Wagner
Tannhäuser – Overture
Marx
Lieder – Barkarole; Selige Nacht; Der Bescheidene Schäfer; Und gestern hat er mir Rosen gebracht; Sommerlied; Maienblüten; Waldseligkeit; Hat dich die Liebe berüht
Strauss
Eine alpensinfonie, Op.64
Christine Brewer (soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jiří Bělohlávek
Reviewed by: Bob Briggs
Reviewed: 11 December, 2010
Venue: Barbican Hall, London
As we sat listening to the Overture to Tannhäuser it was in the knowledge that The Royal Opera’s new production of this work was well into its first night stride. Jiří Bělohlávek’s view of the Overture was spacious, with a full and rich orchestral sound, but it lacked the forward momentum which fills this music.
Furtwängler described Joseph Marx as the “leading force of Austrian music”. Certainly he was a fine and fastidious composer, and the author of an impressive body of keenly wrought songs, but I think that the maestro was over-egging the pudding. Christine Brewer has been singing Marx’s Lieder for many years, including a Chandos CD with this orchestra and conductor. Marx’s style is opulently late-romantic, with the ghost of Franz Schmidt hovering over the orchestral textures and Richard Strauss the vocal line. These songs are very pleasing but there is insufficient contrast between them and after three or four the mind started to wander. The similarity in style and content led to a similarity in performance and, no matter how beautiful the overall sound, the ear tired with the lack of variety. We were given a repeat of ‘Hat dich die Liebe berüht’ as an encore.
- Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Monday 13 December during Afternoon on 3 beginning at 2 p.m.
- BBCSO
- BBC Radio 3
- Barbican
- Marx Songs Recorded