Leonore

Antoine Dauvergne s final operatic work follows none of the established genres of the period. Taking a libretto written during the reign of Louis XIV in 1705, he drew on the best of his talent and skill to create a synthesis of everything that was modern at that time.

At the dawn of a new century when André Campra was busy writing his Carnaval de Venise (1699), was the composer aware that he would be passing onto the Académie Royale de Musique a fabulous and legendary work that would remain without successors? And whilst the court of the ageing Louis XIV was endeavouring to conserve the spirit of the Grand Siècle at Versailles, Paris was already humming with the new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment.

This hugely successful opera, heard and admired by Mozart during his sojourn in France, began a new kind of French musical drama. Glorious orchestral colours and wickedly witty ensemble pieces reveal striking musical and dramatic ideas, embracing the daring new ideals of the Enlightenment, while laying bare the innermost thoughts and feelings of the characters in a way that would inspire Mozart’s partnership with his librettist da Ponte. Mistaken identity, mysterious strangers, true love, duels and a happy ending!

“The immediacy of expression, the dramatic tension and the vitality achieved not only by the singers but also by the full-throated chorus, the wonderful orchestra and, last but not least, Karl Böhm himself all set standards by which other performances must be judged and found wanting.” So sayeth the liner notes to this first official release of the original broadcast tapes of the Fidelio that reopened the Vienna State Opera in 1955.

Solti's interpretations held more than surface excitement. In conducting Beethoven, for example, he long held that the symphonies should be played with all their repeats to maintain their structural integrity, and he carefully rethought his approach to tempo, rhythm, and balance in those works toward the end of his life. Solti began as a pianist, commencing his studies at age six and making his first public appearance at 12. When he was 13 he enrolled at Budapest's Franz Liszt Academy of Music, studying piano mainly with Dohnányi and, for a very short time, Bartók. He also took composition courses with Kodály.

The performance of Leonore Overture No. 3 tells you what to expect: the wonderfully flowing introduction, organically related to the tempo of the ensuing allegro, establishes a chamber-music-like balance between strings and winds. Brass and timpani cut through clearly, but never forcefully. The main body of the movement is fleet and graceful, yet also lacking in rhetorical emphasis and the kind of grandeur that many listeners prefer. David Zinman clearly takes his cues from the period-instrument crowd, but he also takes advantage of modern timbral smoothness to achieve singularly beautiful results. While you may not like the comparative dearth of weight, there’s no question that the orchestra fully realizes his approach, and it is excellently recorded to boot.