Customer Reviews

Rimsky-Korsakov: Le Coq D'Or

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

 

 

I saw the production in question the year it opened at the NYC opera, and the recording is a faithful reproduction of Sills' and Tregle's marvellous performances. Even her laughter immediately tells you how she thinks the king is stupid, while making the king think she is girlish. The performance earns the highest rating.

When hearing Tregle's performance as King Dodon one can understand why it was banned. He makes the king appear ineffective, overbearing, and not very bright. The brilliant libretto which parodies Czar Nicholas II is very effective in Tregle's voice.

However, the quality of transfer is not very good. The original was the audio simulcast which was probably recorded on a home stereo tape recorder. Then it was subsequently made into a vinyl recording. The vinyl ticks an pops were still evident in the result. The last track on the first CD had some very large pops and a number of crackles. In addition there were some obvious tape dropouts. The ticks and pops are all removable by good quality software. Most of the dropouts are also easily spliced out as they are of very short duration, and the change is not audible. However there are several places where the volume suddenly jumps, possibly because of a skip in the recording process. This typically happens when using a computer for the recording, but it could be due to bad editing before the record was made. There is also the possibility that this is where the record breaks were located and GALA did not properly match the volume changes across the break. Finally there is a fairly large phase shift between the left and right channels which moves the orchestra to one side of the sound stage, despite having equal volume on both channels. When this is removed the orchestra and soloists are much more natural sounding and spread out better.

I have a copy of the Sept 11, 1967 recording which although in mono was easily cleaned with nearly inaudible transitions between the record breaks. This earlier performance is nearly identical to the GALA recording, but with Nicol Castel as the Magician. The earlier performance may still be available from some vinyl dealers.

So while I give the performance the highest marks, the transfer rates the lowest marks. The average would be three stars. However, the computer literate opera fan can use my hints to improve the recording, to bring it up to five. Even with the flaws it is a bargain and still the best stereo recording of Le Coq D'Or. Now I wish that the original telecast complete with the simulcast stereo track could be professionally released on DVD. Sills also acted with her body, and the combination of vocal plus visual would be a great pleasure to experience again.

Since writing this review a B&W DVD of this performance has materialized. The DVD has bad herringbone interference, which can be partially removed by good software. When comparing the video with the audio recording it is evident that a few bars of music are missing, probably at record breaks. Apparently the original broadcast was marred by a color shift to green. But with professional software it might be possible to bring back the color, assuming master tapes exist. The simulcast could then be put back together with both video and stereo sound. It is possible that the herringbone pattern might be an improperly decoded color signal. Is there a company such as VAI interested in producing this as a tribute to Bubbles?

This is a must have for collectors of rare opera and for fans of the American soprano Beverly Sills. The Russian composer Rimsky Korsakov is best known for his "Flight Of The Bumble Bee"- which in itself is part of one of his operas about a tsar turning into a bee. Korsakov had a knack for the exotic (he composed music for the Arabian Nights story of Scheherezade) and his music, which is essentially Russian- Western in a Romantic sense, is perfect for the world of fantasy. This opera "Le Coq D'Or" French for "The Golden Cockerel" may have been written in French by Korsakov (who spoke various languages)and most undoubtedly it was also in his native Russian. The plot is taken from a Russian fairy tale about a strange, Oriental kingdom and the search for the enigmatic golden bird "The Golden Cockerel" that has the gift of prophecy. Korsakov was not the only Russian to write an opera based on a fairy tale. Sergei Prokofiev based his opera "The Love Of Three Oranges" on another Russian legend.

This recording (I don't quite recall since it's been a while that I've heard it) is in English, translated directly from the French libretto. The dynamic duo that was Beverly Sills and bass Norman Treigle feauture their brilliant operatic and acting talents to this recording. Norman Treigle had a keen sense of theatre and he shared much success with Beverly Sills at the New York City Opera. His bass voice was earthy, sonorous and quite lovely note-for-note, allowing us to hear every line of the text. Back then, there were no supertitles superimposed on a screen. It was more important for singers to really enunciate and speak clearly, even act as if in a play, to get the message of the opera across. Beverly Sills sings the role of Queen Shemakah, a fiendishly difficult coloratura part. Lately, this opera is hardly performed at all which is sad because it's a gorgeous story along the lines of Mozart's Magic Flute. Perhaps in some European locations they still produce this opera, perhaps a recording appears now and then and there is a DVD production of it in circulation. Beverly Sills was the first soprano to make the role of the Queen Shemaka her own. No one at the time was singing the role. The Hymn To The Sun is a high coloratura aria in which the Queen honors the sun. It is hauntingly beautiful. This recording is worth buying if only because of Beverly Sills and Norman Treigle, two marvelous singers in the opera scene of the 60's and 70's. For fans of Sills, this recording is a must have. Also, hardcore fans will be pleased to know that this same opera was videotaped and filmed in the early 70's and there exists a film production out there somewhere in the underground market.

A previous reviewer is right about the "Mozart and Salieri" bonus being the best part of this set. The 1951 Soviet recording is amazingly superior in sound quality to the 1971 NYCO Cockerel. I'd love to hear Reizen's Dodon and Kozlovsky's Astrologer. Before a famous Italian tenor (Corelli?) visited Russia, Russian tenors had their own distinct style, a little reedier and lighter, in comparison to most Italian and other western tenors. Kozlovsky was among the best of the Russian tenor school, if not the best. (Fortunately, the old style is coming back into vogue among the new generation of Russian tenors.) I only broke down and bought the NYCO recording, because the Kirov has yet to record "The Golden Cockerel" in its series of Russian operas for Philips. The NYCO recording sounds like a tape or a vinyl record in sound quality, and the violins sound tinny in parts, but the playing itself under Julius Rudel is fine. The English-language production fills a gap but makes me wish more for a recording by a Russian cast.

This 1971 live performance of Rimsky's Coq d'Or has received some fairly strong adverse comment on grounds of the recorded sound-quality. To some extent I have to go along with this criticism. The sound, particularly of the orchestra, is lacking in the charm and magic that any Rimsky score should radiate. `Dry' is not quite the right word, but the effect is oddly colourless, and that in a score remarkable for orchestral coloration even by the standards of one of the finest of all orchestral technicians has to be counted a serious drawback.

You could talk me out of my 4-star rating without much difficulty, but I'll stick with it for the time being because for one thing the unfavourable impression that the recorded sound creates is worst at the first hearing and not quite so bad subsequently; for another thing this performance has some particularly fine points in its favour; and for yet another there is the aptly entitled `bonus' of the rarely heard Mozart and Salieri. Julius Rudel's understanding of the main score seems just fine to me, and I expect that the orchestral players sounded much more winning in real life than the recording technicians allow them to sound for us now. One criticism that could not stand up would be in respect of clarity - the singers' enunciation is exemplary, and by a second hearing you will probably find that you can hear the English performing text in all the full and complete glory of its rhyming doggerel. Comprehension of the text is particularly important, and important for Mozart and Salieri as well as for the Coq d'Or. These are not nonsense-plots such as you might encounter in some 18th century operas. The Coq d'Or book is very obviously satire, it is not surprising that the censors spotted the parallels with Tsarist rule and the conduct of the Russo-Japanese war, and the tongue-in-cheek closing disclaimer by the Astrologer is ironic enough to be downright insolent, just rubbing the criticism in. It is all a serious matter, as Dodon declares in his first number, rhyming with `idle chatter' as its opposite. The text of Mozart and Salieri is pretty serious too, and I'd say you need to become aware of what it means in detail - this is easy enough on the internet. In these post-Amadeus days we are used to the story of the rivalry and Salieri's jealousy, but even that version absolves Salieri of poisoning Mozart, an accusation explicitly made in this short opera. This time it is sung in Russian. The voices are too close to the microphone, but the sound is not at all bad for 1951, and it would have been quite acceptable for Abbey Road let alone Stalin's Soviet Union.

Beverly Sills as the Queen obviously made a strong impression by her acting. Just in sound I was not 100% convinced that her pitch was always spot on, but more significantly she has the vocal range and the high notes necessary in her big solo in the second act, a piece surely inspired by the coloratura aria for the Queen of the Night in the Magic Flute. The liner essay rightly praises Norman Treigle who sings Dodon, but for me the star among stars is Enrico di Giuseppe for his assured handling of the monstrous demands placed on whoever has to sing the Astrologer. In fact I do not fault any of the singing in either opera in any material respect. The vocal tone of Ivan Kozlovsky as Mozart is not greatly to my own liking, but it might well be thought appropriate to the kind of person that Salieri perceived and resented so bitterly.

I hope that the foregoing may have made some sense of the 4-star rating, which I fully expect will be seen as perversely generous by some. As you will have gathered, libretti are not provided, but as you should also have gathered it is the work of only minutes to obtain on-line enough knowledge and comprehension of the texts. The liner note is informative and I thought it rather interesting, containing material on the performers as well as on the composer and his two works here. I would not claim to be entirely satisfied with what I have just acquired, but it will do to be going on with, until the urge to obtain a more expensive version of the wonderful Coq d'Or becomes ungovernable.

It's a rum'n, this last opera by Rimsky Korsakov. As is so often the case with his operas, Rimsky is far more absorbed by the exotic musical-narrative potential of the fairy tale than he is in psychology or character development, so much of the time it is somewhat reminiscent of a pantomime or G & S without the jokes. It doesn't help that this 2 CD set is the product of a poor transfer from LP's (complete with pops and clicks) in turn taken from a home stereo recording on tape; balances and volume levels are inconsistent and erratic, and the sound itself is mushy. There is a lot of coughing, some of it very inconsiderate and very close to the mike. The text is in English couplets translated from the original French, delivered with admirable clarity by Treigle and Sills in a souvenir of what was evidently a very entertaining NYCO production, recorded in 1971.

I have never quite understood the esteem Norman Treigle enjoys in his fans' eyes; it probably has a lot to do with his premature death and histrionic abilities as a singer actor - but in terms of sheer voice he was quite ordinary. Sills was obviously phenomenal but doubtless more captivating on stage than we can hear. A comparison with the only other recording available on CD from the Sofia National Opera on Capriccio reveals far better sound and singing either equal or superior to the New York production. Certainly buffo bass Nikolai Stoilov has a richer instrument than Treigle and surprisingly, to my ears, makes rather more of the comedy in his parody of the dim-witted Tsar Nicholas II, even though he is singing in Russian. Tenor Lyubomir Dyakovski copes even more successfully than the valiant Enrico di Giuseppe with the ridiculous demands of the role of the Astrologer, with its sustained high tessitura, top D's and even an E natural.

I keep returning to Rimsky's more obscure operas in the attempt to deepen my appreciation for them. I find much of the music's combination of naive, folksy charm and complex, colourful orchestration entertaining, yet I am ultimately usually left feeling vaguely disappointed. It's almost as if Rimsky steadfastly refused to conform to the sensible rules for constructing a successful opera; I am told it helps to be Russian. There is the customary generous helping of ballet, dances, choruses and pageantry which might be pretty music but contribute to the static nature of what's on offer. The main soprano role is odd in that the Queen of Shemakha does not appear in the First Act and is present for a few brief minutes in Act 3, so must deliver all the coloratura thrills in Act 2. Sills is rather hard of tone but her virtuosity is compelling and she has some lovely melodies to trill. I am a fan and happily surrender to her showmanship. The audience loves her, applauding her set pieces vociferously and at length. However, it must be admitted that Elena Stoyanova in the rival Capriccio set is no slouch either; her singing is mightily steady, pure and impressive.

As is so often the case with Gala, the generous bonus could be considered to be of greater value than the main fare. It is a 1951 recording in clear mono of the Rimsky rarity "Mozart and Salieri", treating the imaginary and melodramatic scenario of the latter inviting the former to dinner in order to poison him (shades of "Amadeus", of course). Vocally and psychologically it is in another, higher league - and, for some, perhaps musically, too? The little pastiche references to Mozart's music are neat and clever. Its two man cast comprises two of the greatest Russian singers ever - no; two of the greatest singers, full stop/period - in bass Mark Reizen and tenor Ivan Kozlovsky. It is a very different offering from the "Golden Cockerel" and I found it considerably more absorbing both musically and dramatically even without the Russian text and regret that Rimsky did not mine that seam of invention more often.

Just a quick comment for the last review. The 'famous Italian tenor' who was the first one to sing in the U.S.S.R. was Mario del Monaco. He sang Don Jose in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1959. Irina Arkhipova was his Carmen, and that's how her international career began (see Arkhipova's memoirs). Recording of their performance on the Bolshoi's stage exists, but I don't think it was issued commercially.

SOURCES:
~ "Le Coq d'Or" - New York City Opera broadcast, November 9, 1971.
~ "Mozart and Salieri" - 1951 Russian radio broadcast.

SOUND:
~ "Le Coq d'Or" - wretched stereo! (See the earlier review by Mr. Clement for the grim details.)
~ "Mozart and Salieri" - adequate 1950s mono.

CAST OF "LE COQ D'OR":
King Dodon - Norman Treigle
Queen Shemakha - Beverly Sills
Astrologer - Enrico di Giuseppe
Amelfa - Muriel Costa-Greenspon
Gvidon - Gary Glaze
Afron - David Rae Smith
Polkan - Edward Pierson
Le Coq d'Or - Sybl Young

CAST OF "MOZART AND SALIERI":
Mozart - Ivan Kozlovsky
Salieri - Mark Reisen

CONDUCTORS:
~ Le Coq d'Or - Julius Rudel, with the Orchestra and Chorus of the New York City Opera.
~ Mozart and Salieri - Samuil Samosud, with the All-Union Chorus and Orchestra.

DOCUMENTATION:
No libretti. Track lists with timings. Short biography of Rimsky-Korsakov. A fan's gushing praise of Beverly Sills disguised as biographical information. Short, sanitized biographical sketch of Treigle. Thumbnail bios of di Giuseppe, Costa-Greenspon, Reisen and Kozlovsky. Brief summary of the plot of "Mozart and Salieri."

COMMENTARY:
Let's be clear about this. "Le Coq d'Or" is less of an opera than it is a sort of ballet-pageant. If only Rimsky-Korsakov had had some vestige of a sense of humor, it would have served more happily as a Christmas pantomime. In at least one major production, the parts were acted out by a troupe of masked dancers while formally dressed singers warbled from the side of the stage.

Only fans of Beverly Sills and Norman Treigle are likely to be able to extract much pleasure from this plucked chicken. The two previous Amazon reviewers are clearly just such fans. I believe their descriptions of the performances of Sills and Treigle accurately convey the delight such fans took in the pair. Mr. Clement, in particular, relates the joy generated by the stage performance. This review, however, is not about the stage performance but about a perfectly dreadful recording of it. Whatever wonder and magic may have been present on the stage of the New York City Opera, it is at best feebly represented in an audio-only recording, and that of poor sound quality.

"Le Coq d'Or" was Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera. It debuted in Moscow in September 1909, nearly eighteen months after his death. It is based on a verse tale by Pushkin. Oddly enough, it is not a traditional Russian story, for Pushkin got the idea from a short story by an American, Washington Irving. (Go figure!)

Rimsky-Korsakov was a composer who notoriously preferred fables and exoticism to human emotion; "Le Coq d'Or" was just the sort of thing to appeal to him. "Le Coq d'Or" has always been an operatic bird of great rarity, seldom seen and quickly forgotten. It is trotted out from time to time as a bonbon for a high-flying soprano--who, by the way, first appears in the second act and is hardly more than a presence in the third.

I am not an unreserved fan of either Treigle or Sills. Treigle was a good bass-baritone in a second-tier opera company at a time when there were equally good or better singers in first-tier companies. Sills was a fabulous singer, but as Rudolph Bing of the Metropolitan Opera famously asked in his autobiography, why should he bother to hire her when he already had Sutherland and Caballe? Good as Sills was, and her technique was sometimes wondrous, her voice was thin and even colorless when matched against those of her great peers. More than that, Sills was constitutionally incapable of letting the music speak for itself. Relentless over-decoration of the vocal line spoils some of her performances--Norina in her recording of "Don Pasquale" comes particularly to mind. Sills was always anxious to be an entertainer, often when she would have done better to be an artist.

The rest of the cast of "Le Coq d'Or" is all right. Costa-Greenspon was a reliable performer and poor Enrico di Giuseppe struggles honorably in a no-win part.

Now for some good news. To fill out Disk 2, Gala has given us about 40 minutes of "Mozart and Salieri." For my part, I'd have been perfectly happy to have this as a stand-alone CD. Come to think of it, I'd prefer it that way!

For those of you who are, no doubt, gnashing your teeth at my less than adoring comments about Norman Treigle, I suggest that you listen to Mark Reisen. If you do so, you will hear the difference between a truly great Russian bass and an American journeyman. And, I assure you, Ivan Kozlovsky wasn't exactly chopped liver as a tenor.

In summary, this set contains a very poorly recorded version of "Le Coq d'Or," something that might have been extraordinary on stage but doesn't amount to very much on disk. For that I would give two stars. It also contains "Mozart and Salieri" as an after-piece, one that, alas, didn't even register with the two previous reviewers. For the excellent "M&S," I would give four stars as it stands--and five stars if it had been recorded on modern equipment. Three stars, then, for the whole package.