JANACEK SKD RICHTER - KATJA KABANOWA CD

SKU/Barcode: 881488604023

This is one of the most surprising and wholly unexpected discoveries in the pantheon of historical opera recordings: a recording of Jan cek's opera Katja Kabanova from a production prepared for the ruined, impoverished Dresden Staatsoper in August 1949, a mere month before the iron curtain fell upon East Germany. It comes from six early magnetophon tapes in the archives of Berlin radio; forgotten, it is about the only tape of its kind that wasn't "bulked" at some point or plundered by privateers. The sound quality is excellent; state of the art for 1949, and yet that is not the only thing that is so captivating about this Katja Kabanova. It demonstrates that the Dresden opera, despite its bombed-out building and practically non-existent budget, was in excellent shape musically in the years following World War II. The performance is led by giga-obscure conductor Ernst Richter, and this might be his only extant recording, as Richter died sometime in the early 1950s. Richter's control of the Dresden Staatskapelle is so secure and his phrasing so expressive that after hearing the recording one wonders if he had survived that we would still be talking in such exalted terms about his contemporaries Georg Solti and Herbert von Karajan as is the prevailing trend. The performers, too, are first-class -- and for many of them this Katja Kabanova is their sole representation, as the communist partition of East Germany led to several of them being declared "personae non gratae" under the Soviet-controlled state, effectively ending their careers. It is heartening that this tape remains to speak for the artistry of these performers, particularly as this production of Katja Kabanova was a flop -- Jan cek's serious and tragic property simply wasn't a vehicle compatible with the entertainment needs of war-weary, cash poor Dresdeners of 1949. Although interrupted at points by brief comments in German to help elucidate the plot for radio listeners, this performance of the opera is complete. Fifty-seven years after it was made, this recording of Katja Kabanova is finally released as the 16th entry in Profil's Staatskapelle Dresden Edition. The opera is presented in a superb German translation made by composer and amanuensis to Franz Kafka Max Brod; the text is sadly not included here, but the recording still might prove useful to those familiar with German who, nevertheless, find the Czech language impenetrable. The 40-page booklet does include notes in German and English and is illustrated generously with photographs, posters, and clippings relating to the original 1949 production. For enthusiasts of historical opera, Profil's Katja Kabanova is a must.