Haydn Orfeo ed Euridice
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Joseph Haydn
Genre:
Opera
Label: L'Oiseau-Lyre
Magazine Review Date: 4/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 124
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 452 668-2OHO2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (L')Anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Academy of Ancient Music Academy of Ancient Music Chorus Andrea Silvestrelli, Pluto, Bass Angela Kazimierczuk, Baccante, Mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli, Euridice; Genio, Soprano Christopher Hogwood, Conductor Colin Campbell, Third Chorus, Bass Ildebrando d' Arcangelo, Creonte, Baritone James Oxley, Fourth Chorus, Tenor José Fardilha, Second Chorus, Baritone Joseph Haydn, Composer Roberto Scaltriti, First Chorus, Baritone Uwe Heilmann, Orfeo, Tenor |
Author: hfinch
When Haydn was finally released from his duties at Esterhazy by the death of Prince Nicolaus in 1790, he arrived in Vienna where he met Salomon who immediately poached him for England with a commission which included the “London” Symphonies – and an opera. Political and theatrical intrigues (plus ca change) prevented L’anima del filosofo from being staged, and it was not until 1951 in Florence that Haydn’s Orpheus opera ever confronted the greasepaint. It was recorded a year later by the Vienna State Opera (Haydn Society, 10/52 – nla), and then not again until 1992, when Leopold Hager and his Munich forces took it on. After such a long wait, it was all the more disappointing when, despite a promising cast led by Robert Swenson and Helen Donath, this 1995 release asked so few questions of Haydn’s unique approach to the Orpheus myth, offering an affectionate but anodyne reading of a vividly distinctive score.
At last, a truly searching, period-instrument performance is available. Christopher Hogwood builds his band on the model of those prevalent in late-eighteenth-century London theatres. Not only does his phrasing and articulation discover no end of both witty and poignant nuances which Hager’s blander, more svelte direction ignores, but the grave austerity of the string playing, and the plangency of the early woodwind instruments are eloquent advocates of an opera whose uncompromisingly tragic ending (even the seductive Bacchantes perish) owes more to Ovid and Milton than to operatic tradition.
Hogwood also remembers that Haydn was writing for a Handelian London choral tradition: his chorus, be they cast as Cupids, Shades or Furies, have robust presence (in Munich they could be in an adjacent studio), and sculpt their lines with firm muscle.
Cecilia Bartoli takes the role of Euridice. In her very first aria, “Filomena abbandonata”, she understands and eagerly recreates the type of coloratura writing which simultaneously fleshes out the central nightingale simile and incarnates the single word “crudelta”. Her unmistakable, melting half-voice comes into its own as emotion first clouds reason, only to create the fatal emotional extremes to which she gives voice so thrillingly.
Not for nothing is this Orfeo ed Euridice first calledL’anima del filosofo. Its typically eighteenth-century aspect and temper is focused in Bartoli’s alter ego, Genio, the sibyl who is Orfeo’s own second self and spiritual guide. She offers, with disarming simplicity, the “herb of philosophy” and reason, then gives feisty and unfaltering coloratura urging to constancy and valour.
Uwe Heilmann is just the tenor of rare agility and wide vocal range vital for this particular Orfeo. A more spacious tone than Swenson’s gives room for soave accenti as well as heroism; though in slower, more sustained passages I craved a leaner approach.
The minor parts are more strongly profiled than in Hager’s recording: Ildebrando d’Arcangelo is a stern, noble Creonte, Andrea Silvestrelli a fearsome, stentorian Pluto – and there’s even a convincing strepito ostile off-stage as Euridice’s abduction is attempted in Act 2. Beyond the detail, it is above all the unique poignancy of the musical drama at the heart of this strange, grave Orfeo which Hogwood discovers, not before time, and reveals with such sympathetic and compelling imaginative insight.'
At last, a truly searching, period-instrument performance is available. Christopher Hogwood builds his band on the model of those prevalent in late-eighteenth-century London theatres. Not only does his phrasing and articulation discover no end of both witty and poignant nuances which Hager’s blander, more svelte direction ignores, but the grave austerity of the string playing, and the plangency of the early woodwind instruments are eloquent advocates of an opera whose uncompromisingly tragic ending (even the seductive Bacchantes perish) owes more to Ovid and Milton than to operatic tradition.
Hogwood also remembers that Haydn was writing for a Handelian London choral tradition: his chorus, be they cast as Cupids, Shades or Furies, have robust presence (in Munich they could be in an adjacent studio), and sculpt their lines with firm muscle.
Cecilia Bartoli takes the role of Euridice. In her very first aria, “Filomena abbandonata”, she understands and eagerly recreates the type of coloratura writing which simultaneously fleshes out the central nightingale simile and incarnates the single word “crudelta”. Her unmistakable, melting half-voice comes into its own as emotion first clouds reason, only to create the fatal emotional extremes to which she gives voice so thrillingly.
Not for nothing is this Orfeo ed Euridice first called
Uwe Heilmann is just the tenor of rare agility and wide vocal range vital for this particular Orfeo. A more spacious tone than Swenson’s gives room for soave accenti as well as heroism; though in slower, more sustained passages I craved a leaner approach.
The minor parts are more strongly profiled than in Hager’s recording: Ildebrando d’Arcangelo is a stern, noble Creonte, Andrea Silvestrelli a fearsome, stentorian Pluto – and there’s even a convincing strepito ostile off-stage as Euridice’s abduction is attempted in Act 2. Beyond the detail, it is above all the unique poignancy of the musical drama at the heart of this strange, grave Orfeo which Hogwood discovers, not before time, and reveals with such sympathetic and compelling imaginative insight.'
Haydn Orfeo ed Euridice
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