Recordings > Editor's Choice
MOZART:
Idomeneo
Janowitz, Tarrés; R. Lewis, Pavarotti, N. Taylor; Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pritchard. Libretto, translation. GFOCD 006-64 (2)Historic Performance
Luciano Pavarotti's Idamante is the main attraction in Glyndebourne's 1964 Idomeneo, conducted by John Pritchard.
Because of Luciano Pavarotti's youthful participation as Idamante in this series of performances, the 1964 Glyndebourne Idomeneo has long been available on pirate issues in relatively poor sound — often with the Italian tenor's name uppermost or alone on the jacket. (Some of those releases derived from a Royal Albert Hall concert of August 17.) Whatever its limitations as to edition, there is built-in fascination due to the casting, and it's salutary to have an August 14 in-house recording from the Lewes-based festival available from Glyndebourne's house label, in solidly engineered if boxy sound.
Fritz Busch spearheaded Britain's first professional production of Idomeneo at Glyndebourne in 1951; John Pritchard conducted it from the following summer, taking it into the studio for EMI in 1956. Pritchard conducted another studio recording (1983, with Pavarotti in the title role) and led it (again with the Glyndebourne-favored use of a tenor Idamante) in autumn 1989 in San Francisco, shortly before he died. By today's standards his tempos are too stately and the cuts excessive, but the London Philharmonic plays well, and there's a consistent style.
Richard Lewis's Idomeneo had been part of the picture from the beginning. English-born but of Welsh origin, the distinguished tenor's American opera career was concentrated in San Francisco, though two years after this Idomeneo he sang Vere in Billy Budd's New York concert premiere. Lewis's flexibility and sensitive musicianship were not, unfortunately, matched with linguistic gifts. Though his performance is dramatically informed and moving, his Italian is awful, worse than on the studio version.
Sena Jurinac and Léopold Simoneau had been the terrific Ilia and Idamante of the Glyndebourne premiere and on the EMI recording; both qualified as Mozartean legends in their own time. How could Glyndebourne fill their shoes in 1964? They didn't, quite, on the stylistic level, but in terms of showcasing future stars, they couldn't have done much better than Gundula Janowitz (then twenty-seven) and Pavarotti (twenty-nine). Janowitz starts disconcertingly, with vibratoless tone — like a parody of Teresa Stich-Randall, but without that artist's curious charm. By "Se il padre perdei," her fresh tones and treble-like high attacks provide more pleasure, though I for one prefer Jurinac's darker-hued radiance. Janowitz's sigh after "Spiegarti non poss'io" seems echt postwar Vienna Mozart style. Pavarotti was as yet undiscovered by the Bonynges and Decca. Audibly not a practiced Mozartean singer, he still commands affection (and the audience's applause) for his sheer vocal beauty and the clarity of his diction. How few Italians have recorded Idomeneo! Any Pavarotti fan will want to hear his three arias ("No, la morte" is included) and ensembles.
Spanish soprano Enriqueta Tarrés (Elettra) appeared with major companies in Germany and Austria; she shows a fine, bright soprano tending to go flat on forte high notes. She's not exactly magical of timbre, but she sings the difficult arias better than many famous interpreters have done. Baritone Neilson Taylor, poised in the between-Fach tessitura of Arbace, gets neither of his arias nor much recit.
DAVID SHENGOLD
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