BRAUNFELS Verkündigung
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Walter Braunfels, Robert Holl
Genre:
Opera
Label: BR Klassik
Magazine Review Date: 02/2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 133
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 900311
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Verkündigung |
Walter Braunfels, Composer
Adrian Eröd, Baritone Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks Hanna Schwarz, Contralto (Female alto) Janina Baechle, Soprano Johannes Stermann, Bass Juliane Banse, Soprano Matthias Klink, Tenor Mauro Peter, Tenor Munich Radio Orchestra Robert Holl, Composer Ulf Schirmer, Conductor Vanessa Goikoetxea, Soprano Walter Braunfels, Composer |
Author: Mike Ashman
If this is not already too much for non-Catholics and non-spiritualists, the fact that (as MEO points out) ‘moments of insight and mystical vision are dramatised, more everyday events, such as there are, are not’ may alienate further. The almost final stage direction – ‘from here on the stage is filled with light which gives the following an unreal character’ – may be said to apply throughout most of the action. A close following of the libretto is essential but, regrettably, BR-Klassik has assumed its purchasers have fluent German and Latin.
The attraction of the release is Braunfels’s contribution to new operatic form. Given a coherent stage production, the fact that his action is almost wholly mental and intellectual rather than physical and epic would not be a problem. His orchestration is imaginative, colourful and unpredictable. Try the great pile-up of themes and instrumental voices when Andreas the father announces his pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Act 1). Or the moment of the actual ‘annunciation’ (Act 3): the Midnight Mass bells and angel choir (only heard by Violaine) and the real arrival of the real King combine to provide an image of every element of the Nativity story. And Braunfels achieves this running climax without the über-resources of a Pfitzner or a Korngold. But is the music memorable? There’s the rub.
Passionately projected by Ulf Schirmer, the performance casts the main parts well, with Banse virtuoso in the high tessitura of Violaine, Schwarz as reliably colourful as ever as the Mother and Matthias Klink imaginative as the chief architect. The curious may proceed.
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