BBCSSO, 16/11/2023

Strauss : Die Frau ohne Schatten - Symphonic Fantasy

Mahler : Das Lied von der Erde

Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano

Brenden Gunnell, tenor

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Alpesh Chauhan

In Richard Strauss's rich operatic output, there are two particularly abstruse works.  One is Die ägyptische Helena, and there's no denying it's very difficult to take seriously a work featuring a character called The Omniscient Mussel.  The other is Die Frau ohne Schatten, which was was another collaboration with Hugo von Hoffmansthal, who began work on the almost overwhelmingly symbolic libretto just months after the completion of the considerably more successful Der Rosenkavalier.  While Frau has now established itself, after very difficult beginnings, it's still a very awkward work to stage, and not for the faint-hearted.  Almost thirty years after the (not terribly successful) premiere, Strauss created this orchestral fantasy at the prompting of his publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, distilling the main themes and scenes of the work into a 25-minute tone poem of sorts.  

I've been fortunate enough to actually see this opera performed, it is a remarkable work, but while the music is beautiful, the thing that came across with this Fantasy, and in the concert hall, is how loud it can be.  You don't notice it so much in the opera house, the sound is more diffuse, and the singers draw most of your attention anyway.  Without that element, and that distance, the large orchestra is a crushing force, and while I really enjoyed some sections, notably the Act 3 duet for Barak and his wife, whose gorgeous melody is entrusted to the trombone (Simon Johnson, seizing the opportunity to shine), much of the rest is a bit of a head-splitter.  Chauhan exercised no restraint but gave full rein to Strauss's extravagant orchestration.  The main benefit of that was to increase the appreciation for the quieter, more delicate moments.

Das Lied von der Erde is nearly contemporary with Frau, having been completed in 1909, and premiered in 1911 (but after Mahler's death earlier that same year).  The orchestration is no less extravagant, but Mahler's use is generally more sparing - except in the first song, where the unfortunate tenor soloist has to contend with blaring horns under, or more usually covering, his first entrance.  I have never heard, live, any tenor able to cut through that texture, and Brenden Gunnell was no exception, though it was one of the most valiant efforts, and very nearly successful.  Otherwise, he brought a truly pleasing tone to his share of the work, bright and clear higher notes, an attractive timbre of voice, and good expression, from the bitterness of the first song - the "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" attitude came across loud and clear - to the more wide-eyed, if inebriated simplicity of the fifth.

Although each singer has three songs, the alto has the lion's share, since the last song, "Der Abschied", is as long as the other five put together.  She rarely has to contend with the full orchestra, however, and that allowed Karen Cargill to deploy a truly impressive range of dynamics in her singing, from that first real flowering of tone, on the phrase beginning "Sonne der Liebe", in the second song, to the increasingly quiet, evanescent repetitions of "ewig" that close the work.  Although "Der Abschied" was very well sung, though, the best of her performance was in "Von der Schönheit", where she beautifully captured the subtle sensuality and finesse of the poem.  Chauhan and the orchestra provided good, finely detailed support throughout.

[Next : maybe 1st December, otherwise 7th]