Unsung Vocal/Choral/Opera: which are your favourites?

[Ilja]

Dear all,

After having gone through orchestral (+concertante), chamber music, and shorter orchestral works, I thought we might close off our selection of 'Unsung Composer's Finest' by discussing romantic music created for the voice (plus accompaniment). Lied, oratorio, symphony + voice, opera, choose whatever you like, and as apples-and-oranges-y as you see fit. But like in previous cases, please restrict yourself to a reasoned choice of three works with a significant part for the voice which you'd particularly love to see return regularly to the concert hall / opera house / community theatre.

I'll take the liberty of confronting you with my choice right away for this final instalment, but I have to say that this was a lot tougher than I thought. I'm no great Lieder lover or expert, so I'll leave those to others.

1. Peter Benoit, De Schelde (Oratorio on a poem by Emanuel Hiel, 1867). It's massive (about an hour and a half in length, and scored for a whole string of soloists, several choirs, harp, organ and orchestra), it's epic (and meant to be) and while not really unsung in Flanders it is anywhere else (and not even performed often in Flanders because of the massive forces required). It's also an important statement, and signifies Benoit's definitive choice for the exclusive use of the Dutch (Flemish) language in his works. Because of his position as director of the Antwerp conservatory, that had trememdous consequences for the direction of Flemish music towards Dutch-language vocal works. The final peroration "het vrije Nederland!" (the free Netherlands) leaves little room for doubt about Benoit's political position, too. But it's also quite beautifully written and well-paced; what I particularly like is the addition of ballet-like motifs in the lighter moments, which inject an energy which can get lost in similar moments in the more teutonic examples of the genre. And it's even funny in places (search for the jab at the Walküre in the first part). There is a very good modern recording led by Martyn Brabbins, but in my view that still doesn't beat Leonce Gras' 1966 live recording, taped during a public performance on Antwerp's Grote Markt square in front of the people it was meant for. A truly electric performance.

2. Rued Langgaard, Symphony No. 2, "Varbrud" (Awakening of Spring), BVN 53 (1914). Langgaard is a difficult case to wrap one's ears around for many people, myself included, but this is a truly beautifully written symphony, which I consider to be among Langgaard's best (together with its successor). It's part of Langgaard's more Straussian period, after the overblown 1st (which was probably written together with his father Siegfried). The soprano part is larger than is usual for this type of composition, and it's almost concertante in its interaction with the orchestra (contrary, to, say, the more rhapsodic approach of Mathilde Kralik's Hymische Symphonie) Dausgaard's recording with the Danish National is very good, but the one to get is the recent Oramo recording with the Wiener Philharmoniker and soprano Anu Komsi - a textbook example of what a truly top-class orchestra can add.

3. Max Bruch, Schön Ellen, Dramatic Ballad for Soprano, Baritone, Choirs and Orchestra on a text by Emanuel Geibel, Op. 24 (1867). A fairly short piece at around 12 minutes, and an early example of the sort of heroic subject matter that Bruch would often go with (e.g., Leonidas, Arminius, etc.). Based on the Lucknow relief legend from the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it tells the story of a woman hearing the approaching Scottish troops before anyone else does, and the work builds toward the recognition of The Campbells are Coming. It's gorgeously and surprisingly delicately orchestrated, and the voice-work is stellar, but where it wins out over, for instance, Leonidas, is in its build-up of dramatic tension, and the integration of the Campbells theme in the narrative. There's a good recording with Claudia Braun, Thomas Laske, the Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke and  Sinfonie-Orchester Wuppertal under George Hanson.

[Mark Thomas]

Hopefully, Ilja will acquiesce if I take a couple of liberties in this category. My suggestions are all operas, which I know isn't the favourite genre of everyone here. With that in mind they're the three works which, many years ago now, fully opened my ears to the delights of unsung operas and have remained firm favourites. None are totally obscure and do still get the odd performance, but aren't part of the standard repertoire. They may aid someone else's conversion, as they did mine. I should add that the very first opera I enjoyed was Gounod's Faust, but that's far too well known to be included here.

So, the first recommendation is Jules Massenet's Esclarmonde. This is Massenet at his most spectacular: the music is unfailingly lyrical and its variety ensures one never gets bored, his orchestral writing is at it's most Wagnerian but is coupled with an almost Rimskyian fantasy, the vocal writing is a joy and the choral contribution is substantial and impressive. The story is a Byzantine chilvalric fairy tale which needn't detain anybody, all one has to do is wallow in the glory of the sound Massenet makes. The opening Prologue is utterly arresting: a 10 minute baritone solo over a sweeping orchestra, with an organ contributing massive chords and a glorious choral contribution. It'll blow your socks off! The rest of the work mixes intimate scenes with more spectacle. Try the old Sutherland/Bonynge recording (still my favourite), which can be found in full on YouTube.

Sticking with French spectacle, Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots is a long work, but chock full of the most delightful melody, foot-tapping rhythms and quirky, but very effective, writing for the orchestra. It's easy to see why it was so successful for so long and a puzzle (to me) why it's fallen out of favour now. The libretto, by Scribe, may be his standard fare of two lovers trapped in the sweep of great events (the massacre of French protestants in 1572), but Meyerbeer's momentum and sheer invention ensures that interest never flags as the scenes shift from moments of tender intimacy to lively crowd scenes and, ultimately, terror. Once again, I'd recommend the old Sutherland/Bonynge recording.

Finally, moving to Italian opera, another take on the Faust legend: Arrigio Boito's Mefistofele. Boito was Verdi's librettist for Othello and Falstaff, and this is his only completed opera (another on Nero was unfinished). Like Esclarmonde, one can't help but be stunned by the ambition of its opening, a 25-minute Prologue in which Boito depicts the ejection of Mephistofeles from heaven. The orchestral and choral writing in particular are monumental, arguably approaching the power and appropriateness of the Dies Irae in Verdi's Requiem. Boito's characterisation of Mephistofeles in the whole opera is unfailingly believable: a mixture of sly cunning and empty, needy bombast. After this terrific opening, the following four acts are more typical of Italian opera of the mid-19th century, unfailingly tuneful, with very attractive writing for the soloists and plenty of orchestral and choral sparkle. It finishes with an Epilogue which reprises the most apocalyptic music of the Prologue. I have the Domingo/Rudel recording.

I'm conscious that all three operas are big on spectacle and melody, they aren't intimate, psychologically penetrating works, over in 90 minutes, but that's what first piqued my interest in, and enjoyment of, the genre. You have to start somewhere, and this worked for me.

[SV340450843]

I have this 3 pieces in the 3 genres descripted here vocal, chorus and opera:

1.- Pamiętam ciche, jasne, złote dnie by Mieczysław Karłowicz

No explaining needed, only hear the song and undestand the title: "I remember quiet, clear, golden days"

2.- Sous bois by Lili Boulanger
A very nice choral piece that describes poetically the forests and what occurs there. Also I need to notice that the introductor part sounds as the forest, when in the morning the light filters between the green leaves and makes them shine.

3.- Don Sanche S.1 by Franz Liszt
A very nice comic opera tlking about a chevalier that wants to conquest a princess that desdains him but finally achieves it, and they enter to the "Chateau de l'amour" or the Castle of the lovers. It has very nice and dramatic moments, I specially like the aria "Repose en paix" and "Beau chevalier". Also the overture is very nice for being composed by a teenager of 14. It's definitively of a "Fantaisie sur l'Opéra 'Don Sanche' de Liszt" xd

[John Boyer]

Just as with the other categories, no sooner had I come up with three contenders than I began remembering others.

There are no operas in my list because all my potential nominations have had at least two recordings and are starting to enter the fringes of the repertory, albeit mostly in Europe.  The same is true for some of the oratorios and cantatas that came to mind.  Instead, I'd like to extend a hand to things that could use all the help they can get.

1. Max Reger: Die Nonnen, Op. 112

I approached Reger's 1909 cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra, a setting of a poem by Martin Boelitz, with little enthusiasm, expecting him at his most meanderingly chromatic.  But no, this is more akin to the Romantic Reger of the Sinfonietta, Op. 90, or the Serenade, Op. 95.  Indeed, this is the Reger of French Impressionism, so much so that you might mistake it for the early Debussy of La Damoiselle Elue.  Just bathe in the delicate atmosphere of the orchestral introduction -- was that a faun that I saw?  And then the ethereal entry of the chorus...just gorgeous.  And so on, right to the end.  I didn't think he had stuff like this in him.  Would that more of his work were like this, but one example of his potential will have to suffice.


2. Robert Russell Bennett: The Fun and Faith of William Billings, American

The approaching Semiquincentennial of the United States brings this neglected occasional piece to mind.  Completed in 1976 on a commission from the National Symphony for the American Bicentennial, Bennett's cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra adapts several hymns by the early American composer William Billings (1746-1800).  From this raw material, Bennett -- developing the hymns, adding orchestral interludes, and through superb orchestration and choral writing -- fashions a 30-minute festival piece that exactly lives up to its title: a genuinely fun, high-spirited, surprise-filled work that celebrates Billing's faith in God and the future of his new country.


3. Heinrich von Herzogenberg: "Der Vogel Abschied", Op. 91, No. 6

Lieder seems to be a niche interest, but I could not let this deeply touching, heartfelt work go unmentioned.  The last of the six Elegiac Songs, Op. 91 that he composed following the death of his wife Elizabeth, this song for high voice is a setting of a poem by Eichendorff in which the birds of the forest say farewell to their homes as they prepare to migrate south before winter sets in.  They console the forest that the mountains and stars will stand watch during the long, dark sleep of winter, but that in the spring they -- and new life -- will rise again.  This allegory of resurrection is set to one of Herzogenberg's most inspired creations, which captures the sense of motion of departure, the pain of separation, and the consolation of future happiness.  It's a real gem.

[Ilja]

Thanks everyone sofar! I had never heard Pamiętam ciche, jasne, złote dnie by Karlowicz, and it turns out that whole cycle is quite delicious.

John, I rather got into Reger through the Sinfonietta, and then Die Nonnen, and got my hands on everything else I could get. Talk about diminishing returns. But Die Nonnen is indeed gorgeous.

And yes, Mefistofele was on my own initial list, but I thought it might be too "sung" for inclusion. It is an epic thing, though, and there's even a pretty good full performance (in less than stellar video, alas) on YouTube for anyone daring to try it out.

[SV340450843]

Yeah, Pamiętam ciche, jasne, złote dnie is definitively a gem!
Only I would like that it could be more longer, but I won't blame Kazimierz Pzerwa-Tetmajer for writing such a little but emotional poem.