<\/p>
Sonya Yoncheva (soprano); Orchestre Symphonique de Montr\u00e9al\/Rafael Payare<\/p>
Pentatone PTC5187201\u00a0\u00a0 64:15 mins<\/p>
Having experienced Rafael Payare\u2019s faceless Strauss in a 2018 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra concert (Don Juan and Don Quixote), I feared the worst for this recording. This Heldenleben has its moments, but there are still too many bland, underphrased and inflexible sequences, the opening included. The conductor\u2019s words about this tongue-in-cheek \u2018Hero\u2019s Life\u2019 in the booklet don\u2019t include the crucial word \u2018humour\u2019, and real exuberance is in short supply.<\/p>
At least the Montreal Symphony Orchestra is on fine form: leader Andrew Wan turns in a vivid portrait of the \u2018Hero\u2019s Helpmate\u2019, and an eloquent bassoon solo ushers in more fine woodwind work in the \u2018Works of Peace\u2019 where Strauss makes a tapestry out of his most memorable themes to date. There are some effective crescendos and a brilliant battle, much helped by superb recorded balance, but the \u2018Withdrawal from the World\u2019, though sensitively quiet, lacks inner life to its long lines. It\u2019s fascinating to hear an opera diva, Sonya Yoncheva, in Mahler\u2019s R\u00fcckert Lieder. <\/p>
The voice can be unhelpfully cloudy for the clarity needed in the texts, and gives us a bumpy ride in \u2018Liebst du um Sch\u00f6nheit\u2019 (\u2018If you love for beauty\u2019). However, it opens out with rich operatics to fine effect in \u2018Um Mitternacht\u2019, the song so often (rightly, in my opinion) described as the most beautiful in the world. \u2018Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen\u2019 (\u2018I have become lost to the world\u2019), has fine phrasing and intensity when needed. Like Payare\u2019s conducting, it\u2019s not idiomatic, but it is worth a listen.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
By David Nice Published: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 11:08 AM Sonya Yoncheva (soprano); Orchestre Symphonique de Montr\u00e9al\/Rafael Payare Pentatone PTC5187201\u00a0\u00a0 64:15 mins Having experienced Rafael Payare\u2019s faceless Strauss in a 2018 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra concert (Don Juan and Don Quixote), I feared the worst for this recording. This Heldenleben has its moments, but there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40833,"template":"","categories":[1,82,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder.png",898,896,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder-768x766.png",768,766,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder.png",800,798,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder.png",898,896,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/r-strauss-ein-heldenleben-mahler-ruckert-lieder.png",898,896,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By David Nice Published: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 11:08 AM Sonya Yoncheva (soprano); Orchestre Symphonique de Montr\u00e9al\/Rafael Payare Pentatone PTC5187201\u00a0\u00a0 64:15 mins Having experienced Rafael Payare\u2019s faceless Strauss in a 2018 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra concert (Don Juan and Don Quixote), I feared the worst for this recording. This Heldenleben has its moments, but there…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}