Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11
Despite occasional successful staging’s of this opera, it is concert performances that stir up the feelings of audiences most. I have witnessed many times in performances of this psycho-drama that listeners, staring at the faces of the two singers for sixty minutes, or following a surtitled or printed libretto translation during Bartók’s deeply emotional music, were confronted with themselves. The prologue is very important; this is in fact a story about us. Usually, after the opera has ended, discussions break out, dividing men and women. Whereas everybody seems to understand why Judit cannot resist her desire to open all the doors, Bluebeard’s character remains controversial. Is it right or wrong, necessary or unnecessary to keep certain doors closed? Why does he need to lock Judit up after she has discovered his secrets? Is the blood real, or does it exist only in Judit’s fearful imagination? This Bluebeard is not a killer, even if he has a bad reputation and Judita sees blood everywhere. All the earlier wives are alive in his heart, behind closed doors. Bartók, who was himself a closed, shy man, seems to have been fascinated by strange-looking characters who turn out to feel endless love. This links Bluebeard to the Miraculous Mandarin. “Polgár makes a compassionate Bluebeard, imbuing the part with an appropriate sense of resignation and regret... Komlósi sings [Judith] with admirable insight. Fischer conducts with meticulous care for detail, and has even managed to procure a keyboard xylophone - the rare instrument Bartok specifies for the torture-chamber scene...while there may have been more spectacular versions of this great work, none is more thoroughly idiomatic than Fischer's.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2011 ***** “Fischer is especially successful at drawing out the pained poignance of the score...The result is a performance dominated by sadness, one that draws out sympathy (for both characters) more than it horrifies us; and Fischer manages to keep the psychological intensity growing as we move from door to door.” International Record Review, September 2011 “As both singers are native Hungarians, the contour and timbre of the vocal lines have an organic unity even to an ear unschooled in Eastern European tongue.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11DSD recording, live at the Barbican January 2009
Sung in Hungarian (spoken prologue in English) Text in Hungarian with English translation. Valery Gergiev is joined by two outstanding singers for his latest LSO Live release featuring Bartók's one-act opera. Despite being one of the greatest ever interpreters of the role of Bluebeard on stage, this is Sir Willard White's first complete recording of Bluebeard's Castle. His Judith is the outstanding young Russian-born, Berlin-based mezzo Elena Zhidkova. Sir Willard performs extensively around the world during 2009 including appearances at The Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan. Elena Zhidkova will appear with the LSO and Gergiev at the BBC Proms and make her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre. She also performs in Palermo, Dresden, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Prague and Tokyo as well as returning to La Scala. Bartók's only opera is a dark and intense work, involving only two characters. Bluebeard's young bride persuades him to open seven doors in his castle in order to let light into the grim interior. Behind each she finds increasingly disturbing sights, until behind the final door she discovers Bluebeard's former wives and learns her fate. CONCERT REVIEW: 'Who needs weeping walls and blood-stained jewels when you have the voice of Elena Zhidkova? As Bluebeard's wife she made us see and feel it all' The Times “Sonority wins over emotional display with Willard White’s Duke, but Elena Zhidkova makes partial amends as the anguished Judit.” The Times, 8th August 2009 *** “…Gergiev and his superlative orchestral forces and vocal soloists, supported by magnificent sound quality, present the enigmatic piece with great power, leaving us, as adequate performances always do, feeling stunned and somewhat bewildered. Willard White's Bluebeard, exceptionally firm of tone, implacable but tormented without ever indulging his pain, is magnificent. He needs to be to counter the superb Elena Zhidkova...” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ***** “For the perfect introduction to Bartók's Bluebeard look no further. …the pivotal moment is the sombre burbling of the lake of tears… where Judith is transfixed by the water's unearthly hush and Bluebeard explains, "tears, my Judith, tears, tears…". Gergiev sustains a pretty slow tempo while clarinet and low strings embrace both protagonists with long, expressive lines. The opera's later episodes, such as the accelerating blood-rush as Judith susses the shocking truth (Gergiev and his players are on tremendous form here), Bluebeard pondering his past wives and the overwhelming moment when Judith at last joins them, all suggest similar levels of thoughtfulness, sense of theatre and sensitivity to mood.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2009 “Gergiev takes to the potent compound of searing psychology, soaring poetry...with characteristic gusto, at pains to stress the pulsing drama at the heart of the seemingly undramatic premise of the work...White’s Bluebeard is a biting, granite-edged performance of inscrutable and intimidating stature.” Michael Quinn, bbc.co.uk, 1st October 2009 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |
|
