Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Oberon (1826)
Deon van der Walt – Oberon (tenor)
Peter Seiffert – Hüon von Bordeaux (tenor)
Inga Nielsen – Rezia (soprano)
Bo Skovhus – Scherasmin (baritone)
Vesselina Kasarova – Fatime (mezzo)
Melinda Paulsen – Puck (mezzo)
Rundfunkchor Berlin;
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Marek Janowski
rec. 1996, Jesus Christus Kirche, Berlin-Daheim, Germany
RCA 09026685052 [2 CDs: 120]
One could say of Weber’s Oberon that writing it literally killed him. He was ill with TB when he signed the contract to write the opera for London. The travel difficulties, the English climate in winter, plus the inevitable behind-the-scenes pressures of composing and staging a new opera very probably shortened his life by months. As it turned out he died in London just over a month after the opening night. What he left behind is a piece of Music Theater in which the brilliance of the music defies the strange and untidy libretto that it is strung on. It is the very brilliance of Weber’s music that has caused no less than four complete studio recordings to be produced, all of them strong competition against one another.
The RCA version has Marek Janowski drawing evocative playing from the Berlin orchestra, especially during the Overture, which epitomizes early German romanticism in music. Throughout the singspiel Janowski’s leadership presents the listener with memorably drawn phrasing from the orchestra and chorus in a reading of the score that pulsates with life and glows in suffused light and warmth.
The title character of the Fairy King doesn’t have a great deal to do in the opera although he does get to sing the first true, albeit brief, aria. Deon van der Walt ended his life so sadly that it is hard to hear him now and not be reminded of his tragedy. By the time of these sessions his voice was starting to become thin and sound unsupported in the upper regions. However, most of Oberon’s music lies low for tenors, and in general van der Walt sings it quite well.
Peter Seiffert’s Hüon of Bordeaux is another matter entirely. This role has been surprisingly lucky on recordings despite the fact that it is very difficult to sing. It requires an impossible combination of heldentenor sound with good ability to sing coloratura (the two don’t usually occur in the same throat). Seiffert’s competition is pretty stiff indeed from the likes of Plácido Domingo (in his first complete opera recording), Ben Heppner and Jonas Kaufmann. All of them give fine performances of Hüon’s challenging music. Sieffert summons up the right heroic spirit for the music and his tone, which possesses an attractive catch in the sound, comes fairly close to being ideal. There is a wonderful pinging quality that is revealed when he sings out in full voice, and he handles the coloratura extremely well. He can be hit or miss in the dialogue; at points he delivers his lines with the soul of a stage actor, but at others the lines emerge in a manner that is too matter of fact( i.e. when he believes Rezia to have died).
Rezia is sung by the Danish dramatic coloratura Inga Neilsen. Her voice has a piping, rounded quality in the upper register which makes her sound warmer than other dramatic coloraturas like Christina Deutekom, or Edda Moser. Her voice also benefits from a lovely sound quality in her lower range where the sound positively glows like refracted light. “Ozean, du Ungeheuer” is sung with nobility and fervor. The extra thrust she offers at the conclusion is quite thrilling. The Act Three Cavatina is less remarkable because it seems to sit in the part of her voice that doesn’t project as well.
The servant couple, who are also a second pair of young lovers, are the more human foil that contrast with the heroic pair. Vesselina Kasarova’s gently throbbing tone makes her a lusciously sensual Fatime and she sings both of her arias quite fetchingly. Bo Skovhus’ Scherasmin doesn’t receive a lot of opportunity to sing, but he sounds youthful and virile, and he projects the good humour of Hüon’s servant in a winning manner.
In the smaller roles Melinda Paulsen’s buttery sounding mezzo makes a good contrast with Kasarova although Puck is mostly a dialogue character. There is a fairly mellifluous pair of Mermaids.
Rather than attempting to use the traditional German translation of James Planché’s English libretto, the decision was made to commission a new German text by Dr Götz Naleppa, a man with a long history of creating audio books and plays. This is an improvement over having an actor narrate the scenes in which most of the action occurs but don’t have any music (as in the Kubelik recording on DG). The singers all handle their dialogue convincingly, apart from Seiffert’s inconsistent approach to his. The studio recording is warmly resonant, rather than going in for being extremely detailed. The orchestra, which is so important in this opera, is beautifully captured and reproduced. The solo voices and chorus are recorded in an atmospheric perspective. In short Weber‘s magical score is lovingly presented.
Mike Parr
Help us financially by purchasing from
Other cast members:
Mermaids – Heidi Person, Hermonie May (sopranos)
Harun al Raschid – Gunter Schoß (actor)
Babekan – Viktor Neaumann (actor)
Almansor – Peter Fitz (actor)
Abdallah – Dieter Kursawa (actor)
Kaiser Karl der Große – Ulrich Voß (actor)
