Word: florestan
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...Already, it's been quite a ride. The season opened last October in grand fashion, with orchestra maestro Zubin Mehta conducting Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, and tenor Peter Seiffert - deemed "the best Florestan [Fidelio's leading man] performing today" by one critic - leading a stellar cast. On Dec. 2, however, a mechanical failure of the hall's stage works that forced the cancellation of several performances demonstrated just how risky and tenuous such triumphs can be. A temporary fix has salvaged the season, but the brief hiatus turned the spotlight on the scale of Valencia's ambition...
Performed in three acts, The Sleeping Beauty opens with a court scene reminiscent of the history of ballet itself. In the palace of King Florestan XIV, fairy upon fairy dance blessings on the new born Princes Aurora. With a stage full of court guests, each fairy dancer bows to the audience as if the audience was a part of the court itself. The history of ballet centers around court culture but the bows in this opening act feel somewhat jarring to the audience--its self-awareness adds a layer of artificiality to the ballet, for the audience witnesses the performance...
Vocal Heart. A thoroughly proper success it was, too. Böhm gave Beethoven's orchestral writing a brassy surface excitement that had a celebrity-filled audience cheering to the chandeliers. Save for a shaky Abscheulicher! in Act I, Soprano Leonie Rysanek as Leonore rescued her mate Florestan from Pizarro's dungeon with a heroinism that any latter-day Women's Lib leader would envy. Tenor Jon Vickers gave glorious vocal heart to Florestan's piteous degradation. Austrian Stage Director Otto Schenk clothed the production in medieval-dungeon darkness that gave way brilliantly...
Joseph Dwyer as Florestan had the task of singing what is perhaps the most difficult tenor aria in all opera. "Gott. welch' Dunkel hier" really has too many A's and and Bb's for anyone to cope with and Dwver showed severe signs of strain. Nonetheless he sand with emotion, a quality that had been lacking in the opera up to that point, especially in the men's chorus and the ensembles...
...under the direction of Carl Bamberger with Hamburg's Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchestra, are nimble, experienced ensemble singers. As Leonore, Gladys Kuchta reaches everything but the heights of Abscheulicher!; Julius Patzak, who had been singing for 35 years when this record was made, still sounds fresh and sturdy as Florestan; the best performance on the record is Melita Muszely's Marzelline. The singular glories of Birgit Nilsson's Fidelio can't be found here, but listeners will enjoy a high level of musicianship...