Reviews for CD 2315-16 Les Contes d'Hoffmann

A splendid night and its restoration on disc has been accomplished with skill and care . . .
Jonathan Woolf - MusicWeb

MusicWeb November 2004

Jacques OFFENBACH(1819-1880)
Les Contes d’Hoffmann

René Maison (tenor) - Hoffmann
Vina Bovy (soprano) – Olympia, Giulietta, Antonia, Stella
Laurence Tibbett (baritone) - Lindorf, Coppelius, Daperutto, Miracle
Angelo Badà (tenor) – Andres, Cochenille, Pitichinaccio, Frantz
Irra Petina (soprano) – Nicklausse
Norman Cordon (baritone) – Schlemil
Louis d'Angelo (baritone) – Spalanzani, Crespel
Anna Kaskas – Mother
Arnold Gabor – Luther
Wilfred Engelman – Hermann
George Rasely - Nathanaël

Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Maurice Abravanel
Recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 23 January 1937

GUILD GHCD 2315/16 [64.55 + 79.41]

This was a splendid night at the Met’s French Wing. The two leads were both Belgian – the veteran René Maison, or so we like to think of him but he was actually only forty-two at the time - and Ghent-born Vina Bovy who was in the middle of her very short two-year engagement at the Met. In later life she became Director of the Ghent Royal Opera. Then there’s Tibbett whose French pronunciation is bluff to say the least but whose powerful projection is secure at all times. The Italian comprimario Angelo Badà makes a fine showing and the Russian Irra Petina (who lived to be ninety-three, dying over a decade ago) spent many years at the Met and was a reliable and able musician. Supervising all is Maurice de (the de was dropped later) Abravanel, at one time the youngest ever conductor at the Met.

Firstly, the sound quality. It’s good: maybe slightly recessed and occasionally scuffy but basically unproblematic. There are moments of aural distortion and other ancillary concerns that should be noted. In the Prologue (track 4 Dans les roles) there’s a bit of a blizzard of acetate damage for a little while and there’s more of the same and a complete break up in Act I Tu me fuis? (Track nineteen) and more scuffs in Act II Morbleu! (CD II track 3). There are in fact similar small occurrences throughout but veterans of operatic broadcasts of this vintage will have heard much, much worse. The pleasures far outweigh the problems. This is a set that was released not so long ago on Naxos and derived from Bovy’s acetates; this one comes from an alternative source, NBC’s own 16" transcription discs. The Guild, as is company wont, also includes commentaries and curtain calls, giving period flavour to the proceedings. It’s something I happen to like but other companies, such as Naxos, generally don’t.

Maison floats his top notes with great skill (Il etait une fois) but can get Wagnerian metal into the voice when required as in Je vous dis moi to conclude the Prologue. The voice itself I find exceptionally sympathetic in this role – forward, focused, subtly deployed. Bovy is superb – it’s remarkable to think her Met career was so short. Her dynamics in Les oiseaux are compellingly deployed, the technique is cast iron and the trill is immaculate; her impersonation is theatrically and vocally highly impressive. Listen to their duet in Act II Malhereux, mais tu ne sais donc pas where helped by the conductor’s energising warmth the two display increasing urgency of declamation. Maison’s ardency is matched by Bovy’s clarity and incremental increase in theatrical pressure; really fine musicianship. Tibbett takes a little time to warm up and he tends to bark early on but grows in command and menace and by the time we reach Pour conjurer le danger in Act III he’s exhibiting all his accustomed power and theatrical menace. Angelo Badà raises a laugh with his hoarse games as Frantz in his Act III Jour et nuit and the excellent Petrina impresses with her immaculate trill and clarity of projection. It’s a shame that the recording tends to cover Bovy’s exquisitely soft singing toward the end of Act III but certainly enough remains to mark this down as a memorable impersonation.

As I said this was a splendid night and its restoration has been accomplished with skill and care, notwithstanding the obvious aural considerations. And how amazing, and regrettable, is the fact that the two leads have sunk so low in the race memory of operagoers. As we have discovered from Maison’s Wagner at the Met it is high time for a reappraisal.

Jonathan Woolf