Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots / Sutherland, Arroyo, Tourangeau, Vrenios, Ghiuselev, Bacquier, NPO, Bonynge

A hundred years ago, Meyerbeer's operas were among the bread-and-butter staple of the world's most famous opera houses. Nowadays, all of them are rarities. There are various theories as to why these operas have disappeared from the repertoire--the difficulty of the music, the rise of Wagnerism, and so forth. Fortunately, the beautiful arias Meyerbeer wrote for these operas have at least kept the names of the works themselves in the mind of the public, and so the occasional performances that these operas receive are important and well publicized events in the music world.Of the half-dozen or so mature Meyerbeer operas that are still revived (the youthful works are mostly footnotes in the music history books), Les Huguenots is probably the most popular. Its several big arias have received many recordings and some have even made it to the cinema. Jeanette MacDonald's performance of the page's aria in the 1937 film Maytime is a classic, but not everybody knows that Marion Talley had beaten her to the punch by singing this same aria in her single film called Follow Your Heart, made in 1936 (she also performed part of the Act IV duet with tenor Michael Bartlett in the same film).Fans of this opera have mostly had to rely on private recordings, and fortunately there have been some very good ones, such as the 1962 La Scala and the 1971 Vienna performances, both of which however are cut. But Les Huguenots lovers have true reason to rejoice at the reissue of this recording originally released at the beginning of 1970, and which reunites the cast and conductor of the 1968 Covent Garden concert performance of the opera.I think the true star of this recording is conductor Richard Bonynge. Although his conducting can sometimes be less than incisive, I find him to be darn near perfect here, with the scene of the Blessing of the Swords being a particular standout.Among the singers, the most famous is easily Joan Sutherland as Queen Marguerite de Valois. Sutherland and her husband Bonynge were particular champions of the music of Meyerbeer, having recorded several of his arias in their two-LP set of French arias made around the same time as this recording. Fortunately, that French set and this Huguenots were made when Sutherland was at the top of her very considerable form. The only disappointing aspect is that Marguerite's role is not larger than it is. Of the opera's five acts, the Queen is only onstage for Act II and for a brief appearance at the end of Act III (her silent return at the very end of the opera does not matter for our purposes here). But this recording is a must for all Sutherland fans.Martina Arroyo has very good credentials for this kind of music, having, among other things, also appeared in the same composer's L'africaine in Vienna in 1977, of which there is a good-sounding private recording, and recorded Verdi's French grand opera Les vepres siciliennes in its standard Italian translation as I vespri siciliani for RCA Victor earlier in the decade. She is in very good form as Valentine, and the nearly complete recording fortunately reinstates her Act IV aria which is usually omitted in live performances, including the two I mentioned above. The principal contribution of Huguette Tourangeau as the page Urbain is another often-cut piece, the second-act aria "Non, non, non, vous n'avais jamais, je gage." Meyerbeer added this low-lying aria for Covent Garden contralto Marietta Alboni, whose voice was so deep that she sang the baritone role of Carlo at the first Covent Garden performance of Ernani, after the two men the company first invited to sing the role turned it down. Tourangeau's upper range is not that strong, and she and Sutherland sometimes trade lines in their Act II ensembles, but she is still very enjoyable.Perhaps the most controversial casting in this set is that of tenor Anastasios Vrenios as Raoul. Raoul is a pivotal role, being the only one of the seven leads to sing in each of the five acts, and is also a very difficult part for one tenor to encompass. For the first act and most of the second act, the role requires a lyric tenor suited to Donizetti's Don Pasquale; the second-act finale and the rest of the opera require a dramatic tenor of the kind who would be successful in Verdi's Il trovatore. Vrenios is definitely the former, and so he sensitively sings Raoul's first-aria "Plus blanche," and admirably partners Sutherland in the second-act duet "Beaute divine," which is often trimmed so much as to become almost a soprano solo. Vrenios doesn't really have enough voice to cope with the heavier music of the rest of the opera, although his enthusiasm is always in evidence. Both he and Arroyo are somewhat cavalier in their treatment of the French text.Nicola Ghiuselev displays a gruff Slavic bass which is more than appropriate for the crusty old retainer Marcel. In the less showy parts of Saint-Bris and Nevers, Gabriel Bacquier and Dominic Cossa are always adequate.There are some very minor cuts in the opera, mostly in the third act. Interestingly, the legendary Mapleson cylinder of the third-act finale made live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera at the turn of the last century contains a little extra music that is not in this recording.Each recording of Les Huguenots that I have heard has something to add to my enjoyment and appreciation of the opera. Still, this recording is my first choice. Highly recommended.

We're about 40 years now I've had a interest in Meyerbeer shop press this opera totally mesmerized me as I was listening to it for the first time I love the finale of it back to him after the first time the listening through it I can't play in the finale over and over and over again very exciting I recommend this to anyone that is interested in great great singing! A grand performance I don't French grand Opera not to be missed!!

The many strengths of this performance are well known and recounted elsewhere. Sutherland is magnificent and unmatchable by anyone! Arroyo is powerful and strong, while Huguette Tourangeau has a rich, vibrant voice which excels in this music. The lower voiced men are excellent, from Ghiuselev's Marcel, to Bacquier's St. Bris and Cossa's Nevers (Cossa was in particularly good voice, and this shows what a fine singer he was). Bonynge paces the performance superbly, and it is well nigh complete, with only a few minor cuts here and there. The Erato/Warner recording is also excellent, and it certainly comes close in excitement and vocal excellence to this Decca recording, although Sutherland is, again, "hors concours," and Richard Leech is an excellent Raoul, perhaps the best on complete recordings with the exception of Nicolai Gedda on the heavily cut (though all the key parts are there) version on Myto and Opera D'Oro. But, I really would like to take a moment and talk about Vrenios. I have listened to this recording twice in the past three weeks and followed it with the score. Vrenios has come in for a great deal of abuse from the critics (both amateur and professional), but a thorough listening to his work almost 50 years later (amazing, isn't it, how time flies by) offers much cause for re-evaluation of this more than competent effort -- and believe me, it is NO embarrassment indeed! Vrenios has a basically light lyrical voice, smooth and well produced. Although not as lyrical as Gedda's or as smooth yet emphatic as Leech's, Vrenios's voice is clear, on pitch, well projected, and enjoyable. Gedda and Leech, as lyric tenors, are the only ones with whom we can make fair comparisons, as Corelli and Lauri-Volpi have giant, loud voices which skip much of the coloratura, bulldoze their way through the melodies, and bawl out the high notes. That being said, let's look at Vrenios's performance. Firstly, he sings all the notes, including the coloratura and the high notes (some of which he sings from the chest, and others of which are in "voix mixte"). They are on pitch and the singing is well phrased. As you listen, you will hear that he does a better than creditable job with this extremely difficult role. If you look at the tenors who were recording actively in 1969 or so (Gedda, Corelli, Bergonzi, del Monaco [late career], Domingo [early career] and occasionally Tucker) you'll note that none of them, except for Gedda, are really right for Raoul. And, other than Gedda, who wasn't contracted for this recording, none of them have done major work in the French language (Corelli's French recordings are not notable for good French).So, Vrenios, who was willing to learn the role in French, sing it correctly and then record it for an international label is due a great deal of credit. This is a solid, well sung, good performance which we would be happy to hear at any time. His solos are lovely to hear, and, in the duets, he matches more than competently, indeed, he does finely, with both Sutherland and Arroyo, even though their voices are bigger than his. And, in the big ensembles, he finds and holds his place well, studious and strong, never wavering from the difficulty of the music or the amount of voice needed. Even when he is underpowered by "Corelli standards," this is a performance from which one should not shirk, but should enjoy!!! Kudos to Mr. Vrenios!!!! Let us appreciate his skill and talent, and not belittle it because he doesn't sound like Corelli or Gedda. After all, how many of the people who criticized his work could do half or even a quarter as well. Again, thanks Anastasios Vrenios!!

prompte Lieferung, alles stimmte, sehr gut!

Dopo molti anni e' ancora l'edizione di riferimento. Ottima la direzione che si avvale di validi cantanti eccezion fatta per il personaggio di Raoul. Anche la resa sonora e' molto buona.

Es una lástima que una ópera tan sumamente popular en su tiempo, sea hoy en día una rareza y por tanto no haya mucho dónde elegir. Ésta es la única grabación de estudio que existe de la gran obra de Meyerbeer. Si bien es algo más corta que la versíon en vivo de Diederich, la toma de sonido es bastante buena y contamos con el atractivo de escuchar a Sutherland en el breve pero intenso y difícil rol de Margarita de Valois, si bien la gran protagonista de esta ópera es Martina Arroyo en el papel de Valentine. El resto de los están a la altura (destacando el Raoul de Vrenios) y el bajo Ghiuselev en el rol de Marcel.Buena relación calidad precio y además incluye el libreto, traducido al inglés y un resumen de la trama traducido en cuatro idiomas (inglés, alemán, francés e italiano. Echo en falta un artículo presentando la obra y el contexto histórico de Meyerbeer y su entorno.En definitiva, Los hugonotes es un título clave y una de las obras más representativos de la Grand-Opéra Francesa que debería estar más presente en los escenarios. Tiene una gran riqueza de melodías, un argumento atractivo que habla sobre el fanatismo religioso, una historia de amor imposible, coloraturas y grandes escenas corales.

I can endorse almost all of the praise heaped on this recording by previous reviewers e.g. glorious music wonderfully sung by a truly stellar cast. [A young Kiri te Kanawa has a bit part!] It is brilliantly played and recorded. Considering that the libretto is by the great Eugene Scribe I found its more trite and saccharine moments grated on me. Perhaps it was just the ungenial subject matter ( the St Bartholomew Massacre in Paris in 1572) that was the problem.As no one else has mentioned it I wanted to put on record that although Joan Sutherland gets star billing for the recording her part - marvellously sung - is relatively small. The REAL star is Martina Arroyo who dominates the set in absolutely glorious, refulgent voice.

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