London Records probably wasn’t inclined to call its new series The Music the Nazis Loved to Hate. But that, in a nasty little nutshell, is what the project that bears the title “Entartete Musik” (degenerate music) is all about. And the first fruits of London’s ambitious, 10-year scheme to record a wide spectrum of works suppressed by the Third Reich are now at hand.
Never before in history had so many musicians been so systematically silenced or sent into exile from one musical culture-all because those musicians were deemed dangerous to the purity of holy German art. “Forbidden” art cut a devastating swath across the whole of German music; atonality, jazz-influenced works and, of course, anything by Jewish composers made the hit list. And the purge was all too successful. By the end of World War II, lives and careers were ruined, ideas were destroyed before finding creative resolution, and who knows how many scores were never written.
It’s fitting that London has chosen to launch its series with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Das Wunder der Heliane” (436 636, 3 CDs) and Ernst Krenek’s “Jonny Spielt Auf” (436 631, 2 CDs). Both operas were by Viennese composers of similar age who ended up in exile in Southern California, living out their final years with little or no contact with one another, as was the case with Schoenberg and Stravinsky. Both works were first performed in 1927 and promptly fell under the Nazi scourge-“Heliane” because Korngold was a Jew, “Jonny” because it was a “jazz opera,” hence politically subversive.
From there the similarities end. “Heliane” was the last gasp of German hyperromanticism-a truly grand opera that bathes a three-hour redemption fantasy in restless harmonies and perfervid erotic mysticism. The overripe symphonic style sounds like a cross between Strauss’ “Die Frau ohne Schatten” and the lush film scores of the Hollywood Korngold.
Although the composer considered it his greatest achievement, the opera was a flop at its premiere and probably would have disappeared from the repertory without Hitler’s help. Certainly its musical and technical complexities-five keyboards support the huge orchestration-make it an unlikely contender for revival.
“Heliane” will probably satisfy listeners who adore Korngold’s earlier (and better) opera, “Die Tote Stadt” and want to bask in the sunset glow of post-Wagnerian German romanticism. And that’s the great irony behind “Heliane”: It’s an opera the Wagner-loving Hitler should have adored.
Hats off to London for giving us the first complete recording of Korngold’s magnum opus, as there probably will never be another. Conductor John Mauceri guides the Berlin Radio Symphony with unabashed fervor through the score’s myriad difficulties, while his cast (which includes Anna Tomowa-Sintow, John David de Haan, Hartmut Welker and Nicolai Gedda in a cameo part)is generally very good.
“Jonny” was the operatic blockbuster of the late 1920s, sweeping stages from New York to Moscow, translated into 18 languages and racking up the greatest number of performances of any opera written during that period. Never mind the storyline-a semi-autobiographical plot that has Max, an Old World composer, coming to grips with the brave new world of America, as represented by Jonny, a black jazz violinist. It was trendy thrills the audience wanted, jazz-blues-tango elements, swift-moving action, the Bauhaus designs.
Nowadays, like so much “shocking” European art of that period, “Jonny” seems more tame than titillating. Krenek’s own lyrical voice, poised over slippery harmonies, is less interesting than his pastiche of popular musical elements. Still, a smart modern staging would remind us of the opera’s value as an historic artifact. In the meantime, we have a nifty account from Lothar Zagrosek, leading the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Chorus; his fine vocal roster includes Krister StHill, Heinz Kruse, Alessandra Marc and Michael Kraus.
London isn’t the only classical label that has been searching out and recording unusual repertory of late.
From the French company OSF comes the first digital account of Arthur Honegger’s oratorio, “Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher.” Boasting an eclectic score set to Paul Claudel’s cinematic libretto, “Joan of Arc at the Stake” is a masterpiece of extraordinary power and beauty. Why it should be so neglected is puzzling. Sonia Petrovna and Michael Lonsdale are the narrators, with Laurent Petitgirard directing the Orchestre Symphonique Francais in an inspired performance (49008/09, 2 CDs).
Rare Honegger orchestral works only recently published form the basis of another CD, with Leopold Hager conducting the Radio-Television Luxembourg Symphony (Timpani 1C1016). The ballet-pantomime “Semiramis” (1933-34) is his most obscure major work, perhaps most notable for its lavish woodwind coloration. The eight short companion pieces are also worth hearing, not least a suite from Honegger’s incidental music to “The Tempest.”
Jean Sibelius composed incidental music of his own to Shakespeare’s play, and it is that 68-minute score that appears, complete for the first time, on the Swedish label Bis (581). If you know “The Tempest” from the two suites that Beecham recorded, you have already fallen under the Prospero-like spell of this music; however, in its fullest form, with the various vocal and choral bits, the 1925 score conveys a great deal more of the essential Sibelius flavor. Osmo Vanska’s account with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Opera Chorus makes a strong case for its being better known outside Finland.
An earlier Sibelius work is his five-movement symphonic poem, “Kullervo” (1892), which depicts the life of the mythic folk hero from the Finnish epic, Kalevala. The music bespeaks a rugged Nordic sweep that more than makes up for its tendency, at 70 minutes, to run too many of its ideas into the hard Finnish soil. From the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen comes perhaps the definitive modern recording of “Kullervo.” Marianna Rorholm and Jorma Hynninen make strong vocal soloists, and the men’s voices of the Helsinki University Chorus make such a glorious sound that even a non-Finnish breast would heave with nationalist pride (Sony Classical 52563).
Moving to France, we find a brace of releases devoted to the Darius Milhaud centenary. EMI Angel has brought together archival recordings of the prolific Frenchman as composer, conductor and pianist; the CD holds such familiar works as “La Creation du Monde,” “Scaramouche,” “Saudades do Brasil,” “Suite Provencale” and “Le Boeuf sur le Toit,” recorded 1932 to 1958 with various Gallic and American ensembles. Indispensable for Milhaud collectors (54604).
Also worth investigating are two all-Milhaud entries in Erato’s valuable Musifrance series. One CD holds various concerted works for piano and orchestra, including the First and Fourth piano concertos and “Carnaval d’Aix,” with pianist Claude Helffer and the French National Orchestra under David Robertson (45992). The other contains the stage works “Creation du Monde” and “Boeuf sur le Toit,” plus the Harp Concerto, with Lyon Opera Orchestra forces under Kent Nagano (45820). Charming rather than profound, these works make for ideal summer listening.
