Weber - Der Freischutz
£28.45
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Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMM90270001
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 29th April 2022
Contents
Artists
Maximilian Schmitt (tenor)Polina Pasztircsak (soprano)
Kateryna Kasper (soprano)
Dimitry Ivashchenko (bass)
Yannick Debus (baritone)
Christian Immler (bass)
Matthias Winckhler (bass)
Max Urlacher (speaker)
Zurcher Sing-Akademie
Freiburger Barockorchester
Conductor
Rene JacobsWorks
Der Freischutz, J277Artists
Maximilian Schmitt (tenor)Polina Pasztircsak (soprano)
Kateryna Kasper (soprano)
Dimitry Ivashchenko (bass)
Yannick Debus (baritone)
Christian Immler (bass)
Matthias Winckhler (bass)
Max Urlacher (speaker)
Zurcher Sing-Akademie
Freiburger Barockorchester
Conductor
Rene JacobsAbout
Cast:
- Ein Eremit: Christian Immler (bass)
- Agathe: Polina Pasztircsák (soprano)
- Ännchen: Kateryna Kasper (soprano)
- Max: Maximilian Schmitt (tenor)
- Kilian: Yannick Debus (baritone)
- Kuno: Matthias Winckhler (bass)
- Samiel: Max Urlacher (speaker)
- Kaspar: Dimitry Ivashchenko (bass)
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Overtura
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21. Aufzug: Aria ‘Allerbarmen! Herr dort oben!’* (Der Eremit)
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31. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Wo Agathe nur bleiben mag?’* (Der Eremit, Agathe, Ännchen)
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41. Aufzug: Duetto ‘Nimm hin des Freundes Gabe’* (Der Eremit, Agathe)
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51. Aufzug: Chor ‘Viktoria, Viktoria!’ (Chor der Landleute, Max)
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61. Aufzug: Lied ‘Schau’ der Herr mich an als König!’ (Kilian, Chor)
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71. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Was ist hier los?’ (Kuno, Kilian, Max, Samiels Stimme, Kaspar)
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81. Aufzug: Romanze ‘Herr Ottokar jagte durch Heid und durch Wald’** (Kuno)
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91. Aufzug: Terzetto con Cori ‘Oh diese Sonne’ (Max, Kuno, Kaspar, Chor)
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101. Aufzug: Scena ed Aria. Walzer
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111. Aufzug: Rezitativ ‘Nein, länger trag’ ich nicht die Qualen’ (Max) – Aria ‘Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen’ (Max, Samiels Stimme)
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121. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Da bist du ja, Kamerad!’ (Kaspar, Max) – Lied ‘Hier im ird’schen Jammertal’ (Kaspar, Samiels Stimme, Max
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131. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Agathe hat recht’ (Max, Kaspar, Samiels Stimme)
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141. Aufzug: Aria ‘Schweig’, schweig’, damit dich niemand warnt!’ (Kaspar)
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152. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Mach das ja nicht nochmal, Alter!’ (Ännchen) – Duetto ‘Schelm! Halt fest!’ (Ännchen, Agathe)
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162. Aufzug: Arietta ‘Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen’ (Ännchen)
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172. Aufzug: Scena ed Aria ‘Wie nahte mir der Schlummer (Agathe)’
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182. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Lieber Max, was ist los?’ (Agathe, Max, Ännchen)
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192. Aufzug: Terzetto ‘Wie? Was? Entsetzen!’ (Agathe, Ännchen, Max)
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202. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Schwachköpfe, alle beide’ (Samiels Stimme) – ‘Milch des Mondes fiel aufs Kraut’ (Chor)
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212. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Mitternacht! – Geisterstunde!’ (zwei Geister) – Melodram ‘Was für eine schreckliche Hitze!’ (Kaspar)
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222. Aufzug: ‘Ha! Furchtbar gähnt der düstre Abgrund’ (Max)
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232. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Der Mond, der Mond verfinstert sich’ (Max, Kaspar)
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242. Aufzug: ‘Ah! Zische, brause, koche auf’ (Samiel, Kaspar, Echo der Höllengeister, Chor der Höllengeister, Max)
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253. Aufzug: Entre-Akt
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263. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Guten Morgen, Kamerad! Ausgeschlafen?’ (Kaspar, Max)
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273. Aufzug: Cavatina ‘Und ob die Wolke’ (Agathe)
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283. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Na, du bist früher auf als ich’ (Agathe, Ännchen)
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293. Aufzug: Romanza ed Aria ‘Einst träumte meiner sel’gen Base’ (Ännchen)
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303. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Nero, der Kettenhund!’ (Agathe, Ännchen, Brautjungfern) – Volkslied ‘Wir winden dir den Jungfernkranz’ (Agathe, Frauenchor)
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313. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Mit einem lauten Schrei’ (Samiels Stimme)
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323. Aufzug: Jägerchor ‘Was gleicht wohl auf Erden’ (Chor der Jäger)
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333. Aufzug: Dialog ‘Das war wirklich meisterhaft’ (Ottokar, Kuno, Kaspar, Samiel, Max)
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343. Aufzug: Finale 'Schaut, o schaut' (Chor, Annchen, Agathe, Kaspar, Max, Samiels Stimme, Kuno, Ottokar)
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353. Aufzug: ‘Nur du kannst dieses Rätsel lösen’ (Ottokar, Max, Kuno, Agathe, Ännchen, Chor)
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363. Aufzug: ‘Wer legt auf ihn so strengen Bann’ (Der Eremit, Ottokar, Chor, Max, Kuno, Ännchen)
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373. Aufzug: ‘Doch jetzt erhebt noch eure Blicke’ (Der Eremit, Chor, Alle)
Europadisc Review
With its heady mixture of earthy folksiness, nature-painting, the supernatural, and religious spirituality, Weber’s Der Freischütz – the instantly popular 1821 work that really kick-started the genre of German Romantic opera – has surely been crying out for the Jacobs treatment. This is a conductor who appreciates the work’s background not just in German singspiel but in French opéra-comique, and his study of Weber’s score in close conjunction with Friedrich Kind’s libretto has led him to record a version of the work that is as strikingly original as you’d expect, but in some surprising ways.
For all its undoubted theatricality, Der Freischütz has two potential weak spots: the crucial part played by dialogue (requiring singers who can not only sing but act well, in German), and the curious deus ex machina of the Hermit who appears in the final pages to plead mercy for the errant but naïve hero Max, so that he and his beloved Agathe have the prospect of a happy future together. Kind’s original plan was to have an opening scene in which Agathe visits the Hermit in his forest dwelling, where she learns of his forebodings but also receives his crucial blessing. Weber’s wife, the singer Caroline Brandt, succeeded in getting Weber to jettison this scene, launching straight from the overture – where so much of the opera’s drama is anticipated – into the well-known prize-shooting.
Jacobs argues persuasively for the inclusion of Kind’s ‘prologue’, which he has adapted very effectively to music from the overture and elsewhere in the opera, and it makes great dramatic sense. The figure of the Hermit (sympathetically sung by bass Christian Immler) is now a crucial background player in the unfolding drama, a counterweight to the evil supernatural forces that bubble to the surface so memorably in the ‘Wolf’s Glen’ scene that closes Act 2. And Jacobs also supplies an aria for the head forester Kuno that lay similarly unset by Weber, convincingly drawing on a drinking song from Schubert’s 1814 singspiel Der Teufels Lustschloss.
Furthermore, Jacobs has assembled a team of singers who can actually act in German, and very convincingly, too. While trimming back on some of the traditional dialogue, he actually expands its role by adding explicatory passages that compensate for the lack of visuals. He calls the result a Hörspiel or ‘audio play’, with a tangible theatrical flair, and it incorporates helpful background references to the Thirty Years’ War that provides part of the opera’s ‘backstory’. He also expands the (purely spoken) role of the diabolical Samiel so that he becomes the villainous Kaspar’s ‘imaginary friend’ or ‘Evil Self’, there to egg him on, and to lead into the dark side the hapless Max. If you are open for an immersive experience – complete with a full range of ‘stagey’ sound effects, not merely in the Wolf’s Glen scene – this is the recording for you.
What, then, of the music and singing? Right from the outset, the period instruments of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra make their make, with a thrilling account of the overture that doesn’t hang around but still manages to give space to savour the brilliance of Weber’s orchestration, with sinewy string, tart, characterful woodwind and rasping horns. The playing throughout is a joy.
The female leads are taken by the winningly pure-toned Polina Pasztircsák as Agathe, and the nicely contrasted soubrette of Kateryna Kasper as Ännchen. Their domestic scenes in Acts 2 and 3 are simply delightful, and their set pieces – including Agathe’s ‘Leise, leise, fromme Weise!’ and ‘Und ob die Wolke’, and Ännchen’s teasing, polonaise-like arietta ‘Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen’ – are real gems. (Special mention, too, must be made of Corina Golomoz’s wonderfully stylish solo viola in Ännchen’s Act 3 ‘Einst träumte meiner sel’gen Base’.)
There have perhaps been more individual singers in the role of Max than Maximilian Schmitt, but he has the right feel for the role, a not-quite-hero caught up in a desperate situation who will do anything to win his bride; and, like his colleagues, he can act in the crucial dialogue scenes while coping with the vocal demands of his Act 1 aria ‘Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen’. His nemesis Kaspar (the splendid Dimitry Ivashchenko) has a black bass that recalls the great Gottlob Frick, scheming but also at times clearly in fear of the dark powers he is unleashing.
The other stand-out performance is from actor Max Urlacher as the ‘Black Huntsman’ Samiel: by turns menacing, malevolent, hammy, sarcastic and even insouciant. You’ll either love or hate his greatly expanded contribution to proceedings, often accompanied by ominous percussion ‘extras’ and even, in the Wolf’s Glen, by two further evil spirits to further conjure up the dark magic of the work’s most celebrated fifteen minutes.
Yannick Debus’s Kilian (doubling as Prince Ottokar) and Matthias Winckhler’s Kuno complete an impressive solo team, but the vocal contributions are crowned by the singing of the illustrious Zürcher Sing-Akademie, who bring a tremendous sense of involvement (as well as accuracy) to the all-important crowd scenes. Their contributions to the Wolf’s Glen and the Huntsmen’s Chorus in Act 3 are particularly thrilling.
In sum, an exceptionally fascinating and gripping account that shines welcome new light on Weber’s groundbreaking opera. Jacobs’s sure operatic instincts, insights and clear love of the work are evident from start to finish, with illuminating booklet notes and a handsomely presented and notated if rather chunky libretto. For lovers of German and 19th-century opera, this release is warmly recommended.
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