Botstein's "Ariane" on Telarc

Following up on my earlier post, I did listen to Botstein's new recording of Dukas's Ariane et Barbe-Bleu. The sound is opulent and the playing by the BBC Symphony Orchestra could not be better. Botstein, if anything, makes the music sound heavier than at his NYCO run two years ago, but this could be a result of the sound engineering. The singers did their best, but I can't say anyone stood out. Still, lovers of this composer and this opera can be happy for this recording.

Dukas in Paris

I'm a huge fan of the music of Paul Dukas, especially his Symphony in C, his enormous piano sonata, and his only opera, Ariane et Barbe-Bleu. Alas, a new production at the Bastille in Paris fails to satisfy the critic of Le Monde. Deborah Polaski is in bad voice as Ariane, Sylvain Cambreling "trivializes" the "colorful, sensual, expressive music, 'descriptive' in the best sense of the term (musique colorée, sensuelle, expressive, 'descriptive' au bon sens du term)" and the production is banal. No accounting for degree of difficulty, I guess; it's a hard opera to stage, being static and symbolic, but its rewards are ample. I am expecting the new recording in the mail, with Botstein, who conducted it at the New York City Opera a few seasons ago (I thought he did a good-enough job), and I will probably report on it when I've heard it.

Le Monde.fr : Un "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue" filandreux