BaL 18.10.14 - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library
Berta Joncus with a personal recommendation from the many recordings of Mozart's opera Singspiel 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail'. Recently arrived in Vienna and keen to impress, Mozart secured a commission from the Emperor Joseph II and the resulting work prompted the infamous (and now contested) complaint that there were "too many notes"!

Available versions:


Köln Opera, Otto Ackermann
Beecham Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Gary Bertini (DVD)
Bavarian State Opera, Karl Böhm (DVD)
Frankfurt Radio, Karl Böhm
Staatskapelle Dresden, Karl Böhm
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Ivor Bolton (DVD/Blu-ray)
Netherlands Opera, Constantinos Carydis (DVD/Blu-ray)
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, Deutsches SO Berlin, Ferenc Fricsay
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Stuttgart Radio SO, Gianluigi Gelmetti (DVD)
Camarata Salzburg, Hans Graf (DVD/Blu-ray)
Vienna SO, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (DVD)
Zurich Opera, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
AAM, Christopher Hogwood (download)
Eugen Jochum
Vienna State Opera, Mozarteum Orchestra, Istvan Kertesz
Zürich Opera, Christopher König (DVD)
VPO, Josef Krips
LPO, Glyndebourne, Gustav Kuhn (DVD)
Milan SO & Chorus, Peter Maag
RIA Milan, Peter Maag
Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Choir, Sir Charles Mackerras (DVD)
ASMF, Sir Neville Marriner
Ambrosian Singers, Bath Festival Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin
Vienna State Opera, VPO, Zubin Mehta (DVD)
Vienna State Opera, VPO, Zubin Mehta (CD)
Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, Marc Minkowski (DVD)
Austrian Radio SO, Rudolf Moralt
Drottningholm Threatre, Arnold Östman (DVD)
Orchestre de la Societé des Concerts du Conservatoire, Hans Rosbaud
NWDR Hamburg, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Linz Bruckner Orchestra, Linz Landes Theatre Choir, Martin Sieghart
Glyndebourne, ROHO, Sir Georg Solti (DVD)
VPO, Sir Georg Solti
Staatskapelle Dresden, Otmar Suitner
George Szell (live 1956)
Münich Opera, Heinz Walberg
Teatro Colon, Heinz Walberg
Staatsoper Stuttgart, Lothar Zagrosek (DVD)

[LeMartinPecheur]

Um, this is an opera that for me never equals the sum of its many excellent parts. Still open to being persuaded otherwise of course!

The shelves bear the DG Bohm and Fricsay on CD, and the Gelmetti DVD (a Lidl extreme bargain IIRC). And I'm sure I've picked up the Beecham on LP in a charity shop too (not on EA's list and certainly let down by its 1st sop, whatever its other merits), but can't immediately bring it to view. So it's really not for lack of trying

[verismissimo]

... And I'm sure I've picked up the Beecham on LP in a charity shop too (not on EA's list and certainly let down by its 1st sop, whatever its other merits), but can't immediately bring it to view...

Seems I've only ever had the Beecham, and on LP. It's an opera I love, not least in the theatre.

Alpie, does this count as available?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Die-Entf%C3%BChrung-aus-Serail/dp/B000UYWG76/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1413055941&sr=1-4&keywords=entfuhrung+beecham

Time for something new. I shall listen attentively.

[aeolium]

I first got to know this opera via the old Beecham set, which has good singers but is cut and Beecham moves at least one aria ("Martern Aller Arten") to a different act. I also have the DG Bohm and the excellent Fricsay studio version, now 60 years old, and the ROH production on DVD, but look forward to hearing this BaL. I think it's a wonderful opera, one of my favourite of Mozart's, and Constanze's arias in particular are as moving (and as taxing for the singer) as any in M's other operas.

[french frank]

I'm also an enthusiast for this opera - and have the Böhm/Dresden set. You saw the WNO production set on the Orient Express, didn't you, aeolium? I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it didn't quite work with the libretto.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Alpie, does this count as available?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Die-Entf%C3%BChrung-aus-Serail/dp/B000UYWG76/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1413055941&sr=1-4&keywords=entfuhrung+beecham

Possibly not, as I suspect it's old unsold copies, but as there appear to be a fair few, I've added it to the list.

[aeolium]

I'm also an enthusiast for this opera - and have the Böhm/Dresden set. You saw the WNO production set on the Orient Express, didn't you, aeolium? I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it didn't quite work with the libretto.

Yes. I thought the Orient Express idea could have worked, but the crass and wrong characterisations of the main protagonists I found horribly jarring with the libretto and music and ruined the production for me.

[BBMmk2]

Well I hope I have a jamming session, playing keyboards that day!!

[Barbirollians]

I have the Christie which is very fine IMO .

[Nick Armstrong]

Never heard this piece, though I think I once played the overture in an arrangement for concert band...

[Bert Coules]

It was the Menuhin set which first fired my enthusiasm for opera in English: I lost count of the times I borrowed the LPs from my local library. I hope it gets at least a mention on the programme.

[Barbirollians]

Christie wins on the bridle

[Bert Coules]

I haven't heard it yet. Did the Menuhin come up at all?

[aeolium]

I thought this was a really disappointing BaL. Extracts from a very small range of recordings were broadcast - at times I thought it was mainly a review of Mehta's CD and DVD recordings - and there were no extracts from some very important arias (such as Konstanze's Welcher Kummer) and ensembles while there was a lot of discussion about the overture and what is imv a mediocre aria of Pedrillo's, Frisch zum Kampfe. We heard a lot of Kurt Rydl's Osmin, far more than I wanted to, and none of some really great singers of that role, like Greindl, Moll, Frick, Talvela. There was no mention IIRC of recordings by Beecham, Bohm, Gardiner, Hogwood, Krips, Fricsay (or indeed many others in EA's list). I realise that this is a tough assignment, with the number of recordings, CD/DVD and HIPP/non-HIPP versions to consider, and the especial importance in this opera of the principal singers (I'm personally not bothered about Pedrillo) as well as the orchestral accompaniment, but I thought this review fell short on so many levels.

[tigajen]

I thought this was a really disappointing BaL. Extracts from a very small range of recordings were broadcast - at times I thought it was mainly a review of Mehta's CD and DVD recordings - and there were no extracts from some very important arias (such as Konstanze's Welcher Kummer) and ensembles while there was a lot of discussion about the overture and what is imv a mediocre aria of Pedrillo's, Frisch zum Kampfe. We heard a lot of Kurt Rydl's Osmin, far more than I wanted to, and none of some really great singers of that role, like Greindl, Moll, Frick, Talvela. There was no mention IIRC of recordings by Beecham, Bohm, Gardiner, Hogwood, Krips, Fricsay (or indeed many others in EA's list). I realise that this is a tough assignment, with the number of recordings, CD/DVD and HIPP/non-HIPP versions to consider, and the especial importance in this opera of the principal singers (I'm personally not bothered about Pedrillo) as well as the orchestral accompaniment, but I thought this review fell short on so many levels.

Totally agree