Only three works by Stravinsky are in any sense over-represented in the current catalogue, and Oedipus Rex seems unlikely to join them despite the recent spate of new recordings. Indeed, it can be argued that none of them quite hits the mark. The distancing device of the narration has proved as difficult to realize on disc as it is in live performance. Cocteau's own inimitably sharp, rhetorical manner—to be heard on Stravinsky's mono studio recording (Philips, 6/55—nla) or a live relay of the 1952 Paris production (Disques Montaigne)—provides a level of stylization which only Jules Bastin for Levine (DG—to be reviewed next month) comes close to emulating. Although Stravinsky disliked him playing to the gallery, having Cocteau as your Master of Ceremonies did seem to legitimize the work's diversity of style. Second and more problematic has been the tendency to adopt an increasingly monumental approach to the music with a corresponding loss of dramatic tension. Under Welser-Most and even Levine, the dominance of the oratorio aspect is to some extent inescapable given the sepulchral acoustic foisted on the performers. Salonen alone offers a more convincing balance; and if tight, smooth execution and sheer audibility are all you require from ''this strange and cranky masterpiece'' (as someone from the San Francisco Examiner describes it in the booklet for this latest CD from Philips), Salonen is still out in front. Ozawa's Saito Kinen Orchestra and Shin-yu Kai Choir have altogether cruder edges than their Swedish rivals. Orchestral detail is mixed down in favour of solo voices, and the aforementioned booklet is close-printed on poor quality paper.
And yet, I have no doubt which version many will prefer. The Saito Kinen production is also available on Laser Disc and VHS (though with a slightly different cast), and, despite Ozawa's slow tempos in the key arias, there are flashes of that indefinable something which smacks of live music-making and a real familiarity with the dramatic substance. Above all there is Jessye Norman, who gets top billing and is in magnificent voice as Jocasta, even more than she was under Sir Colin Davis. Uniquely commanding in her big number (despite an excessively romantic feel at the start), she negotiates the difficult patter music of her duet with astonishing precision. She simply isn't a 'natural' for the role as conventionally understood. Compare the late-lamented Tatiana Troyanos, more lyrical and freer-flowing for Bernstein (CBS, 6/76—nla) or the sensitive, maternal-sounding Marjana Lipovsek for Welser-Most. Ozawa's Oedipus is Peter Schreier and he characterizes the part with more vigour and intensity than any recent rival, an engage Oedipus at the opposite extreme from Vinson Cole's, all limpid acquiescence for Salonen. There is no dearth of passion from Schreier; and if the human tragedy lurking within Stravinsky's frigid ground plan is what counts for you, you may not mind the technical shortcomings. Even Anthony Rolfe Johnson for Welser-Most has a 'beat' in the voice at times and Schreier is too involved to sound as if he is merely searching for the notes. He does, however, sound old enough to be Jocasta's father which you may see as a problem. By contrast, Bryn Terfel is a plain and youthful Creon, less attuned to the buffo element of ''Respondit deus'' than some of his rivals, partly because Ozawa gives him so much time to get round the notes.
It's not easy to sum up. Ozawa's soloists have excellent presence but the instrumental lines do tend to wind down into inaudibility behind them. I doubt whether the conductor would have let this happen in the hall, yet his orchestral fabric is wanting in the verve and crispness the idiom demands. Bernstein showed how to produce a powerful, heavyweight reading without losing that essential Stravinskian clarity—but his LP has been unavailable for years. At least Ozawa's performance isn't overwhelmed by excessive reverberation. Incidentally, the conductor's solution to the problem of the repeated Gloria choruses is the same as Salonen's and indeed Stravinsky's in his stereo version. Placing the second Gloria after the speaker's introduction to Act 2, he eschews the myopic authenticity of a straight reprise. This makes better sense on a one-sided sound carrier, but why repeat it at all?'