Kulka Kraus

The fourth of d'Albert's twenty operas, "Die Abreise" ("The Departure") was premiered in 1898 at Frankfurt. In a single 40 minute act, its story is very slender indeed. A man (Gilfen) suspects his wife (Luise) of being unfaithful to him with a friend (Trott) so pretends to go away on a journey. Returning "unexpectedly" he finds Luise rejecting the advances of Trott who is summarily ejected. A reconciliation between Gilfen and Luise ensues.

Joseph Martin Kraus has made one of the most impressive comebacks of any composer belonging to an age as distant as his is to the twenty-first century. Though two centuries would pass between his death in 1792 and the eventual revival of his music, within the space of roughly a decade Kraus' 200 or so surviving compositions have practically all been recorded. Carus Verlag in Stuttgart is publishing a critical edition of Kraus' chamber music that does not involve the piano, and in connection with that publication, the newly minted Salagon Quartett has recorded five of Kraus' 10 string quartets for Carus Verlag's in-house label. Six of Kraus' quartets appeared in an early print as his Opus 1 and four others exist in manuscript; in 1992, the Joseph Martin Kraus String Quartet was founded out of the ranks of Concerto Köln to record them all for Cavalli Records.

A mixture of utterly trad folk and country tunes with some hipsterish indie touches, The Black Dove is uneven, but it works more often than it doesn't. The songs sung by Sharron Kraus, a British folksinger whose voice bears comparison both to U.K. folk icons like June Tabor and American country singers like Gillian Welch, fit uneasily against those featuring Christian Kiefer's hushed bedroom-rock murmur. Imagine Norma Waterson collaborating with Elliott Smith and the parameters of the project's influences will become clear, as well as its flaws. However, the songs featuring Kraus are uniformly excellent, as are the atmospheric instrumental interludes between songs, which occasionally recall Dolly Collins' fantasias for harmonium on her albums with sister Shirley. Kiefer's whispery material, which works better on his solo records, simply sounds out of place in these surroundings.

The Metropolitan Opera performance of Lucia Di Lammermoor features Joan Sutherland in a triumphant return to the Met after a four year absence. Dame Joan gives a performance of astounding facility and musical sensitivity. Gaetano Donizetti's tragic masterpiece is based on Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Bride of Lammermoor, a brooding tale of love, murder, and vengeance set in seventeenth-century Scotland. Taped live in its entirety on November 13, 1982.

Nordic classicism and excellent performances by Mikael Helasvuo and the Rantatie Quartet. Kraus's lush and sensual flute quintet turns out to be like Mozart's flute quartets.

Twelve symphonies by Kraus have been preserved. Many more are mentioned in letters and notes by Kraus and others, but it is difficult to ascertain which of these have disappeared completely or which have perhaps been assimilated into works we know in some other form. Almost invariably his symphonies consist of three movements, without the traditional minuet. It is possible that Kraus found that its dance character did not suit the dignified style of his writing.