Lisa Graf

In contrast to Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky s other operas have led something of a shadowy existence in the repertoire. Only his penultimate music drama The Queen of Spades (also after Alexander Pushkin) can claim to look back on a continuous performing tradition in recent decades. In 1984 the Bavarian State Opera gave a production that was musically exemplary in many ways, starting with the role of Lisa, sung by Julia Varady.

Domenico Cimarosas erfolgreiches Werk „Die heimliche Ehe“ gehört eigentlich zu seinen bekanntesten Opern und doch ist sie, wie viele seiner anderen Kompositionen, so unbekannt. Am Abend der Uraufführung in Wien am 7. Februar 1792 musste sie auf Befehl des Kaisers Leopold II. sogar komplett wiederholt werden. Lorin Maazel führte in seiner ersten Spielzeit als Generalmusikdirektor der Deutschen Oper Berlin die selten gespielte Oper am 23. November 1965 in der Inszenierung von Rudolf Sellner auf. In der 100-jährigen Geschichte des Deutschen Opernhauses Berlin war es die erste und einzige Produktion von Cimarosas Oper.

The pearl of great price: the German tenor who could make you wish to retract all you ever thought, wrote or spoke about the species, the Mozart tenor who could sound both elegant and manly, the singer who could almost persuade you that Strauss loved the tenor voice as he did the soprano. We hear Wunderlich in this collection additionally as Rossini’s Almaviva, scrupulous with his triplets and almost as careful with his scales. His “Il mio tesoro” drops not a semiquaver and takes the long phrases with confident ease.

Based on Alexander Pushkin’s renowned but rather grim short story about human avarice and obsession this concert performance of The Queen of Spades brings the work to life. Renowned as a concert orchestra the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks has relished the opportunity of giving opera performances under conductors such as Rafael Kubelik and Leonard Bernstein. Thankfully chief conductor Mariss Jansons is upholding that tradition. In recent years it has become customary for many orchestras include a concert performance of an opera or an oratorio in its programme each season; a trend that I hope continues.