Search - Mogens Schmidt Johansen, Ib Hansen, Carl Nielsen :: Carl Nielsen: Maskarade [Hybrid SACD]

Nielsen's Comic Masterpiece Done Beautifully

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 03/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There have been two modern recordings of Nielsen's comic opera, 'Maskarade' ('Masquerade'): this one from 1977 conducted by John Frandsen and reissued in SACD, and one recorded in the 1990s with Ulf Schirmer at the helm; I have not heard the latter. This opera deserves to be much better known but is hampered, I suspect, because of having a libretto in Danish, a little-known language. There have been a few English-language performances, but they are rare.



The plot of 'Maskarade' is fairly simple. Jeronimus (bass) has arranged a marriage between his son Leander (tenor) and his friend Leonard's daughter, Leonora (soprano). But each of them has fallen in love with someone they met the night before at a nightly masked ball. You know how it will turn out--when the unmasking occurs the next night the young lovers are delighted to find out that they have actually fallen in love with the person intended for them by their respective fathers. A sub-plot involving their servants mirrors the love story between the principals. There are, of course, parallels with 'Marriage of Figaro' and even with 'The Fantasticks.' This is, after all, a commedia dell'arte plot. It is taken from a play by Denmark's revered Ludvig Holberg, known to non-Danes from Grieg's 'Holberg Suite.'



The music of 'Maskarade' is uncharacteristically light and even frivolous compared with Nielsen's serious music. Yet his musical fingerprints are much in evidence -- slow woodwind tremolos, saucy brass interjections, characteristic Nielsenian harmonies and all. One only needs to hear a few measures to recognize whose music it is. The overture is sometimes played in concert programs and there is also some extraordinarily light-hearted and tuneful dance music -- especially the occasionally heard 'Dance of the Cockerels' -- in the third act. The love duet in Act II is simply gorgeous and is sung beautifully here by Tonny Landy and Edith Brödersen as the young lovers. The black bass of Ib Hansen and the equally sonorous bass of Aage Haugland respectively as Jeronimus and the Master of the Masquerade are equally impressive. The servants Henrik and Pernille sung by Mogens Schmidt Johansen and Tove Hyldgaard are a fine complement to the other lovers.



This opera is a delight from start to finish. Its high spirits are infectious and it combines lovely lyricism with brilliant orchestration and catchy dance rhythms. Even if you don't understand Danish (as I don't) it is not difficult with cursory inspection of the libretto (printed here in Danish/English/German) to follow along quite easily. I found myself after the first time through simply leaning back and drinking in the joyful beauty of the music and the performance.



Highly recommended.



2 CDs. Although in SACD I listened in plain vanilla stereo and can say that the sound is excellent; it does not betray its age at all. I can only imagine that it is even better in SACD.



Scott Morrison"