A symphonic opera
P. SIMPSON | North Yorkshire, United Kingdom | 04/10/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you love the Nielsen symphonies, then you'll probably love Saul and David, even if you don't love opera. The music is as organic, powerful and noble as, say, the 3rd or fourth symphonies. This performance is also marvellous. I used to have the Horenstein recording, but apart from having a russian lead attempting english (instead of danish) the recording itself was severely constricted in climaxes. Not so here, where the drama is supported by a ripe, romantic recording that sweeps you along with the music. Even Anne Gjevang sounds good (and I normally cant stand her)whilst the Saul of Aage Haugland is simply outstanding. Once you've listened once, you'll listen again. Then, try out Nielsen's other opera Maskarade, - as different from Saul and David as you could possibly get, but eqiually marvellous."
A relatively unknown gem by Carl Nielsen
RS | 12/15/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When people are asked who a great operatic composer might be, Carl Nielsen rarely is the first name that comes to their lips. For the few that might know of his skill as an operatic composer, it is the very classical comic opera, Maskarade, that comes to mind. So what about "the other Nielsen Opera"? To be honest, it is extremely different from the more popular Maskerade. While Maskarade is in a somewhat classical style, Saul og David is in a very romantic style, full of emotional outbursts. It is a biblical tragedy through and through, expressed in both the plot and the music, with the music backing up the words greatly. Take the libretto (included in Danish-English) and play the sixth track, "Kunde jeg rejse mig mod dig" (Could I raise myself against you) and see how Nielsen's music follows the internal conflict within Saul. The nobility and creativity that is present in Nielsen's orchestral works is present here as well, and I would go as far as to say I prefer it to Maskarade.
But, supposing you are familiar with the work, or have already decided you definitely want it, that is not what you are looking for in a review, I suppose. Well, the main competition here is with the Horenstein recording, and, while I have only heard a few tracks I downloaded with the Amazon MP3 downloader, plus the sound samples on Amazon, I can assure you, this is the better recording. While the other is not bad, I think I prefer the more dramatic tempi of this recording, the untranslated version of the opera, and especially the wonderful singers. The tenors, Peter Lindgroos (David) and Kurt Westi (Jonathan) are truly wonderful, so much, in fact, that I am surprised that I have not seen more of them. Simply listen to "Israels dotre, o graeder for Saul" to see the talent of the former, and the way both tenors fearlessly and flawlessly ascend to whatever high notes they are confronted with. Both have a very heroic quality. As for the basses,the opera's main character, Saul, is sung by Aage Haugland, and he does a good job of getting through the emotion in Saul's part (as in "Samuel, hjaelp mig at do"). Truly, no singers do truly badly in this production, but those are he highlights of the cast, I think.
While no recording is perfect, there are no flaws in this recording that truly bother me when I listen to it. One thing that may appeal to some of you is that it comes with a libretto book with information in English-German-French and libretto in Danish-English."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1
