Search - Jacques Offenbach, Sylvain Cambreling, Neil Shicoff :: Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Great Recording of a Corrupt Edition

Christopher | 04/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this recording. I can't stop listening to it.



The statement on the back of the CD box reads "in the Critical Edition by Fritz Oeser, with additional material from the Choudens Edition," though exactly what comes from the Choudens is nowhere explained. Oeser's work on Hoffmann from the start came under stong critical attack. He cut material of Offenbach's from Act One to balance it with Act Five. Throughout most of the work he retained the spurious recitatives by Guiraud. He re-orchestrated material as he saw fit. He utilized a song for Nicklausse in the Olympia act that Offenbach never orchestrated (Oeser did that himself) and discarded the famous song that Offenbach replaced it with and did orchestrate. He used the piano score for a discarded Nicklausse number in the Olympia act, wrote lyrics and orchestrated it, and placed it in the the final act for the Muse. His version of the Giulietta act heavily incorporates music from Der Rheinnixen; I've no idea where the lyrics come from. This is clearly a spurious text.



And yet it's a curious thing about this opera's history that these spurious editions are often the basis for amazing performances. You can't get much worse, textually, than the Bonynge/Domingo/Sutherland recording, yet it's an established classic. And the old corrupt Chouden version was the source for both Cluyten's classic 1948 recording and Julius Rudel's appealing 1972 recording with Beverly Sills. Sadly, Michael Kaye's edition, a great achievment and a work of complete fidelity to Offenbach, though recorded twice, has yet to receive a persuasive performance on disc.



This, on the other hand, is an astonishingly good perfomance. Cambreling's conducting is superb, with well chosen tempos and a strong dramatic flair. Even an odd choice, such as the loping pace to the Kleinzach number is interesting. The cast is first rate. Shicoff is an impressive Hoffmann, he possesses a strong instrument and projects a compelling personality. Van Dam is a superb villain, far more effective here than on Erao's later set. Ann Murray may be my favorite Muse on disc.



And though the Giulietta act is as much a debauch in its way as the old Choudens version, and has not the authenticity of Kaye's, I find it the most successful of them all. I much prefer Oeser's choice for her aria than the version Kaye utilizes. The music from Rheinnixen is beautiful (and when else are we going to get to hear it, anyway?), the idea of Giulietta's girls acting as sirens is compelling. When their voices are heard offstage as Giulietta seduces Hoffmann...what a moment! Schlemil brandishes his lack of a shadow in this version, and later screams "Comrade! Companion!" to Hoffmann when the latter has lost his reflection. It is very exciting. I have no idea whether there is support in the various Hoffmann manuscripts for any of these or not. But, wow, is it amazing. (It should be noted that until Kaye could get a hold of the sung finale Offenbach composed for this act, which was being held by a private collector, he also utilized Der Rhiennixon for his grand opera version; though not nearly as extensively, and he had an accurate text to follow for the libretto. That the authentic material became available and is now in place in his edition is another reason for a new recording.) Even Oeser's very odd choice to omit the final music of Act One and opening music to Act Two/closing music to Act Four and opening music to Act Five creates a very appealing effect: we seem to drift out of reality into the world of Hoffmann's tales, and then back again.



I find this a very satisfying recording. It is definately among my favorites. Don't dismiss it because it isn't the "definative" Hoffmann. It is surely not that. But it is a major recording.

"

My Favorite HOFFMANN

Ted Zoldan | Los Angeles, CA, USA | 04/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I obsess over LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN. It was the first Opera I bought on CD, and it's remained in the center of my collection for a long time: I own six copies of the opera. Despite the merits of all, I find myself visting this performance more frequently than any other



A revised version of the score has many benefits: The dramatic focus of the opera becomes clearer, and we have a plethora of undiscovered music that's really a joy to hear. There are many in the market, but this is the pick of the litter. This is a recording of the Osear eition of the score, meaning we get extra material like the "trio de Yeux" and a new ending. "Scentille Diamond" is replaced by "Tourne, Tourne" which, of course, is the same music as Coppelius's aria. Nicklausse has a beautiful aria in the Antonia act, and the whole Guiletta act (the acts are in their proper order here: Olympia, Antonia, then Guilietta) is expanded extensively, with a new gambling scene and a wonderful aria for Guilietta. Also reinserted are a scene for The Muse and new couplets for Nicklausse in the first act. Camberling and his orchestra make the new material sound as if it should always have been there.



The soloists are wonderful. To start with the Hoffmann of Neil Shicoff, the tenor gives a the tenor gives a passionate, anguished performance of the tortured poet, one of his signature roles. His French may not be perfect, and his vocalism is flawed, but nobody comes close to getting into the tortured soul of the poet like he does. Jose van Dam's quartet of villains stands out among the stiff compitiion he has on record from Gabriel Bacquier, Norman Triegle and many others. Ann Murry, as Nicklausse and the Muse, makes much of her restored music. The Heroines feature an impressive Olympia (Luciana Serra) an Antonia (Rosalind Plowright) matched only by Geri Boue for Cluytens, and a hypnotic Guiletta (Jessye Norman). Robert Tear is bland as the servants, but in exchange we have Kurt Rydll's anguished Crespel."