Customer Reviews

Massenet: Esclarmonde

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A few years ago I read an online interview with Joan Sutherland. In answer to a question about which of her many recordings was her favorite, she replied not Lucia or Norma or Semiramide, but Esclarmonde. I was very gratified to read this, as this recording of Massenet's little known score has been one of my desert island recordings since it first came out around the end of 1976.

Esclarmonde is probably the closest Massenet ever came to composing a Wagnerian opera. He makes a modest use of leitmotivs and his orchestration is more massive than it is in any of his other operas with which I'm familiar, with the love music rivaling that of Tristan und Isolde. The opera is largely forgotten nowadays, probably because of the difficulty of the title role. Massenet composed this opera for Sybil Sanderson, exploiting her enormous range. The title role goes up to a high F and there is even an optional high G.

Of course the raison d'être for this recording was Joan Sutherland's and husband Richard Bonynge's interest in the music. And rightly so, as Sutherland puts her indelible stamp on this opera, bringing her regal quality to bear in every measure. And while she does not do the high F or G, a point of controversy when the recording was first issued, she is in thrilling voice up to and including the Es (for what it's worth, the soprano in the other complete recording of Esclarmonde does not take the F or G either). This recording was made at roughly the mid-point of Sutherland's big career and so her voice is still very strong throughout its range.

The other singers, most of whom were on hand for Sutherland's initial series of stage performances of Esclarmonde in San Francisco in 1974, are all quite good as well. Bonynge, a Massenet specialist, shows an amazing affinity for this music.

It's a shame that Sutherland did not keep this role in her repertoire long enough for there to have been a video of it, as this magnificent work has retreated back into the shadows until another soprano of Sutherland's caliber (assuming that there ever is such a thing) appears to bring it back out into the public eye. In the meantime, we at least have this glorious recording to remind us of the qualities of this opera and especially of the talents of its star. Very highly recommended.

Indeed, Massenet approaches Wagnerian scale in this rare opera. So few people seem ever to have been able to perform this role. There was such spectacular excitement when Sutherland performed this in San Francisco and at the Met! Everyone i know who had the LP or the more rare initial CD release of this opera has coveted it and will not let it go! No wonder: Sutherland truly is in incredible form. This opera, of all that she performed, probably let her use her voice to its fullest extent of range, agility and power. I know of [almost] no other operatic role which demands as much of a singer. Dame Joan Sutherland has been quoted as saying that this is her favorite recording and that it captured her voice in a truer sense than any other recording. Couple that with a thrilling score and a supporting cast of extrememly high caliber, this is a must have recording. If only people can keep it in stock long enough! It is high time that Decca re-released this. The missing libretto is not even an issue for me: the recording is worth all the excitement and the wait. One can download the libretto from the internet easily enough.

The score of Esclarmonde is full interesting and exotic music that is beautifully performed on this recording. A lot of the music does not sound like anything else I have ever heard. Among the many highlights are the invocation scene at end of the first act, the entire second act, the flying scene and finale of the third act, and the epilogue. As a bonus, the sound quality is superb; but this low priced set does not include the text.

Massenet's Esclarmonde is a very rarely performed work, and after listening to this recording, one can see why. The title role requires the voice of a dramatic coloratura soprano, a very rare species of soprani rarer probably than Wagner's great hochdramatische sopranos. In fact, I know of only two sopranos who possess this certain kind of voice--Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland. Both singers had voices the size fit for Wagnerian roles, but had the agility so required for the bel canto repertoire. The title role in Esclarmonde not only has to endure the kind of vocal writing which makes them sing their parts with an agility required of a Konigin der Nacht, but also a vocal size large enough to carry over an orchestra equivalent to that used by Wagnerian operas. Natalie Dessay can easily sing the role, for example, but when Massenet decides to emulate Richard...well, things go bad. Anyways, Joan Sutherland is fantastic in the role. She handles the coloratura with such an agility that would make her singing legendary. It is an excellent characterization, and I think this recording immediately makes her singing definitive.

Giacomo Aragall, Clifford Grant (an excellent Fafner, by the way), Graham Clark, and Tourangeau, all make up an excellent supporting cast for La Stupenda. That said, I must also commend Bonynge for his excellent conducting in such a rarely performed work.

I think though, that I prefer Massenet in his more intimate works such as Manon and Werther. There was only one Richard Wagner, and Massenet was not that.

I have listend to this recording many times, and like it very much. It is a wonderful opera and a thrilling performance. Joan Sutherland is at her best, and the rest of the cast is fine. However, any resemblance to Wagner is merely superficial, and apparently based on a casual use of Leitmotives. To me, this music does not sound like Wagner at all, and comes nowhere near his use of chromaticism and symphonic development, not to mention psychological depth. In fact, I think calling it Wagnerian based on merely the size of the orchestra does both Wagner and Massenet an injustice. Massenet speaks for himself, and does not need to be compared to any other composer, including Wagner.

I first fell in love with this recording on its release in the mid 70's; I owned it on cassette and played it often, then acquired it on CD in the early 90's and have since neglected it. Taking it down from my shelves on impulse I was amazed to re-discover what prime entertainment it is and how much of it I remembered, such is the theatrical impact of Massenet's invention.

It is a carefully calculated admixture of elements aimed at satisfying the tastes of a Parisian fin du siècle audience: Wagnerian chromaticism, spectacle, magic, Arthurian legend, courtly love, eastern exoticism, patriotism...you name it, it's in here, all bound together by an unending stream of sinuous, long-breathed melody typical of Massenet before he entered a sparer, more restrained, Autumnal phase. Nothing succeeds like excess and Massenet takes no chances; he had heard the phenomenal voice of Sybil Sanderson, knew it was capable of wild things and hence wrote music to suit its extraordinary power and flexibility. No major singer in more recent times apart from Joan Sutherland has dared take it on - and here you can hear why. She hurls out top C's and D's - and even a D sharp - and apart from some habitually cloudy forays into the lower register is in prime voice here at forty-nine in 1975 when this was recorded. She is not the only star here: she is partnered by a youthful Giacomo Aragall who gives ample evidence of why he was the only tenor of that decade to challenge Carreras for sheer plangent beauty of voice (Pavarotti was a different barrel of monkeys; brilliance rather than pathos was his strength). Try the duet in Act 2 Scene 2: strongly reminiscent of "Lohengrin" it is a simply captivating outpouring of erotic passion, both artists singing with a kind of abandon which is all too rare. They transmute some conventional vocal poses and emotional postures into pure operatic gold. But theirs are not the only great voices to be encountered in this recording; the cast list reads like a roll-call of 70's opera stars. Clifford Grant is the first to pin back our ears with his rolling bass; then in addition to the two stars we hear Huguette Tourangeau's strangely throaty yet attractive mezzo, sturdy baritone Louis Quilico and sonorous basso cantante Robert Lloyd at his peak as Principal Bass of the Royal Opera and a fine supporting cast. Tourangeau and Ryland Davies have their own much gentler love music, acting as a kind of parallel to that of Esclarmonde and Roland.

I think this one of the best things Richard Bonynge has conducted; he is in sympathy with Massenet's indulgent style and the New Philharmonic Orchestra play richly, the preponderance of bassoons, horns and harps lending kaleidoscopic colour to the heady combination of chivalric heroism, otherworldly enchantment and lush orientalism which characterises this score.

This recording could be said to represent the best of many things: the kind of ensemble Decca gathered to record opera in the 70's; Decca's spacious sound as facilitated by the grateful acoustic of the now demolished Kingsway Hall; the best of Dame Joan along with her second "Lucia"; Aragall in finest, freshest voice before stage nerves compromised his career; Massenet in his most expansive and Romantic mode. Massenet had recently heard "Parsifal" when he came to write "Esclarmonde". He attempts no spiritual or philosophical profundity of the kind intended by Wagner, but he borrows much of his musical idiom, some of his themes and creates a work on a typically Wagnerian grand scale but marrying it with Gallic lyricism. Massenet's magic island has none of the sinister threat of Klingsor's castle and Esclarmonde recalls the allure of the Flower Maidens without their ambiguty.

The French is pretty good even if Aragall cannot avoid the usual Hispanic difficulty with the vowel in the word "main", making it too flat and nasal. Otherwise, this is a great recording of an opera presumably neglected for want of a singer able to do the stratospheric coloratura justice. Fortunately, we have this Decca set to remind us of its virtues - and it enshrines the performance of a great singer whose huge, flexible voice could handle it.

I have usually been disappointed when investigating lesser-known Massenet operas. (La Navarraise, Cherubin, Le Roi de Lahore, etc) Massenet's Esclarmonde is a startling exception to this rule. Despite the extraordinary demands made on the soprano, it is still surprising to me that this opera is so obscure. It is rife with unforgettable tunes and exciting ensembles. The moment you hear Esclarmonde's invocation of the spirits towards the end of Act I, you will never forget it. I suppose you could say that the opera lacks a signature aria for the tenor and that the fourth act has less musical interest than the first three acts. The title role would have been perfect for Maria Callas circa 1949...ah, it's fun to fantasize...

One word about the Wagnerian elements here. I don't hear it as Wagnerian, but if I had to compare it to one of Wagner's operas, I'd say it's most like "The Flying Dutchman" with its arias, duets, and choruses that could be excerpted to stand alone as concert pieces. There is a lot of music that sounds Wagnerian in its orchestration. Massenet's recurring musical motifs are not really leitmotivs like Wagner's because Massenet does not really transform these motifs or use them in combination to illuminate the drama as Wagner does. Sometimes Wagner will have a character saying one thing, but the orchestra playing a leitmotiv to tell us what they are really thinking! There is nothing like that here...this is more like the music Verdi uses in "Stride la vampa" in Il Trovatore to illustrate the flames of a pyre...the theme then repeats every time someone sings about that fatal pyre...but it's not really a leitmotiv in the Wagnerian sense. That's sort of how I would describe what Massenet does here.

If you like tuneful operas with great singing, including just a smidge of dazzling coloratura and plenty of high notes for the tenor, you should buy this and give it a try...like me, you might be surprised to find yourself ranking it right up there with Verdi and Puccini. Don't be scared if you usually find French opera to be a bit dull...this is really different from most French opera! By the way, our two lead singers butcher the French language terribly, but the sounds they make in the process are so glorious that I can't bring myself to care!