エルガー: 海の絵、ファルスタッフ

バレンボイムがDeccaと進めるエルガー・チクルス第4弾!

現代を代表するメッゾ・ソプラノ、エリーナ・ガランチャを迎え、バレンボイムにとっては40年ぶりの再録音となる《海の絵》に交響的習作《ファルスタッフ》をカップリング。《海の絵》はメッゾ・ソプラノ(あるいはアルト)と管弦楽のための連作歌曲集で第1曲 海の眠りの歌/第2曲 港にて(カプリ)/第3曲 海上での安息日の朝/第4曲 珊瑚礁のあるところ/第5曲 泳ぐ人の5曲で構成されています。1899年の6月《エニグマ変奏曲》の初演で大成功を収めたエルガーが、その年の夏《海の絵》を描き上げました。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Daniel Barenboim recorded a good deal of Elgar as a young phenom in the 1970s, and he has returned to it as conductor of the venerable Staatskapelle Berlin in old age. The results have been impressive -- weighty, but impressive. Whether because he is playing to the orchestras strengths or simply because he has reinterpreted the music, he has delivered readings that tie Elgar to the Wagner-Strauss tradition. He has an ideal ally this time around in mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča, heard in the lovely Sea Pictures, Op. 37. One could easily take her for a native English singer when it comes to diction, but the rich chest tones come from points farther east, and the result is a highly absorbing performance of this wonderful and rather underexposed work. Falstaff, Op. 68, feels like a Strauss tone poem with its action-packed brass and percussion work, really worth hearing on their own merits. If one misses a bit of the lightness of the long British tradition of recording these works, well, there is a great deal here in the way of compensation. Its a heavy Falstaff, but a well-executed and well-thought-through one that Barenboim fans are going to eat up.