Strauss: Ariadne On Naxos (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme) [CD]

"Ariadne auf Naxos" is for my money the most readily accessible of Richard Strauss's operatic works; a host of musical styles are evoked and there is a marvelous roster of singing roles, both large and small. This particular version is, of course, sung in English and this is a piece which works particularly well in translation, especially when it is performed by a group of singers so adept at word-painting as here. This is particularly true of the Prologue, where we have the added bonus of Stephen Fry as the Major Domo, superciliousness personified; his exchanges with the beautifully sung and enunciated Music Master of the veteran baritone Alan Opie are a special delight. The mezzo soprano Alice Coote is wholly convincing in the "trouser role" of the Composer and John Graham -Hall provides another of his incisive cameos as the Dancing Master. He reappears in the Opera proper as part of the lively quartet of Comedians, led by the mellifluous Harlequin of Roderick Williams, who sings his little song most beautifully. Vocal fireworks are in the capable hands (or voice) of the Canadian soprano Gillian Keith, who dispatches Zerbinetta's fiendishly difficult coloratura pyrotechnics with infectious aplomb. The nymphs and dryads sing well too, but it is the testing roles of Ariadne and Bacchus upon which the success of this opera can stand or fall; the roles on this recording are taken by two American singers, Christine Brewer and Robert Dean Smith, and they can stand comparison with their illustrious predecessors. Christine Brewer is, of course, one of the best exponents of this repertoire performing today and she is on top form here, while Robert Dean Smith copes admirably with the punishing tessitura of Bacchus, faring rather better than many previous exponents of the role on record. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra play extremely well for Sir Richard Armstrong and" Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" suite makes a splendid filler. As with all the Chandos Opera in English series, the recording is of the very highest quality.

If you have loved this work in German and there are many excellent recorded performances apart from any you might have seen and heard live in an Opera House (my last one was the best in Sydney with great singers not least as Zerbinetta and Ariadne) but are a native English speaker, like what I am!, then you are going to be delighted by this overdue English language performance.

Zerbinetta is superb, Ariadne great and the composer on the button. The tenor, Robert Dean Smith is perhaps the best I have heard in this role for many a day, a high tessitura without strain. The 3 ladies lovely and pitch perfect, gorgeous!

The fact that you can understand the banter in an excellent English translation helps no end. You do need to understand whats going on, but the big numbers also sound as always, superb. Really the translation is quite superb as is the singing of it, though I always think German translates well into English. I am not sure about the origins of this translation it seems much better than that I heard years ago at ENO but I haven't found a suitable reference to it in the accompanying booklet.

If I have a gripe its with the slightly bright recording which tends to be the modern way it seems otherwise this is superb Ariadne with lovely and appropriate tempos not to mention lovely orchestral accompaniment.

If you are nitpicking from the all time greats, I think the perfect Ariadne is Dela Casa followed by Schwartzkopf both more known for Strauss seamless tessitura rather than Wagner though both sang it when chance permitted... and the perfect Composer is Seefried but they aren't all to be had in the same recording. Brewer is typical of an Ariadne who possesses the power and intellect to sing this role, its vocally demanding as well as a challenging concept. Once Bacchus arrives its very Wagnerian which in a chamber opera is quite unusual and somehow you can't be over the top and both manage to contain themselves, just! In Brewers case, how easy it would have been to let her magnificent voice rip in Wagnerian style however she gleams and glistens and occasionally sounds like she's about to go full Wagnerian but pulls back to a Straussian line! One thing both Dela Casa and Schwartzkopf could do were deep sounding chest notes that somehow isn't really here from Brewer who also gets a bit shrill towards the end of the opera and duet as does Dean Smith, neither helped here much by having to sing in English as well as hold the seamless line of a slow crescendo. Its also here that over bright recording isn't useful but how I'd like to hear these 2 in the opera house nail it like this - frankly the fault here is Strauss who wrote it like Wagner and its only dela Casa and Schwartzkopf with their respective conductors, Karajan in the case of S who can use their lighter voices to make it sound less than actually written!

With these quibbles included its still 9.5 out of 10 so 5 stars! The English translation is great and Fry as the major domo is quite an appropriate voicing.

On the second hearing you appreciate again the first act performances not least Coote as the composer but all the other supporting roles, superbly executed also! Coote is nearly as good as Seefried who had the benefit of German with Karajan and less bright recording!

Oh and just to get you in the mood for Ariadne you get a pleasant rendition of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Strausses nearest thing to a light music work!

This two-CD set is another in the series of 'Opera in English' recordings underwritten by the Peter Moores Foundation. One can have mixed feelings about hearing opera in English, but a good performance can erase doubts. This is such a performance. The wonderful German libretto by one of the greatest of all librettists, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, has been given a sparkling English translation by Christopher Cowell. More's the pity, then, that too often the words cannot be understood and one must consult the printed English libretto in the supplied booklet. Still, from a musical point of view, this is a good performance. 'Ariadne' requires a large cast of soloists and there's not a weak one in the bunch, even including the commedia del'arte characters (Harlequin, Scaramuccio, Truffaldino and Brighella) and especially their leading lady, sung gorgeously by a soprano I don't recall encountering before, Gillian Keith. Her aria ('Grossmächtige Prinzessin' in the original, 'Your gracious Royal Highness' in the English text) is Strauss's ten-minute send-up of florid coloratura arias and one of the highlights of the score. (It's a pity he shortened it in the opera's final version.) And the three soprano nymphs -- Naiad, Dryad and Echo -- are beautifully sung in close harmony. The big solo parts -- Prima Donna/Ariadne, Tenor/Bacchus, Composer, Music Master, Dancing Master -- are sung and characterized wonderfully by, respectively, Christine Brewer, Robert Dean Smith, Alice Coote, Alan Opie and John Graham-Hall. The American soprano Brewer is suitably haughty and demanding in the Prolog, and appealingly bereft and ultimately joyous in the Opera Seria portion. Her 'Es gibt ein Reich' is stunning as is the entire final scene with Smith, oddly enough a Kansan like his illustrious Bacchus predecessor James King. He is a heroic Bacchus. Coote is one of Britain's hottest mezzos and she never fails to please. Her Composer is appropriately naïve, eager and serious; her plush sound is reminiscent of Dame Janet Baker's. The Major-Domo, a speaking role in the Prolog, is hilariously snooty as portrayed by Stephen Fry.

'Ariadne' had a complicated gestation and to some extent that is hinted at by the inclusion as tracks 1-9 the suite from the associated ballet, 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme', in a witty performance by Sir Richard Armstrong and the crack Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Is this the best Ariadne on records? No. Aside from it's being in English, which might make it a non-starter for some lovers of the opera, there have been some absolutely wonderful earlier recordings as well as DVDs of this well-loved masterpiece. I'll mention only a few. Sound recordings: My favorite, albeit in mono from 1954: R. Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos / Schwarzkopf · Seefried · Streich · Schock · Prey · PO · Karajan. A wonderful more modern recording (1990, in stereo): Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos / J. Norman · Gruberova · Varady · Frey · Bär · Fischer-Dieskau · Asmus · Finke · Lind · J. Kaufmann · GO Leipzig · Masur. DVDs: Richard Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos / Levine, Norman, Battle, Troyanos, Metropolitan Opera or Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos. Still, lovers of this opera may very well want to have it to add to their collections.

Scott Morrison