Search - Jacques Offenbach, Kent Nagano, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon :: Offenbach - Les Contes d'Hoffmann / Alagna, van Dam, Dessay, Vaduva, Jo, Lascarro, Dubosc, Ragon, Sénéchal, Bacquier, Lamprecht, Nagano

The best of a mediocre-to-bad lot

madamemusico | Cincinnati, Ohio USA | 10/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have heard six recordings of "Hoffmann," an opera that is particularly dear to me for sentimental reasons. None of them are perfect, all have flaws, but on balance this is the best of the lot.Now that musicologists have finished playing with the Mahler 10th Symphony (which ended rather well) and the Beethoven 10th (which ended rather badly), they have been taking a whack at "Hoffmann," rushing to revise music the composer never sanctioned and adding music found in buckets and boxes long after his death. My personal feeling was, if it ain't broke, don't fix it: you're not Offenbach, and to speak for him requires a tremendous amount of chutzpah. And a lot of the revisions, to my ear, simply do not work well, such as turning Giulietta into a coloratura soprano, spinning out an aria that ends much like Olympia's doll song as on this recording.I'm also not fond of switching the Antonia and Giulietta acts from their traditional positions for both dramatic and musical reasons. To begin with, having the "tales" end with Antonia gives Hoffmann's character a certain sense of redemption that simply isn't there the other way. Also, the Giulietta act is musically the weakest: as primiarily an operetta composer, Offenbach simply had a hard time creating music for this act which is darker and more tensely dramatic than anything else in the work. The superp trio that climaxes the Antonia act, on the other hand, is one of the most brilliant and transcendent things he wrote.That being said, there is much to admire in this set. Kent Nagano conducts briskly, which is his wont, thereby tying together the music in a cohesive and satisfying way where others (particularly Cluytens and Cambreling) sound slow and rambling. On the other hand, his chorus of the spirits, though light and brisk, just misses the rapt, enchanting sound achieved by Bonynge; and though it was probably Offenbach's intent to have only a few strings play the violin motif in the Antonia trio, they sound too thin, not sweeping or driven enough, for the dramatic situation. Nagano also conducts the famed "Barcarolle" at a shade-too-fast tempo, thus robbing the music of its mysterious charm (even Arthur Fiedler made a better recording of the instrumental version). These moments point to a lack of "theatricality" in Nagano's conducting style that Bonynge, Rudel and even Beecham managed to capture.Alagna is not as suavely beautiful or haunting in the role as Robert Rounseville or Stuart Burrows were. This is something of an abrupt, nervous reading, though if one knows something about E.T.A. Hoffmann and his tales it is perfectly in keeping with his character. (I have yet, however, to see ANY tenor perform the role made up to LOOK like Hoffmann, a scrawny little man with a square jaw, popping eyes and a shock of unruly, frizzy hair. I guess no tenor really wants to look like that!)This is unquestionably the finest performance Dessay has ever recorded: her voice is brilliant, in focus, on pitch and wonderfully secure. Only Bond in the Beecham performance and Sutherland come close, though I personally feel that Sutherland was funnier in the role. She had a real flair for comedy, whereas she did not possess enough personal warmth for Antonia or Giulietta.The Sutherland recording also had the best "villains" in Gabriel Bacquier in his prime, but to my ears Van Dam is an excellent second. (Treigle, in the Sills set, was good but not great, his somewhat gruff voice rather overwhelimg the roles with too much histrionics.)Vaduva has a pretty tone but your typical "Slavic wobble," more noticeable in the early and late parts of her act. For some reason, the voice is better focused in the middle sections, but she does not efface memories of de los Angeles who was the best Antonia ever.Jo is surprisingly good as Giulietta: though her voice is even smaller than Dessay's, it had a fuller lyric sound in the mid-range which captured well on records. (I have beel told that her "live" career is just about over on stage as the voice is too small to carry in most modern theaters.) I liked Margherita Grandi in the old Beecham film, but a chesty, spinto Giulietta is apparently persona non grata in the new Michael Kaye edition of the work.Dubosc is a good Nicklausse, though I preferred Tourangeau and the singer (I forget her name) from the Beecham film. Bacquier, with far less voice, is still predictably good as Crespel; the timeless Senechal is a classic Spalanzani; Ragon is an excellent Cochenille, not so memorable as Franz. (I miss Andrea Velis, the old Met comp, who was brilliant in these roles but was never recorded in them.) The other small roles range from excellent (Tezier as Schlemil) to poor (Juanita Lascarre as Stella).An ideal modern "Hoffmann" would have Elisabeth Vidal as Olympia, Hong as Antonia, Fleming as Giulietta, Alvarez as Hoffmann, Rene Pape as the three villains, and someone like Pappano or Plasson conducting.....but we can dream all we want. The era of complete opera recordings, according to many inside sources, is over as we know it--even the Bobby & Angela act is being shelved--so we must pick from what we have, and this is simply the finest over all "Hoffmann" on record, with Bonynge's being a good second choice, though I do not like Domingo's hard-voiced, beefy Hoffmann."

It's awful because of Alagna

Christopher | 04/16/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"He can't sing. He barks, he has little breath control and cannot sustain long notes, and there is no inflection to his performance marking different emotional states or the different points in Hoffmann's development. So it's a failure of voice as well as acting.



I wouldn't be surprised if Nagano's very rapid pacing was to hide Alagna's flaws. I like a faster paced "Hoffmann," and with the added material it's not only preferable but maybe necessary, but this is ridiculous, with no consideration for which passages should be slower, which should pick up the pace. It's as if an LP is being played halfway between the right and wrong speed. Certainly Van Dam sings in better voice on the Shicoff recording. I wonder if conductor and cast are doing their best to hide Alagna's weaknesses?



Everything else about the recording is fine. I agree that sound effects should have been included. I'm not sorry about the loss of "Scintille Diamant" and think the Sextet should have been cut as well. Not because there is a thing wrong with them. They are both beautiful. But the former is an interpolation Offenbach never intended for this opera, and the latter is a variation on the Barcarolle created years after Offenbach's death. They simply don't belong.



But it's all futile because Alagna spoils everything.

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