Rothschild's Violin

As relatively unknown as "Rothschild's Violin" is, it's quite a powerful experience. I recently had the opportunity to see and hear a live performance of it by the Juilliard Opera Center and Juilliard Orchestra under James Conlon and was blown away. I subsequently tracked down this recording, which is a particularly good one, with great orchestral playing and a very distinguished baritone in the lead role of "Bronze." His long monologue-like soliloquy in the second half of the opera (taking place over several tracks on this recording) is a major highlight of the work.

The composer, Benjamin Fleischmann, a Russian jew, adapted the libretto himself from a Chekhov short story and began working on the opera in 1939. In 1941, with the vocal score nearly completed (and apparently some orchestration done), the siege of Leningrad began and Fleischmann volunteered to fight in the People's Brigade, during which he died.

His teacher Shostakovich decided to finish the work in Fleischmann's memory, and apparently completed the nearly finished vocal score, did his own orchestration for much of it and edited the orchestration that had existed. In the libretto included with the booklet for this CD they've included some of Shostakovich's notes.

The opera didn't get a first reading until almost 20 years later, in 1960, was published in 1965 and had its first staging as late as 1968. The American Premiere was at Juilliard in 1990.

The work is set in a small village, and I assume it's true to its original Chekhov source material, so I won't explain the plot here, except to say that it dwells on the idea of looking back on a life spent impatiently and re-thinking one's priorities in the face of the death of a loved-one. There is village color and irony, but the overall tone is one of growing self-awareness of what is valuable in life.

To this end, how magnificent the music is, how rich the orchestration, how psychologically contemporary and emotionally resonant the orchestral writing, how well-written and exquisitely tragic and expressive the vocal lines. There are two orchestral interludes, a folk dance and the extended epilogue. In the case of of the Epilogue/Finale the sublimely textured orchestration is Shostakovich's.

If you've never heard Shostakovich's lovely and moving settings of Jewish Folk Poetry, relatively small in size but powerful in expression, this CD presents an ideal opportunity. Most often we hear them with piano accompaniment, so on this CD you can enjoy their sensitive orchestration. The soloists for the poems seem apt to me, as do all the singers on this disc.

While it's not quite the same as seeing a performance, I give this disc a very high recommendation indeed!

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