Gurrelieder this evening on R3

[smittims]

Elgar? Some of it reminds me of Delius, and not just because of their mutual liking for Jacobsen.

[Serial_Apologist]

Elgar? Some of it reminds me of Delius, and not just because of their mutual liking for Jacobsen.

There are strong Delian harmonies in Webern's tone poem Im Sommerwind, a contemporary work with Gurrelieder.

[Pulcinella]

Times review (Richard Morrison) here:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gurrelieder-review-a-glorious-racket-from-the-london-philharmonic-qsfrjws3p?shareToken=3dfa84c74913d09c78fcf2519e0c7671

Is 'not enough lustrous tone' a kind way of saying 'too much vibrato'?

[edashtav]

Having heard the whole broadcast I don't want to cavil at details; I was moved by the final chorus (well done Neville Creed).

The Tove and Wood dove were a bit wobbly; Klaus the Fool flung himself into his part with gusto. I'd have preferred the speaker's part to be the original Robert Franz Arnold German, and for Schoenberg's notated part to be followed. The orchestral playing was I thought the best part of the evening. Overall it was enjoyable.

I'm glad the BBC air this work fairly frequently, going back to 1928 when Schoenberg himself conducted a broadcast with the then BBC Wireless singers and Orchestra, trained by Percy Pitt.

Although the translated sprechgesang movement added to my understanding of its words, it diid seem to me as unusual and idiosyncratic to leave the rest of the work in German and I suspect the translation damaged Schoenberg’s rhythms and pitch indications. I was pleased to hear a fresh performance.

[Master Jacques]

Although the translated sprechgesang movement added to my understanding of its words, it diid seem to me as unusual and idiosyncratic to leave the rest of the work in German and I suspect the translation damaged Schoenberg’s rhythms and pitch indications. I was pleased to hear a fresh performance.

This recent fashion of doing spoken parts in the vernacular and sung parts in the original language - not just here, but increasingly in opera too - is deathly. It breaks the artistic unity and dislocates the musical drama. Alex Jennings was absolutely fine, though certainly not attempting (as far as I could hear) to track the composer's rhythms and pitch variations; but it's surely much better to do the whole work in one language or the other, not a medley of both.

[Simon B]

This piece is near enough impossible for the soloists isn't it? The tenor at any rate...

Take a Gotterdammerung sized orchestra, then inflate it by nearly a further 50%, then take it out of the pit, then stick a tenor in front of it and expect him to be heard? Good luck with that, as they say.

It's all very well when making a studio recording, but in a live performance, refinement is often sacrificed to audibility. My memory is getting hazy now, but I can recall being at about 10 live Gurrelieder over the years, and I think I've only been able to hear the Waldemar properly once: Simon O'Neill, in the Usher Hall (which has a helpful acoustic) from a seat above and not all that far from where he was stood, stage right. He is firmly in the Heldentenor zone, with a bright timbre sometimes described as steely which again helps cut through the (glorious) din*. Even he was struggling against the LSO in the Albert Hall not that long after.

That said, I've not previously associated David Butt Philip with these ultimate can-belto Heldentenor roles so he had his work doubly cut out. Decibels are 9/10ths of the battle for quite a lot of it.

*On Saturday, Ed Gardner was bringing all his operatic experience to bear in continually keeping the orchestra down for most of a phrase where the soloist had something to say, letting them let rip for 3 seconds and then paring them right back again. From what I could see of his gestures the LPO were mostly attentively following him, again lots of operatic experience being brought to bear. Ultimately it's a bit of a losing contest though.

I too found the Englishification of the sprechgesang bit rather incongruous. Past performances have for me yielded one-off opportunities to hear otherwise retired singers of, shall we say considerable repute: Ernst Haefliger, Hans Hotter and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau no less. This didn't compare, despite the best efforts of all involved!

The LPO and LPO/LSO choirs were magnificent though, along with Karen Cargill. Even if the rest of it is a dud (which it wasn't by any stretch) it's worth the admission fee for the last 5 minutes. Surely the grandest blast of C major in the entire repertoire.

[ostuni]

Very much in agreement with Simon B here. From the side stalls, I got a good view of Ed Gardner doing his best to keep the orchestra level down behind the singers, especially in Part 1. And yes, Karen Cargill's Wood Dove was the standout solo spot: she absolutely commanded the stage, both dramatically and musically.

To Simon's list of retired-singer Sprecher, I'd add Thomas Quasthoff (LSO Prom with Rattle: excellent). Gardner's choice of an English translation here, together with a too-obviously amplified actor, with no obvious experience in Sprechgesang, was a serious miscalculation.