Daniel Catán (1949-2011)
Mariposa de obsidian (Obsidian Butterfly) (1984)
Escúcheme [Listen to me], from Florencia en el Amazonas (1996)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Alexander Nevsky Op 78, symphonic cantata (1938/1939)
Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Houston, Moores School Symphony Orchestra/Franz Anton Krager
rec. live 10 June 2017 (Catán); 29 September 2017 (Prokofiev), Moores Opera House, University of Houston
Available in: 5.0 Channel Immersive Surround Sound & Stereo
Reviewed as 24-bit download
High Definition Tape Transfer HDTT15258 [74]

Back in 2019, I posted a fairly comprehensive survey of the major recordings of Prokofiev’s masterwork cantata but this new recording from HDTT has only just been issued so I was interested to hear it, especially as I was confident that being engineered by John Gladney Proffitt, its sound would be of the highest standard. It is preceded in this combination of two live concerts by two works by the Mexican composer Daniel Catán: his own extended cantata Obsidian Butterfly and an extract from his opera Florencia en el Amazonas.

The notes inform us that…” The technique used to record the massive sound of large chorus and symphony orchestra in the Moores Opera House is simple and direct. Simple, in that five Neumann and Peluso omnidirectional condenser microphones are carefully placed to capture the total soundstage from the point of view of the conductor on the podium. For the Chorus, an additional single stereo microphone is used to capture the clarity of the choral singing. Direct, in that each microphone feeds into a single channel of the high-resolution digital recorder with no mixing, equalization, or other manipulation of the pure sound coming from each mic. The result, when the HDTT Blu-ray Audio disc, or digital download, is heard in five-channel surround sound reproduction (in a home theatre system, for instance) places the listener on the podium with the conductor – in effect, “immersed” in the sound.”

I confess to listening only on conventional stereo and on headphones but I am assured of the excellence of the sound experience as it is described above by those who have a “surround-sound” system. As ever, I am more exercised by the quality of the performances themselves but fully appreciate how much listening may be enhanced by such a set-up. Having said that, I cannot help but observe that in the opening cantata the soprano’s voice is quite frequently drowned out by an over-loud orchestra – though whether that is the fault of the engineering, the soloist herself, the conductor’s in failing to restrain his orchestra sufficiently or the composer’s original scoring, I could not say.

The notes provide useful guides to all three pieces and additionally an English translation of the text used for Catán’s cantata, a prose poem by the Mexican poet and diplomat, Octavio Paz, which is highly larded with exotic, savage and abstruse imagery drawn from nature and – again quoting from the notes – “portrays the Aztec warrior goddess Itzpapálotl, who presides over the paradise of dead infants. The poem’s agonized lament depicts Mexico’s constant, often violent societal upheaval, evolving from one culture into another.”

Do I enjoy the music? Not really; Catán’s modernist style and idiom do little for me. My tastes are admittedly conservative but I find it quite repetitive, with a heavy beat, lots of ostinato strumming of harps and flute riffs and trills, frequent discords and no tunes. Cynthia Clayton sings what sounds like good Spanish to me and makes much of the inherent drama of the text, but for me it makes a long twenty minutes of declamation and the number of loud, inconsiderate and unmuffled coughs from the audience suggests that they are not enraptured. The five minute choral coda provides some variety and the Moores School Concert Chorale sings with admirable heft and commitment, well caught by the sound engineer.

“Escúchame” is the final aria of the opera Florencia en el Amazonas, whose libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain is “crafted in the magic realism style of author Gabriel García Márquez” and in which the eponymous opera singer, in search of her lover who disappeared while butterfly-hunting in the Amazon “portrays her excitement as she senses his unseen presence and magically transforms into an emerald butterfly seeking a reunion with him.” The music delivers more of the same we have heard in the cantata – the same tropes – fluttering flutes and figures which sound more like sea music than they are redolent of Amazonia – but it is rather more tuneful and there is more very good singing from Cynthia Clayton, who rises impressively to the ecstatic climax with some nice floated top notes. I found considerably more pleasure in this piece; deserved and vociferous applause is retained.

To the main work. The content of Prokofiev’s cantata, adapted from his score for the Eisenstein film will doubtless be rather more familiar to collectors; it was “an unqualified propaganda bonanza for Stalin as well as a smash hit with the film-going public” but has of course since become a favourite choral concert item.

The opening is raw and almost brash – by no means inappropriate for such stark, chilling and atmospheric music, conjuring a sense of brutality and desolation – and Franz Anton Krager’s pacing here is just right for me. Just occasionally there are some slight co-ordination slips among both the orchestra and choir members but nothing serious; more perturbing is again the troop of ignorant coughers out in force, making little or no attempt to stifle their hacking. The chorus sounds young, the men lacking the echt-Russian depth of sonority on low notes but their Russian sounds well-schooled. The Crusaders are introduced with commendable weight and harshness; the “peregrinus expectavi” is taken quite slowly and deliberately but generates cumulative menace thereby and there is some powerful lower-string and commendably secure brass playing in the instrumental interlude of a movement whose success is crucial to the effect and balance of the whole work, because the barbarism of the foreign invaders must strongly be contrasted with the heroism of the Russian patriot defenders. “Arise, Russian people!” is suitably energised and vivacious, if again a little lacking in vocal weight and there is some nifty xylophone work from the percussionist. “The Battle on the Ice” is the other really central movement and by far the longest, narrating a thrilling sequence; although Kranz’s tempo is on paper one of the slower ones, that is by no means reflected in any deficit of tension. He gauges the long arc of ratcheted-up excitement over fourteen minutes with real skill – and the orchestral playing and choral contribution are both first class. The sombre, bitter-sweet coda to the depiction of the battle is grandy played, too and the depth and breadth of the sound here, are crucial to the impact of the music – so it’s a shame that there is some sour trumpet-playing towards the end – but this is live.

While I have singled out two movements which are crucial to the dramaturgy of this cantata, as a canary-fancier I have a special attachment to the mezzo-soprano’s role in this piece and enjoy the emotional power and smoky timbre of Melanie Sonnenberg’s rendering of that heart-breaking lament; it carries the import of real involvement – if only the coughers shared my respect for her account of this music. The concluding chorale is splendidly full-voiced and instrumentally sonorous.

Is this the best recording of Alexander Nevsky? No; some lack of sophistication and the occasional flaw arising from the vagaries of live performance, including those coughers, make it somewhat less recommendable than the very best – but it is a thoroughly enjoyable and wholly commendable performance which keeps me consistently engaged. The rest of the programme is less to my taste – but there is no doubting the commitment of those involved and they are served by sound of superlative quality.

Ralph Moore

Performers
Mariposa de obsidian: Cynthia Clayton (soprano), Moores School Concert Chorale
Escúcheme: Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Houston/Franz Anton Krager
Alexander Nevsky: Melanie Sonnenberg (mezzo-soprano),
Moores School Symphony Orchestra & Concert Chorale and Combined Choruses, Houston/Franz Anton Krager

Additional information:
Produced and recorded by John Gladney Proffitt
5.0 channel Immersive Surround Sound
High Resolution 24-bit, 192k sampling rate
Stereo Mix & CD mastering – John Proffitt
Multichannel mastering – Robert Witrak

Track list:
Obsidian Butterfly
1 Cantata, Mariposa de obsidian [Obsidian Butterfly] 23:43
2 Escúcheme [Listen to me], from Florencia en el Amazonas (1996) 08:37
Alexander Nevsky
3 Rus’ Under the Mongol Yoke 03:02
4 Song about Alexander Nevsky 03:09
5 The Crusaders in Pskov 06:42
6 Arise, Russian People! 02:27
7 Battle on the Ice 14:26
8 The Field of the Dead 06:50
9 Alexander’s Triumphal Entry into Pskov 05:18