Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet: Eikanger-Bjorsvik Band/Bjarte Engeset
Naxos
Moviebrass: Gomalan Brass Quintet
Naxos
Beethoven – Fidelio: Crista Ludwi/Gottlob Frick/Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer
EMI Classics
Beethoven– Egmont Incidental Music and Ah! Perfido: Madeleine Pierard/New Zealand Orchestra/James Judd
Naxos
This is a thoughtful and on the whole charming arrangement of Prokofiev’s subtle and dramatic ballet score and is particularly pleasing in the more lyrical parts such as “Morning Dance” and “Juliet as a Young Girl”. The weakness appears mainly at those times when the composer calls so dramatically on colour and authority that only an orchestra can provide, such as the rhythmic drive of brass and lower strings in “Montagues and Capulets” and the “Death of Tybalt”.
The attack and vivacity of the Gomalan Brass are clear from the opening selection of Moviebrass and they throw themselves
merrily into West Side Story. Samuel Barber’s doleful Adagio is well suited to brass
ensemble, after which the John Williams selection comes as welcome relief.
And so to high seriousness. Fidelio was
close to Otto Klemperer’s heart. He recorded it more than once, but this version should be grabbed while it’s here. It’s one of the real classic recordings – and what a cast. Klemperer himself said of this masterpiece: “The dramatic tension in the dungeon scene has never been equalled since by any other composer. The trumpet call has been compared to the high point of the Requiem – as an appeal to humanity. It is a prayer for outward and inner peace.”
The act One quartet, “Mir ist So Wunderbar”, ranks among the high water marks of 19th century music drama. You
will have to be made of stone not to be moved to tears by such rendering of Beethoven’s intentions here.
The beautiful music Beethoven wrote for Goethe’s neglected tragedy Egmont 1810, that dealt with the rebellion by Count Egmont against Spanish domination in 16th century Netherlands is far too little known. Beethoven had considerable experience in the use of music in the theatre in his day before he came to write Egmont and the score is full of delightful and moving music.
The New Zealand Orchestra under James Judd do it justice here, even if just falling short of the earth-shattering wonder of it all. The overture is beautifully paced, although the climax could have blazed away a bit more to good effect. “The Death of Claerchen” is particularly effective.
The tone is slightly lowered by inclusion of two military marches and then raised again by Beethoven’s setting of Metastasio’s concert aria Ah! Perfido, here rapturously rendered by the experienced New Zealand soprano Madeleine Pierard.
Robert Giddings
