Busoni: Goethe Lieder and other song cycles. Martin Bruns, baritone; Ulrich Eisenlohr, piano – Naxos 8.557245 (69 minutes).
Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) is something of an enigma. Although of Italian stock, he spent almost all his artistic life in Germany and is considered a German composer.
His career panned out during a period of great intellectual, social and cultural changes and all of these upheavals left a mark on Busoni’s music, which is highly philosophical and soul searching.
Apart from his compositions, Busoni also made a name as a virtuoso pianist, and many of his works are for this instrument.
Indeed his 1906 Piano Concerto with Male Chorus is a monster of a work, with seven movements, which lasts some 75 minutes – a unique achievement in the history of the piano concerto.
This CD highlights another aspect of the composer’s oeuvre – his songs, of which he wrote around 40. Written during his childhood and adolescence up to 1885, when Busoni was disillusioned with the traditional concept of the art song and its reliance on the beauty of the voice, these little gems represent a composer in transition. Atmospheric, sentimental and well-crafted, these early songs belong to the late romantic tradition of Hugo Wolf, and have very challenging piano parts as accompaniment.
This disc also includes some examples from Busoni’s twi-light years, when he returned to the genre with his ground-breaking Goethe Lieder, declamatory songs which feature some sparse textures and motoric rhythms reminiscent of the early 1920s.
Performances are passionately expressive and decidedly persuasive, but all the same, this kind of repertoire is not for everyday consumption.
Those who are in love with the lieder genre, however, will find many surprises in store.
Meyerbeer: Il Crociato in Egitto (complete opera). La Fenice Theatre Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Emmanuel Villaume – NAXOS 8.660245-47 (3 CDs; 204 minutes).
Born Jakob Beer on September 5, 1791, in Tasdorf near Berlin, the budding composer changed his name to Giacomo Meyerbeer at age 19 to make it more attractive.
Meyerbeer is considered to be the father of French grand opera, but few ever delve into his Italian years (1817-1824), where he not only learnt the art of the stage, but also became acquainted with the works of Rossini. This was a fruitful period indeed, during which he wrote six operas which are rarely performed.
Il Crociato in Egitto is the last in the series and was composed in 1823-1824 after it was commissioned by the La Fenice Theatre in Venice for the Carnival season.
Composed to a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, loosely based on a play by Jean-Antoine-Marie Monperlier, Les Chevaliers de Malte, the opera was an absolute triumph, and was performed in many Italian cities as well as London and Paris. But Meyerbeer’s subsequent French operas and an unrelenting persecution by Richard Wagner resulted in the virtual demise of these early works and it is only in the last decade that they have started to resurface.
Il Crociato in Egitto is a vast and elaborate two-act extravaganza full of colourful scenes, dramatic arias and intricate ensembles that relate a story of love, betrayal and intrigue against the backdrop of the religious tensions between Christians and Muslims during the 13th century.
At over three-and-a-half hours it does outstay its presence slightly, but the music is so beautifully woven and melodiously rich that the listener will surely overlook its length, particularly when it is sung as passionately as this version, which was recorded live at La Fenice in January 2007.
This is a generally fine and timely addition to the Meyerbeer discography.
These CDs were made available for review by D’Amato Record Shop of 98/99 St John Street, Valletta.