Ildiko Komlosi

László Polgár, Ildiko Komlosi, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer – Bartók: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11 (2003/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:25 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca

“Bartók’s wrote his only opera, the one-act Duke Bluebeard’s Castle in 1911, but it didn’t receive its premiere until May 24, 1918 in a concert shared with the composer’s The Wooden Prince. Bluebeard’s plot is about the ill-fated Judith who, in spite of warnings, marries Duke Bluebeard and goes with him to his ominous castle where she finds seven locked doors. Judith insists on unlocking each one, finding behind them a torture chamber, an armoury, a treasury, a garden, Bluebeard’s empire, a lake of tears and, behind the seventh door, Bluebeard’s three previous wives, not dead, but immortal. Judith then joins the other wives behind the seventh door. Bluebeard’s Castle had undergone a number of revisions before the premiere and contains some of the composer’s most imaginative music. There have been many superb recordings, particularly Ferenc Fricsay’s slightly-cut stereo version from 1958, Istvan Kertész’ 1965 Decca recording, and, most recently, Bernard Haitink’s with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI. Audio buffs always have treasured this score for its grand opening of the Fifth Door with its smashing high ‘C’ for the soprano accompanied by heavy brass, percussion and organ. This new Philips recording is magnificent in every way. Conductor Ivàn Fischer reads the brief Prologue (in Hungarian, of course), and both singers are outstanding. The Bartók archives in Budapest have discovered some errors in the printed score all of which have been corrected in this recording, and the Budapest State Opera loaned the very rare keyboard xylophone which is heard to great effect in the torture chamber sequence. Hein Dekker was recording producer. He and his staff did a magnificent job in creating a totally natural, rich concert hall perspective with a perfect balance between singers and orchestra.”
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