Samuel Barber: Vanessa

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Music reviews of Samuel Barber: Vanessa

Music Review: A Perfectly Crafted, Melodic, Dramatic, Moving Opera
Rating: 5 Stars

The opera has been disparaged by some who find it old-fashioned and melodramatic. It is those things, to some extent, but it is impeccably crafted both musically and dramatically. It is one of the operas, like 'La Bohème,' whose dramatic arc is such that each time one reaches the final moments one is moved emotionally. There is not a single moment of boredom in the piece because everything moves inexorably to that final scene. And the music! How can I explain? Memorable passages come one after the other. It's almost impossible to pick high points, in fact. From the opening scene where Erika is ordering dinner ('Potage crème aux perles') to her aria 'Must the winter come so soon' (surely one of the loveliest of all mezzo arias) to the scene where Anatol arrives (Vanessa's 'Do not utter a word') in the first act there is not a false move. (And I love the tiny orchestral reference to a theme from 'Boris Godunov' when Anatol refers laughingly to himself as the 'false Dmitri.') As a physician myself, I have always identified with The Old Doctor, love his ditty 'Under the Willow Tree' and am ruefully amused by his confession, 'I have always known I am a bad doctor.'

But enough about all that. What of this performance? It is quite good, not quite up to the original cast performance, but it has quite a few merits of its own. The cast, all virtual unknowns to the larger musical community, are mostly from Boston, and indeed this recording, although made in Ukraine with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, under Boston conductor Gil Rose (founder of a remarkable new group there called the Boston Modern Orchestra Project whose earlier CD of music by George Rochberg I heartily recommended). Every principal singer is quite good: Ellen Chickering as Vanessa, Andrea Matthews as Erika, Marion Dry as The Old Baroness, Ray Bauwens as Anatol, and Richard Conrad as The Old Doctor. There are a few unsettled moments for each of them, but overall the music is very well served and the drama put across with admirable skill. Indeed, although there is an English libretto supplied--thank you, Naxos!--the cast's diction is such that it is hardly necessary. And if you've listened to much opera in English you know that this is high praise.

The enclosed booklet is well-done, with excellent notes by Richard Conrad who, besides singing The Old Doctor, is the founder and artistic director of the Boston Academy of Music as well as director of the Bostonian Opera whose production (except for the Ukrainian orchestra) this is.

The recorded sound is clear, warm, spacious.

I could write more but I think I'll stop and go back to listen once more to the Anatol/Vanessa duet in Act II, 'Love has a bitter core, Vanessa/Anatol.'

Heartily recommended.

TT=111 mins

Scott Morrison

Description of Samuel Barber: Vanessa

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