Customer Reviews

Henze: The Bassarids [Die Bassariden] Opera in 1 Act After Euripides

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know this is out-of-print and therefore out of the price range of most collectors but the work is such a culmination of everything that is brilliant and beautiful and terrifying in Henze's music and the libretto by Chester Kallman and W. H. Auden is one of the best written in any century so if you can buy this, do so. A retelling of the Greek tale of Dionysus and Pentheus, this operatic masterpiece shows that the waywardness of unchecked passion, the human conflicts between thought and emotion and the horror of violence that irrupts when they are not in sync, and the sadness of man's helplessness are as relevant now as ever. Page after page of wonderful music pours out of Henze's pen. The ending is shattering in its beauty and cruelty. The performances in this recording are all first rate--singers and orchestra alike--and the sound is quite good with good separation of off-stage chorus and "onstage" singing. The "new" version that Henze approved cuts a section of the original where the characters act out a mock version of the Judgment of Calliope. (A live recording of the German premiere includes it, but it is not in the original language of the libretto: English, and the sound is poor. I'd get it anyway, because any music from the score is worth having, but that's me.) To be truthful, the libretto has print errors, unfortunately at one of the most important sections. None of it matters. It is one of the great works of the last hundred years and should be owned by anyone who loves music that sings the human condition in all its light and darkness.

Henze es uno de los autores del pasado siglo XX que aun sobrevive, al menos al momento de este escrito. Controversial por sus composiciones, por ser, al igual que Ligeti o Boulez, de los pocos compositores al que se le ha hecho un homenaje antes de morir, por su música que tiene fuertes influencias modernas pero que también escribe en paises como Cuba. Su música oscila entre la ópera, las sinfonías (1 a 7 y la 9, Exsite la 8a), música de cámara, conciertos. Considero esta ópera tan profunda en estructura como en contenido, al igual de la inconseguible "Elejia para los jóvenes amantes". La recomiendo y no debe de estar ausente de aquellos que nos hemos dedicado a escuchar y coleccionar música del ya pasado y añorado siglo XX