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The opera will be broadcast on 1 June at 19:05 on Deutschlandfunk Kultur

A recording from 07.04.2024

Ethel Smyth
,,Der Wald", Musikdrama mit einem Prolog und einem Epilog in einem Akt
Libretto: Ethel Smyth

Eine Frau – Hanna Larissa Naujocks, Mezzosopran
Landgraf Rudolf – Samueol Park, Bariton
Jolanthe – Edith Grossman, Mezzosopran
Heinrich – Sangmin Jeon, Tenor
Peter – Erik Rousi, Bass
Röschen – Mariya Taniguchi, Sopran
Ein Hausierer – Zachary Wilson, Bariton
Ein Jäger – Hak-Young Lee, Bariton
Chor der Wuppertaler Bühnen
Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal
Leitung: Patrick Hahn

Given the time allotted for the broadcast I guess Schönberg's Erwartung will be included.
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A resuscitation job for Bru Zane then!

The original ballet music of La tentation from act one of Thais is on Naxos 8.573123 with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Gallois. All twenty four minutes sixteen seconds of it!

In Germany I can only find this one:

Gerhard Rehm conducting: Mechthild Georg (Mezzo-Soprano); Kurt Widmer (Baritone); Balinger Kantorei; Catholic Church Choir Empfingen; Wiesenstetten Church Choir; and the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra

Camille Saint-Saëns' Déjanire is on the way! To be released on 12th April 2024.

See bru-zane.com/en/pubblicazione/dejanire/ for details.

 BERTIN's Fausto (Rousset, concert on June 20th 2023 at the TCE in Paris) will be released in the usual form on 26 January 2024.

 "only sketches" in this case means a particella which is generally sufficient for an orchestrator to complete the work. Any volunteers?

Emilie Mayer's Overtures

According to the composer she wrote twelve overtures up to 1857 but it is known she wrote three after 1857, so as in some literature the she may well have composed fifteen in total.
Before 1857
Overture No 2 in D major
Overture No 3 in C major
Overture in D minor
Overture in C minor (only sketches)
Overture in E major (subsequently used as the Overture to the singspiel Die Fischerin.
After 1857
Overture to Faust, op. 46
Ouverture serieuse (lost)
Overtura giacosa (lost)

The Konzertstück II für Klavier (linke Hand) und Orchester will be broadcast this evening on Deutschlandfunk Kultur at 22:00 CET.

I have tried several times to find some information about the proposed releases of Déjanire and Lancelot but have been unsucessful. There's a short excerpt of the concert performance of Déjanire in youTube. There are now three excerpts from Lancelot in youTube, two of which probably make up the complete first act as they are labelled scenes I and 2. The third is an excerpt from act 4.

After the successful première of 'Lucrezia Borgia' in Milan in 1833 a performance at the San Carlo Opera in Naples was barred by the censor. The opera was first transformed by Romano Felice and Gaetano Donizetti into 'La cena della vendetta', then 'Elisa Fosco', as well as 'Adelina' before Donizetti's final attempt to convince the censor with 'Dalinda' in 1838 failed. In this final attempt Donizetti even wrote a completely new third act. With the fifth 'thumbs down' from the censor Donizetti gave up and 'Dalinda' was forgotten. Until yesterday evening (14 May 23), when the Berlin Opera Group produced semi-staged première of the critical edition by Eleonora Di Cintio published by Ricordi  to resounding applause.

The story is transferred to Persia at the time of the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.
Cast:
Dalinda - Lidia Fridman, soprano
Acmet - Paolo Bordogna, bass-baritone
Ildemaro - Luciano Ganci, tenor
Ugo d'Asti - Yajie Moreno Garic, mezzo-soprano
Six other male characters
Chorus & Orchestra of the Berlin Opera Group
Conducted by Felix Krieger
How much of Lucrezia survived the changes, omissions, end expansions demanded by the censor I cannot say. I feel the result is a fully fledged Donizetti opera that can stand the competition from Lucrezia Borgia.

Hulda will be released on 23 June, Ariane on 8 September and Aux étoiles - French Symphonic Poems by Henri Duparc, Alfred Bruneau, Charlotte Sohy, Ernest Giraud... with the Orchestre national de Lyon, conducted by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider on 20 October

Deutschlandfunk Kultur 27 May 2023 at 19:05

Felix Weingartner

,,Orestes", Oper in drei Teilen nach der ,,Orestie" des Aischylos

Broadcast of a recording from 20 May 2023 in the Theater Erfurt
 

Agamemnon, König von Argos – Kakhaber Shavidze, Bass
Klytaimnestra, seine Frau – Ilia Papandreou, Sopran
Orestes – Brett Sprague, Tenor
Elektra – Daniela Gerstenmeyer, Sopran
Kassandra, Tochter von König Priamos – Laura Nielsen, Sopran
Athene – Candela Gotelli, Sopran
Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt
Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt
Leitung: Alexander Prior

Felix Weingartner was one of the most famous conductors of his time, but he also frequently composed symphonies, chamber music and stage works. For his opera, he chose Aeschylus's "Orestia", the oldest surviving stage trilogy in theatre history. The opera "Orestes" was written not long before Richard Strauss's much more radical "Elektra", which is based on the same material and whose success prompted Weingartner's albeit ambitious work to be forgotten.

HOLMES's La Montagne Noire in Dortmund has reappeared. The première is on 13.1.2024 with the following performances: 19.1.2024, 24.1.2024, 17.2.2024, 11.4.2024 & 10.5.2024

Last night I attended a wonderful performance of this too seldom performed oratorio. It was recorded and will be transmitted on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on Monday 10th April 2023 at 20:03. I hope someone can record it as I will be away.

Konzert from the Philharmonie Berlin
Recording from 05.03.2023

Georg Schumann
Ruth, Oratorium op. 50

Marcelina Román, Sopran
Julie-Marie Sundal, Alt
Jonas Böhm, Bariton
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Bass
Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt
Leitung: Jörg-Peter Weigle


Die männlichen Hauptdarsteller des Alten Testaments waren jähzornige Totschläger (Kain), bockig (Noah), der Vielweiberei und Maßlosigkeit verfallen (König Salomo) oder waren neidisch bis aufs Blut, wie die Söhne Jakobs, die ihren Bruder Josef erst in eine Zisterne warfen, um ihn dann an Sklavenhändler zu verschachern. Ein Vorbild an Demut, Sanftmütigkeit, Treue und Liebe zu Gott war dagegen Ruth. Sie ist die Großmutter von König David, und damit ist auch Jesus mit ihr verwandt. Im Alten Testament erzählt das Buch Ruth von ihr, das den Komponisten Georg Schumann zu dem gleichnamigen Oratorium inspirierte, das zu seinen wichtigsten Werken zählt. Als ,,Ruth" 1909 unter Schumanns Leitung mit großem Orchester und wuchtigem Chor uraufgeführt wurde, jubelte die Presse über die ,,milde, klare Schönheit" und die ,,Gefühlswärme" und schwärmte: ,,Die Chöre sind Gebilde von wahrhaft berauschender Schönheit". Auch international wurde dieses Oratorium gefeiert. Allerdings konnte Schumann das Oratorium in seiner ursprünglichen Fassung während der NS-Zeit nicht mehr aufführen. Es war den Nazis zu bibelfromm und zu jüdisch. Schumann, der nie Mitglied der NSDAP war, wollte sein Lieblingswerk aber unbedingt durch diese Zeit retten und schrieb den Text um. Aus ,,Ruth" wurde das ,,Lied der Treue" und die Handlung spielte nun nicht mehr im Heiligen Land, sondern in China. Nach dem Krieg nahm er die Änderungen wieder zurück. Wenn die Chöre von berauschender Schönheit nun unter der Leitung von Jörg-Peter Weigle in Frankfurt erklingen, dann wieder in ihrer Urfassung.


The male protagonists of the Old Testament were hot-tempered killers (Cain), stubborn (Noah), addicted to polygamy and excess (King Solomon) or were jealous to the bone, like the sons of Jacob, who first threw their brother Joseph into a cistern then bartering him to slave traders. On the other hand, Ruth was a model of humility, meekness, faithfulness and love for God. She is the grandmother of King David, and so Jesus is related to her.
In the Old Testament, the book of Ruth tells of her, which inspired the composer Georg Schumann to write the oratorio of the same name, which is one of his most important works. When "Ruth" was premiered in 1909 under Schumann's direction with a large orchestra and a powerful choir, the press cheered the "mild, clear beauty" and the "warmth of feeling" and raved: "The choirs are creations of truly intoxicating beauty". This oratorio was also celebrated internationally. However, Schumann was no longer able to perform the oratorio in its original version during the Nazi era. It was too religious and too Jewish for the Nazis. Schumann, who was never a member of the NSDAP, was determined to save his favourite work during this time and rewrote the text. "Ruth" became the "Song of Faithfulness" and the action was no longer set in the Holy Land but in China. After the war he reversed the changes. When the choruses of intoxicating beauty are heard in Frankfurt under the direction of Jörg-Peter Weigle, they are back in their original version.