Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11

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This new version… is splendidly recorded, and Farnes coaxes some superb playing from the orchestra. Sally Burgess makes a fine Judith, bringing out the firmness of her love for Bluebeard, as... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2006, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd May 2006
Catalogue No: CHAN3133
Label: Chandos
Series: Opera in English
Length: 62 minutes

BBC Music Magazine

July 2006

Opera Choice

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

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Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, Prologue

Work length2:19

$1.05

$1.30

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson

Bluebeard's castle, a myth, a legend (Minstrel)

Track length2:19

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, Opening

Work length11:26

$4.20

$5.20

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Will you enter? Look around you (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length3:30

$1.05

$1.30

Here I am in Bluebeard's castle (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length3:31

$1.05

$1.30

Tell me why you came here, Judith (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length2:14

$1.05

$1.30

Ah! I can see seven doorways (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length2:11

$1.05

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Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, The Torture Chamber

Work length6:50

$2.10

$2.60

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Oh, I heard your castle sighing (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length2:40

$1.05

$1.30

What's there? What's there? (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length4:10

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, The Armoury

Work length4:29

$2.10

$2.60

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

What's there? (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length2:35

$1.05

$1.30

Trembling seizes all my castle (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length1:54

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, The Treasury

Work length2:17

$1.05

$1.30

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Glittering gold! (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length2:17

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, The Secret Garden

Work length4:49

$1.05

$1.30

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Oh! Lovely flowers! Oh! Beautiful scents (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length4:49

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, Bluebeard's Kingdom

Work length3:59

$1.05

$1.30

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Ah! (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length3:59

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, The Lake of Tears

Work length16:47

$5.25

$6.50

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Look! Brightness has filled my castle (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length2:58

$1.05

$1.30

Silent tranquil peaceful waters … (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length5:27

$1.05

$1.30

My last door will stay unopened (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length1:38

$1.05

$1.30

Tell me truly, tell me Bluebeard (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length2:37

$1.05

$1.30

I know what's behind it Bluebeard (Judith, Bluebeard)

Track length4:07

$1.05

$1.30

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11. Sz. 48, BB 62, Bluebeard's Former Wives

Work length10:03

$3.15

$3.90

Richard Farnes, Opera North Orchestra, John Tomlinson, Sally Burgess

Look upon the other women (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length2:37

$1.05

$1.30

Daybreak - when I found the first one (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length2:04

$1.05

$1.30

Midnight - when I found the fourth floor (Bluebeard, Judith)

Track length5:22

$1.05

$1.30

Reviews
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Reviews

July 2006

This new version… is splendidly recorded, and Farnes coaxes some superb playing from the orchestra. Sally Burgess makes a fine Judith, bringing out the firmness of her love for Bluebeard, as well as her vulnerability. …Tomlinson… is as commanding as ever, and to listen to this performance as a whole is to marvel anew at the richness and inventiveness of Bartók's score.

8th August 2006

Burgess manages to make Judith the multi-dimensional character she deserves to be...John Tomlinson's Bluebeard broods magnificently, his voice and personality as overpowering as the atmosphere of his castle...let me introduce the third member of the cast: the Orchestra of Opera North conducted by Richard Farnes, who provide vivid colours and deep shadows

2010

This recording grew from performances by Opera North but the absence of a visual element hardly matters. Nor in this instance does the language issue either. Bluebeard is perfect food for the mind's theatre, the tale of a man alone (as John Tomlinson reminds us in the cryptic spoken prologue) and while under normal circumstances Hungarian would win over any translation, here vivid vocal acting and clarity of diction more than compensate. And there's Farnes's conducting, which even from as early as the introduction counters the pervading darkness with deftly pointed woodwind phrases and a light, expressive curve to the string lines.
Tomlinson's Bluebeard is godlike, cautioning and doleful, the voice hugely resonant. Sally Burgess sounds old enough to know better than to stray thoughtlessly from her father's home. When Judith first views the castle's interior she sounds suitably tremulous and awestruck, though when she blurts out the words 'tell me why the doors are bolted?' an air of petulance spells trouble: her command to 'open!' cues forceful thwacks on timps and bass drum. And so the drama unfolds, Burgess's Judith, shrewish and fatally curious, Tomlinson's Bluebeard, inwardly tortured but fired by Judith's dark beauty. The instruments of torture, the armaments, mountains of gold, tender flowers and spacious kingdom, all are graphically tone-painted, Farnes delivering with distinction every time – though when Burgess gasps at the kingdom newly revealed she keeps her high C fairly short. Tomlinson's most sensitive moment, as so often with him in this work, comes when he recalls his former wives, and Farnes's comes at the 'lake of tears', the perfect dovetailing of winds and strings, mournful but also extremely beautiful.
The later climactic moments are delivered with enormous power, the sum effect very moving.
For a thoroughly sympathetic, theatrically effective English-language Bluebeard's Castle, this new release is about as good as it's likely to get.

July 2006

Moving and powerful, this English Bluebeard is as good as it gets. …while under normal circumstances I'd favour Hungarian above any translation, here vivid vocal acting and clarity of diction more than compensate. And there's Farnes's conducting, which even from as early as the introduction counters the pervading darkness with deftly pointed woodwind phrases and a light, expressive curve to the string lines. Tomlinson's Bluebeard is godlike, cautioning and doleful, the voice hugely resonant. Tomlinson's most sensitive moment, as so often with him in this work, comes when he recalls his former wives (track 19), and Farnes's comes at the 'lake of tears', the perfect dovetailing of winds and strings, mournful but also extremely beautiful.

Offer,Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11

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