63:40]
Gradually Henze’s operas are making their way to recordings, usually, as in this case, as a result of a stage production and a radio recording. This is all to the good, as it means the cast and orchestra know their parts and have had experience of them in performance. Henze was a prolific composer and there are number of his operas still to go, but, as the most important German composer of opera of the postwar period, it is right that they should be made available this way.
Das verratene Meer is one of his later operas. It is based on a novel by the Japanese novelist and right-wing campaigner Yukio Mishima with the title Gogo no eiko, which translates as The Sailor who fell from Grace with the Sea. The setting is contemporary Japan and the sailor is Ryuji Tsukazaki, a sailor in the Japanese merchant marine. He is unattached. He becomes attracted to a young widow, Fusako Kurado, who has a thirteen year old son called Noboru. Noboru has an unhealthy preoccupation with his mother’s body, on which he spies in secret. He is also a member of a gang of boys, of whom the others are known in the opera only by numbers: he is Number Three. As the relationship between Ryuji and Rusako develops, Noboru becomes intensely jealous and hopes that Ryuji will go back to the sea and never be seen again. This despite the fact that Ryuji has been kind and considerate to him. He also admits he has found life at sea disappointing and wants to leave it. Meanwhile, Noburu’s gang put him through an initiation test in which he kills a cat. This ends the first act.
In the second act Ryuji proposes to Fusako, who accepts him. Noburu admits to the gang that Ryuji is not heroic and has rejected life at sea to work in the fashion shop with his mother. Fusako and Ryuji tell Noboru of their intention to get married and Ryuji says he will be a father to Noboru. Noboru goes to bed but is discovered spying on the adults. He is forgiven. In a scene with the gang they decide Ryuji has to die, listing a number of trivial matters, but mainly for ‘betraying the sea.’ On her own, Fusako looks forward to her new life. In the final scene the boys lure Ryuji to their meetring place and Noboru gives Ryuji tea laced with sleeping pills. Henze wrote: ‘"I think it is necessary to bear in mind that the piece has no moral in the western sense. Things happen because they are fated to happen, i.e. as though by chance and in nature. We should not judge, should not apply any western or Christian criteria. The piece shows how people meet and what the consequences of those meetings are.”
This libretto is not wholly coherent – I don’t know whether the original novel is – and carries suggestions of Madame Butterfly in reverse, but it is good enough. It is a weakness that there is only one female character, but she is given a fair amount to sing. The music is strongly influenced by Berg and to a lesser extent by Stravinsky. There are eight short scenes in the first act and six in the second, and they are separated by brief interludes, as in Wozzeck. However, the music itself is much more like that of Lulu, though not, I think, using the serial technique of that work. However, there is more rhythmic drive than in Berg, and here we can feel the influence of Stravinsky. All these influences are well assimilated: I am merely trying to place the work stylistically. The orchestra is very large, and includes such exotica as an oboe d’amore, a contrabass clarinet, alto and contrabass trombones and a large array of percussion. A saxophone and a vibraphone also suggest the world of Lulu. The singing lines are clear and easy to follow and the orchestral interludes varied and exciting. I have been wanting to hear this work for a long time and I have not been disappointed: it is powerful and successful.
Nearly twenty years after first writing Das verratene Meer, Henze revised it for a Japanese production, restoring the original title Gogo no eiko. For this he made cuts and revisions. For the production which lies behind this recording the two versions were compared, most of the cuts opened out and the revisions retained. The booklet provides a useful chart of the changes.
The cast here is impressive. Vera-Lotte Boecker, who sings Fusako, has a wide repertoire which includes two other Henze operas, and she enters fully into her role here. Ryuji is the veteran Bo Skovhus, who has sung many classic roles as well as parts in both Wozzeck and Lulu; he is a bit rough at the beginning but soon warms up. Noboru is the young Canadian tenor Josh Lovell, who inevitably sounds old for a thirteen year old boy but is otherwise convincing. Erik van Heyningen is splendidly sinister as the gang leader and the other gang members are fine. Simone Young conducts with aplomb and the Vienna orchestra enter into the spirit of the work.
The booklet contains reflections by Henze, the chart of the different versions of the score, a synopsis and the full libretto, all in both German and English. This is a quality production and those interested in recent opera should not hesitate. Now can Capriccio please give us a full version of Henze’s pivotal work, König Hirsch?
Stephen Barber
