News
Reissued CD Sets
Two recordings of Offenbach's works from the Warner catalogue have been recently reissued:
La Périchole is the 1977 recording featuring Régine Crespin in the title role and Alain Vanzo as Piquillo, with the Strasbourg Philhamonic Orchestra under Alain Lombard. In his review for the BBC Music Magazine, Christopher Cook describes Crespin as "past her best in 1976" but giving a "masterclass in singing Offenbach". Alain Vanzo "is pretty good too.". Warner 2564-66695-2 (1977).
Les Contes d'Hoffman features Roberto Alagna as Hoffman and Natalie Dessay as Olympia with the Chorus and Orchestra of Lyon National Opera under Kent Nagano. Christopher Cook reviews this set less favourably with Dessay's Olympia being the only performance that "really glitters". Alagna is "brawny ... when he should be brainy" and "Sumi Jo (as Giulietta) is woefully miscast". The 3 cd set has been issued on the Erato label, catalogue number 2564672665.
Source: BBC Music Magazine Christmas 2011
Opera News Lists the Best Recordings of 2010
The January 2011 issue of Opera News lists the following items in their best recordings of the year:
- "Complete Pleasures: - Vert-Vert (Opera Rara)
- "Most Valuable Players" - Jennifer Larmore and Toby Spence in Vert-Vert (Opera Rara)
- "Stage and Screen" -Oliver Py's Les Contes d'Hoffman from Geneva (Bel Air Classiques and Walter Felsenstein's 1973 Barbe-Bleue from the Komische Oper, Berlin (Arthaus Musik)
Sadler's Wells La Belle Helene on DVD
Premiere Opera has published a DVD of the 1963 television adaptation of the operetta which was broadcast at the same time as Sadlers Wells were performing at their theatre. The production used the English version by Geoffrey Dunnand featured Joyce Blackham as Helen and Kevin Miller as Paris. Telephone 212-769-0808 (USA) or visit www.premiereopera.com for more information.
Lott - Fouchécourt Concert
A concert devoted to excerpts from several Offenbach operettas was given on 11 January 2010 at Victoria Hall, Geneva. It featured Felicity Lott (soprano), Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande directed by Sylvain Cambreling. The performance is now available on CD from Premiere Opera (see above for contact details.
Another Release from Cantus Classics
Cantus Classics has been publishing CD editions of German radioa broadcasts from the late 1940s, including many operettas by Offenbach. The latest edition (5.01090) has two CDs, each with a performance from 1949:
CD1) Die Insel Tulipaten (L'Ile de Tulipatan) has 19 tracks and includes almost all of the music and some dialogue
CD2) Die Verlobung bei der Lanterne (Le Mariage aux Lanternes) has 13 tracks with dialogue and music.
Both performances are with the Frankfurt Radio Chorus and Orchestra directed by Kurt Schröder.
New DVD from Bruniquel
The Bruniquel Festival haa been issuing DVDs of their festival performances for several years. The latest is the 2010 performance of Barbe-Bleue. The combined talents of director Frank T'Hézan and musical director Jean-Christophe Keck give a genuine French interpretation of the work in striking contrast to the German version by Felsenstein mentioned above. Visit www.bruniqueloff.com/p_dvd.htm for more information on this DVD and the others in the series. Issue (157 November 2010) of Opérette includes detailed coverage of the Festival by Bernard Creétel including a synopsis, analysis of the work and score and a review of the production. See next item for contact details.
Offenbach and Vienna
The current issue of Opérette (No 158, February 2011) includes an interesting article by Dominique Ghesquière covering the composer's career in Vienna. Single issues of the magazine (in French) are available for 6,50€ from http://pagesperso-orange.fr/anao.
The German Offenbach Society
The Jacques-Offenbach-Gesellschaft Bad Ems has just published the tenth edition of their Journal (April 2011). It has a number of performance reviews and a few short articles. Email Dr Ulrich Brand for more information.
Opera della Luna book
Jeff Clarke has written a book about the company's past fifteen years. The book includes photographs from their productions with narrative and features photographs from their productions of La Belle Hélène, Robinson Crusoe and The Tales of Hoffman. Visit www.operadellaluna.org for more information.
Extracted from June 2011 Newsletter
