Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021

Beethoven – Christ on the Mount of Olives
Elsa Dreisig; Pavol Breslik; David Soar;
London Symphony Chorus; LSO; Sir Simon
Rattle
LSO Live LSO0826D (lsolive.lso.co.uk)
! In the Synoptic
Gospels, Matthew,
Mark and Luke
capture Jesus’ last
moments as a
free man. Aware
of his impending
arrest and execution
– having been
betrayed by Judas Iscariot – Jesus uses his
final night to reflect and pray at a familiar
location, the Garden of Gethsemane, located
on the Mount of Olives. To this day, the location
remains a site of Christian pilgrimage
and, in 1803, afforded rich artistic fodder to
Beethoven, who used its physical beauty and
importance as a site within Christian theology
to pen his compelling, rarely performed, and
only Passion oratorio, Christ on the Mount
of Olives.
Although not theologically Christian, but
rather an Enlightenment-era deist, Beethoven
was most certainly drawing a parallel
between this Gospel narrative of Jesus at his
most fallible and his own looming existential
crisis of encroaching deafness and isolation.
Written while living at Vienna’s Theater an
der Wien and understood, at the time, within
the context of other 18th-century oratorios
that focus on religious themes, subjects
and iconography, Christ on the Mount of
Olives deserves to occupy a more central
place within Beethoven’s already bountiful
canon. Good thing then, that it is performed
and recorded so beautifully here on this 2020
LSO Live release by the London Symphony
Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle at the helm.
Fleshed out with an enormous chorus
of nearly 150 under the direction of Simon
Halsey and released in honour of the 250th
anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, this musthave
recording packages together a compelling
religious narrative with the majestic
backing of the LSO and inspired soloists
Elsa Dreisig, Pavol Breslik and David Soar
performing a variety of biblical figures from
Franz Xaver Huber’s libretto. With the religious
importance for some of the upcoming
Christmas season, this recording could not
have come at a better time.
Andrew Scott
Elgar – Sea Pictures; Falstaff
Elīna Garanča; Staatskapelle Berlin; Daniel
Barenboim
Decca Records 00028948509683
(deccaclassics.com/en/catalogue)
! A new and
sumptuous live
recording from
Decca features
two important
works by Sir
Edward Elgar: the
five Sea Pictures,
Op 37 (1899)
and the seldom-heard “symphonic study,”
Falstaff, Op.68 (1913).
Elgar was both proud and fond of his Falstaff.
While it was well received at its premiere in
1913, it hasn’t quite found its footing in the
standard repertoire to date (at least outside of
England). Conversely, the Sea Pictures have
long captured the imaginations of singers
and audiences alike. The sea itself is central to
British identity and, while many other cultures
could claim the same, an Englishman’s love
for his island’s coastal waters is of a particular
brand; Elgar epitomizes this relationship in
his cycle. They are unique for their dark and
rich soundscapes, initially scored for contralto.
(Canada’s own Maureen Forrester sang them –
almost as trademark – throughout her career.)
The five Pictures set words from different
poets, including the composer’s wife: In
Haven (Capri).
Daniel Barenboim is no stranger to interpreting
Elgar. What an experience it is, to hear
him steer this record’s course. Barenboim’s
seasoned Elgar is luminous and emotive, ever
balanced and rational. One might argue that he
brings just a hint of German cerebralism to such
overtly English Romantic music. Mezzo-soprano
Elīna Garanča contributes her own impressive
artistry here, embracing this ravishing repertoire
with all that she’s got. Her voice soars above
the Staatskapelle Berlin, buoyed and serene, “to
rolling worlds of wave and shell.”
Adam Sherkin
Egon Wellesz – Die Opferung des
Gefangenen
Hwang; Cerha; Dewey; Koch; Vienna
Concert Choir; Radio-Symphonieorchester
Wien; Robert Brooks
Capriccio C5423 (naxosdirect.com/
search/845221054230)
! Austrian-British
composer Egon
Wellesz (1885-
1974), of Hungarian
Jewish origin, was
a prolific composer.
Extensively
performed and
decorated during
his lifetime, he achieved success early, being
the first of Arnold Schoenberg’s students
to receive a publishing contract from
Universal Edition, before Berg or Webern.
Generally neglected in the decades since his
death, this world premiere recording, by
the Vienna Concert Choir and the Radio-
Symphonieorchester Wien of Wellesz’s
1924-25 opera-ballet Die Opferung des
Gefangenen (The Sacrifice of the Prisoner), is
part of a wider revival of interest in his music.
The opera’s story is based on a scenario by
Eduard Stucken after the ancient Mayan play
Rabinal Achi, performed annually in Rabinal,
Guatemala. Subtitled “a cultural drama for
dance, solo singers and choir,” Wellesz’s work
is about an imprisoned prince who is waiting
for his execution after a battle. It’s not a huge
stretch however to see the story reflecting
many of the post WWI anxieties around
the consequences of the dissolution of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Replete with dramatic vocal and choral
scenes and massive orchestral passages with
Mahlerian and Schoenbergian echoes, Die
Opferung is a prime example of Wellesz’s
mature Viennese musical style. His signature
colourful orchestration is underscored by
forte brass choir and bold percussion statements.
This theatrical work, parts of which
would not be out of place on a later blockbuster
movie soundtrack, reads surprisingly
well on audio CD, even without the visual and
dance elements of a stage production.
Andrew Timar
English Songs à la Française
Tyler Duncan; Erika Switzer
Bridge Records 9537 (bridgerecords.com/
products/9537)
! British
Columbia-born/
New York-based
baritone, Tyler
Duncan, and
his wife, pianist
Erika Switzer,
are internationally
renowned
performers as
a duo, and individually. The clever idea of
performing French composers’ settings of
original English texts started when French
baritone François Le Roux handed them
Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cherry-Tree Farm score,
set to Horace Lennard’s poetry. More of these
Romantic/20th century songs were compiled,
which, after their recital in Tours, led to this,
their remarkable first duo album.
A literal who’s who of French composers
successfully set the original English texts.
Reynaldo Hahn’s Five Little Songs (1914), set
to Robert Louis Stevenson’s words, are short
children’s songs with tonal word painting
like the florid piano lines behind lyrical
vocals in The Swing, and colourful low vocal
pitches with piano tremolo night sky effects
in The Stars. Darius Milhaud’s settings of five
Rabindranath Tagore Child Poems (1916) are
operatic, such as the fully orchestrated piano
part supporting lyrical emotional singing in
46 | December 2020 / January 2021 thewholenote.com