September 3, 2018

• New Chamber Opera by Walter Steffens

  Two Cells in Sevilla
  Sonja Bruzauskas, mezzo; Todd R. Miller, tenor;
  Octavio Moreno, bass; Benjamin LeClair, baritone;
  Greenbriar Consortium/David Kirk
  Tali Margulis, piano.
  Navona Records 6174
  Total Time:  50:34
  Recording:   ****/****
  Performance: ****/****

  Navona steps into the realm of contemporary opera with this new release of a brief chamber opera composed by Walter Steffens (b. 1934) with libretto by his son, Marec Bela Steffens.  The father studied with composer Philip Jarnach and later taught at the Hochschule fur Musik in Detmold, Germany.  He is noted for his operas and a tendency to base his work on literary sources or paintings.  In the latter case, he has written some 80 pieces inspired by the visual image.  The current chamber opera was part of a Theatre Forum at the Round Top Festival Institute exploring the Golden Age of theater in Renaissance Spain and England (2016).  The chamber opera was one of the forum’s highlights and was premiered at the forum in a production also supported by the Greenbriar Consortium (featured in this recording).

  Two Cells in Sevilla, or: Don Quixote is Hungry, Op. 106 (2016) revolves around a cook whose job it is to feed a cloistered monk, and a nobleman in debtor’s prison.  When they discover she loves to read and the two set out to write stories for her with the characters Don Juan and Don Quixote figuring prominently.  The music is an interesting semi-tonal style with the winds adding interesting color to the general sound.  In the opening, the male leads are pleading their case in moaning style.  The orchestral accompaniment adds some aid for pitch location by the singers as it creates interesting sinuous lines against the unfolding story.  Soloists here acquit themselves well in this otherwise dark work exploring new takes on some classic literary characters.

  The album concludes with the intriguing Five Songs on Holderlin, Op. 95 (2008).  These modern German lieder are based on the poetry of one of the leading influences on German Romanticism, Friedrich Holderlin (1770-1843).  These are equally bleak little settings with dark harmonies in the opening “Hypersion’s Song of Fate”.  They each have a rather eerie, lyrical quality that provides some additional contrast to the opera setting which precedes it.  There is an equally delicate balance of pain and beauty in these settings.  Also fascinating is the way the accompaniment helps create the mood against the often beautiful lyric shape of the soloist.  Note that the German texts are used here.

  Texts for the libretto and songs can be downloaded from the Navona album page for this release.  Less necessary for the opera, though it can help keep clear characters the first time through.  The chamber opera proves to be an interesting exploration of Renaissance themes in contemporary musical language.  The song cycle here is the work that will stand out though and might be worth listening to first to help get a better sense of Steffen’s style.

   

   

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