Customer Reviews

Weber: Oberon

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

 

 

This recording is sensational!! I cannot say to much! Kubelik handles the orchestra like gossamer. The cast is all star quality with Domingo singing beautifully and the late Birgit Nilsson (Whom I met once) at her peak. Her rendition of "Ozean Ungeheur" (spelling may be off) is simply stunning! Her attack on the first note is a voice lesson by itself, followed by such singing as to give a student a whole course in vocal emission by the end of it. Donald Grobe is superb as Oberon and the others do a great job also. Listen to Arleen Auger sing the Meermadchen! I guarantee you will love this recording and the price is agreeable too. Don't let this one pass you by!

Weber at his best. There is hardly any way for anyone to listen to this recording without getting the same feelings that come when watching a great sunrise or sunset. It is a musical discovery for me because of the musical quality of the recording. Weber never sounded so good!

Words can only begin to do justice to this great performance. Placido Domengo and Birgit Nielson in this same work that is vastly underrated in the US. Both their big arias are wonderfully recorded. In the case of Miss Nielson "Ocean der Ungenhauer" is a better take than on her single recording. It is amazing to me that "Von Jugend in Dem Kampfgefeld" is not part of the standard tenor repertory. Domengo is so great here that chills go up my spine. It is easy to forget that Wagner was very favorably impressed with this work, and that Weber's Der Freishutz was chosen by Kirsten Flagsted for her debut. Carl Maria von Weber is rightfully more appreciated in Europe than in the US.

Weber's "Oberon" is one of those operas that has gorgeous music, fabulous arias, incredible orchestration, etc, ------ and is an opera that you will never likely see performed on the opera stage. The reasons are simple: the plot is so interwoven with subplots and scene changes that a full staging would be prohibitively expensive, especially in these austere times. So, you might ask, why couldn't it be performed in a concert version? Again, the answer is simple: the roles of Rezia and Huon are so taxing and difficult that it would be impossible today to find a Dramatic tenor and Dramatic soprano able to encompass the sheer difficulty of the music. "Oberon" is sort of like Italian bel canto, but from a German composer who wrote for very weighty voices. The plot is a fantasy, which deals with fidelity, and it's sometimes difficult to follow the action because the locales are so diverse. Nevertheless, it is an important opera -a masterpiece in my opinion, and should be heard. A DVD of "Oberon" would be wonderful, but again, the problems of staging and having the right singers would make it an almost impossible undertaking.

The role of Rezia, wife of Huon, is a role that even most Dramatic Sopranos (if we had them, which we don't) would avoid. She's got one huge aria,"Ozean, du Ungheuer" ("Ocean, Thou Mighty Monster"), that ALONE is enough to strike terror into the heart of any singer. The last "real" Rezia was Birgit Nilsson, who stormed through the aria as though it were a simple trifle. Well, it's not - and because the opera is never performed, this famous "Ocean" aria has become a staple of great Dramatic sopranos who perform it on the concert stage with orchestra. It's been sung in English as well as German, and the orchestration truly conjures up the image of a monster. Rezia's husband, Huon, has a hardly easier time with an aria he's assigned, 'Von Jugend auf in dem Kampfgefild", with a "cabaletta" loaded with leaps, jumps, and all but impossible vocal hurdles. Oberon, the character of the title role, actually gets off relatively easy in this piece, as do the other singers. Musical numbers are linked together by German dialogue, which is not terribly lengthy. It's the music that counts here.

What DOES count here is the presence of a 28 year old Placido Domingo, and a Birgit Nilsson in full-cry. It is they who make this set a must-have, for it is their singing alone that is this set's greatest selling point. From the mighty Nilsson, one would expect such dramatic outbursts, but Domingo, even at this young age, shocks the listener with his stentorian authority, and his command of German, while not as proficient as it would become later in his career, is impressive enough. The supporting roles are all well taken. This is an opera to hear and experience, and this particular recording, despite it's moderate price, is in excellent stereo and is a pleasure to listen to. For the music and singing alone, this belongs in every opera collection.

Conductor Rafael Kubelik and singers Arleen Augér, Birgit Nilsson, Hermann Prey, and Plácido Domingo in a performance of a little-known opera by Weber with a libretto that is only a couple of steps more literate than rap lyrics. The recommendation here? The gorgeous music of Carl Maria von Weber, a man who never met a terrible libretto he didn't set to wonderful music. (Well, Der Freischutz is a bit better, I guess.)

If anything could make a case for OBERON this recording should be able to do it. Domingo is in great voice, so is Nilsson, Prey, and the great Arleen Auger (reportedly Von Karajan's favorite soprano in addition to the wonderful Leontyne Price).

What OBERON needs is a new libretto. No, it doesn't just need it; it just absolutely has got to have one, just as humans require air to live). I remember Rudolf Serkin saying once that, while he loved Beethoven's Choral Fantasie (he always ended the Marlboro Music Festival with it), the lyrics were not up to par. He talked with the author Herman Hesse about the possibility of Hesse writing a new text for the work. Hesse's reply? "Serkin, you commit your heresies and I will commit mine but we will leave Beethoven alone."

The libretto for OBERON ain't Beethoven or Goethe so maybe, just maybe the work can be saved by a writer who isn't afraid of just a little heresy. Weber deserves it.

I feel the other reviewers are heaping excessive praise on a decent but not outstanding recording. We are lucky that an all-star set of performers were assembled for "Oberon." which isn't exactly staple repertory, but if this were a recording of a warhorse like, say "Traviata", it would be an also-ran.

Let me start with the negatives: I think the singing by the leads isn't terrific. Donald Grobe, in the title role, has sporadic pitch problems - for example, he very noticeably goes flat in the Act 3 finale. His opening number is also unsteady at times. I realize Placido Domingo rose to worldwide fame in the decades after this 1970 recording, but he sounds strained in many of his numbers in the role of Huon, with an unpleasant, forced tone. If I didn't know his name, my conclusion would be that the role was taken by a reasonably talented but overmatched tenor. I have the utmost respect for Birgit Nilsson, but this isn't her best work. There's a lack of finesse in her opening Act 1 number. Her big szena in Act II, the proto-Wagnerian "Ozean" (when she is kidnapped), is an extremely difficult number and she doesn't carry it off with ease and is obviously challenged. That said, Nilsson does a reasonably good job in a virtuoso role. Finally, Kubelik leads his Bavarian orchestra pretty well, but as usual I find his interpretations have a lack of finesse. The recording sonics are quite average, even for 1970, with some lack of detail.

There are positives. I think Hermann Prey - maybe not surprisingly - is outstanding in the supporting role of Scherasmin. I also very much liked the work of Julia Hamari, a Hungarian-born Stuttgart-based soprano, with whom I wasn't familiar. She sings the supporting role of Fatime superbly with very precise control, particularly in a difficult duet with Prey in the 3rd act, a precision which Nilsson doesn't manage to equal in much of the opera.

I don't want to entirely slam this CD set, but want to put in context its strengths and weaknesses. It's a pretty good recording, but certainly not 5 stars. What it will do is convey to you the qualities of Oberon, the a very progressive work that put its consumptive composer into his deathbed. Weber's early death is tragic in purely musical terms as Oberon shows a 40-year old composer extending his range, particularly in terms of harmonies and orchestration. If he had lived, we may have enjoyed more high-level music from his pen. So I recommend this recording but with expectations set at the right level.

SOURCE:
This recording was made as a co-production with Bavarian Radio, Munich. From that and the presence of so many native German speakers in the non-singing parts, I presume that this is a studio-recorded performance intended primarily for broadcast and then secondarily for release on disk. It was recorded at the Herculessaal der Residenz, Munich, in March and December of 1970, then released in 1971. Deutsche Grammophon has issued this performance on three occasions. This is the most recent re-issue and the most barebones.

SOUND:
Good 1970s analogue stereo in a satisfactory digital remastering.

CAST (SINGING):
Oberon, King of the Elves - Donald Grobe (tenor)
Puck, an attendant spirit to Oberon - Marga Schiml (mezzo-soprano)
Huon of Bordeaux, Duke of Guienne - Placido Domingo (tenor)
Scherasmin, Huon's squire - Hermann Prey (baritone)
Rezia, daughter of Haroun al Raschid, Caliph of Baghdad - Birgit Nilsson (soprano)
Fatima, Rezia's confidant - Julia Hamarl (mezzo-soprano)
First and Second Mermaid - Arleen Anger (mezzo-soprano)

CONDUCTOR:
Rafael Kubelik with the Symphonie-Orchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

CAST (SPEAKING):
Oberon, King of the Elves - Martin Benrath
Puck, an attendant spirit to Oberon - Doris Masjos
Droll, a spirit who explains things and sets scenes - Uwe Friedrichsen
Huon of Bordeaux, Duke of Guienne - Gerhard Friedrich
Scherasmin, Huon's squire - Hans Putz
Haroun al Raschid, Caliph of Baghdad - Hans Paetsch
Rezia, daughter of Haroun al Raschid - Katharina Matz
Fatima, Rezia's confidant - Ingrid Andree
Babekin, Prince of Persia - Rolf Nagel
Almansor, Emir of Tunis - Heinz Ehrenfreund
Abdallah, a pirate - Hubert Suscka

TEXT:
A hopeless mess.

"Oberon" is a romantic opera that is almost always presented in a version based on a German translation by Theodor Hell of an English entertainment by James Robinson Planche
~ that was based on an original German poem written by Christoph Martin Wielands
~ that was loosely based on a 13th Century Geste in Medieval French called "Huon de Bourdeaux"
~ that contains some vague and distorted memories of events that took place in the 9th Century.

By universal consensus, Planche completely botched the task of creating a viable libretto. The particular version recorded here is based on a planned but unproduced stage revival. It is distinguished from other versions by the presence of a speaking character called Droll whose task is to explain to the audience where the opera is supposed to be taking place and what is going on. He is a particularly handy character to have hanging around in a radio broadcast.

The Good Grey Gramophone Magazine has remarked that "Oberon" can "never be a repertory opera (particularly since those who attempt improvements to the original dramatic shambles usually end up by making matters worse)".

It has also described Planche's verses as "dire." Here is an example of that: "Merrily, merrily let us sail! / Over the sea by her light so pale, / Over the sea let us sail by her light so pale / Merrily, merrily let us sail!" And this, "Hence! Hence! The flowers ye proffer fair, / Poison in their fragrance bear, / And the goblet's purple flood / Seems to me a draught of blood."

Dire, indeed!

COMMENTARY:
James Robinson Planche (1796-1880) had a double career. On the one hand he was an exceedingly learned antiquarian and a member of the English College of Heralds. For some years he was the man who made quick trips overseas to deliver the regalia of the Order of the Garter to whatever reigning monarch had just been granted the honor. On the other hand, he was a man of the lowbrow popular theater, a specialist in gaudy and dazzling extravaganzas. He might be regarded as the godfather of the English Panto.

Carl Maria von Weber (born 1786) had already achieve an overwhelming international success with "Der Freischuetz" and a lesser one with "Euryanthe" (hobbled by a weak libretto.) In 1824, Covent Garden in London commissioned an opera from him to be based on the poem "Oberon." In 1826, the tubercular composer journeyed to London to complete the opera and to oversee its first performances. He was present on opening night, April 12th. He was fully aware that the English libretto was massively in need of improvement and it was his intention to return home and recast the whole thing into a much more effective German opera. Before he could do that, he died in London on June 5, 1826.

"Oberon" in the form that it has come down is an opera only by convention. It is certainly not a music drama as the term might be understood by Gluck, Wagner, Puccini or even Handel. It its best to regard it as a series of individual numbers, some of them very good by anybody's standards. At least one of them is a standard heavy soprano warhorse, "Ocean! Thou mighty monster!" much better known as "Ozean, du Ungeheuer!"

The musical portions of this recording are performed quite admirably. Nilsson, Domingo and Prey are impressive members of anyone's A-list of singers. Kubelik makes as much of the intractable material as anyone could reasonably hope.

The spoken portions of the drama, with the interpolated Droll and the actors whose voices generally haven't any resemblance to those of the singers, are a waste of perfectly good space on the plastic disks.

For the music alone, I would endorse those high ratings already given by earlier reviewers. But for the abject failure of the piece to blend into something greater than the sum of its parts, my overall rating is three stars.