Sunday Classics preview: Music by Humperdinck, Saint-Saëns, and Prokofiev -- it's pretty obvious what they have in common, isn't it?

There's lots of Hansel and Gretel material on YouTube, but mostly it ranges from repellent on down; it's hard to say which is more hateful, the misguided professional or the inept amateur efforts. Let's be grateful for this chunk of the lip-synched Unitel film directed by August Everding to a prerecorded soundtrack conducted by Georg Solti. It's musically alive, vocally strong, and staged without resort to kitsch. In the opening scene, Hansel (Brigitte Fassbaender) and Gretel (Editá Gruberová), who are supposed to be making brooms and knitting, respectively, are crashingly bored and search desperately for a way to amuse themselves.

by Ken

Let's get right to the music, by (the real) Engelbert Humperdinck.

HUMPERDINCK: Hansel and Gretel

Overture; Prayer and Dream Pantomime (orchestra only)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded September 1960

Let me say straight out that I hated Hansel and Gretel as a kid, an antipathy that wasn't easily overcome but finally gave way in the face of the opera's staggering beauty -- Wagnerian methods and orchestral textures beautifully scaled to this folklike setting, with a good deal of really beautiful vocal writing. (I'm sorry I don't have the Eurodisc recordeing conducted by Kurt Eichhorn on CD. In addition to being an all-around terrific performance, it features some of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's most wonderful recorded singing as the Father, and one of Christa Ludwig's most memorable recorded performances as the Witch.) But enough talk. Let's hear a little more of Hansel.

Overture
Dresden State Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1992

Act I, "A witch, old as stone, dwells deep in the woods"; Act II opening, The Witches' Ride

[The Father, returning home in high spirits after a spectacular day's sales of the housewares he makes, is horrified to learn that the Mother, at wits' end from the children's antics, has sent Hansel and Gretel off into the woods, to the Ilsenstein. Thereabouts, he explains, dwells the Nibblewitch. NOTE: The Hansel translations are (mostly) by Avril Bardoni for Decca.]

FATHER: As old as the rocks, in the deep wood dwells
a witch by the devil empowered with spells.
At midnight, when no one's awake beside,
she sallies forth on the witches' ride.
From the witches' stack
on her broomstick, alack,
over hill and dale,
o'er chasm and vale,
through rain and hail
on the wings of the gale;
thus they ride, thus they ride,
tally-ho, the witches!
MOTHER: Dreadful! But the nibblewitch!
FATHER: All day she waits
with her magic cakes
by her crispy-crunchy cottage gatesm
the children to lure within her door
and bake them fit for the witches' maw.
With evil glee she grabs while he
stands nibbling sweeties happily.
The hot oven glows
and -- push! -- in he goes,
to emerge when he's done
as a brown sticky bun,
from the oven, the oven
come gingerbread children!
MOTHER: And the gingerbread children?
FATHER: They're eaten!
MOTHER: By the witch?
FATHER: By the witch!
MOTHER [wringing her hands]: Horrible!
Heaven help us! The poor children!
I can't bear it any longer!
[She runs out of the house.]
FATHER [snatching the liquor bottle from the table]:
Hey, Mother, wait, don't leave me here!
We'll both go to the witches' lair!
[He hurries after her. The curtain falls abruptly.]

Siegmund Nimsgern (b), Peter (the Father); Christa Ludwig (ms), Gertrud (the Mother); Gürzenich Orchestra (Cologne), Sir John Pritchard, cond. CBS/Sony, recorded 1978

Act II, Sandman's Song; Prayer and Dream Pantomime

[The little man approaches the children with friendly gestures and they gradually lose their fear. He throws sand in their eyes.]

THE SANDMAN: The little Sandman am I, sh!
No ill intentions have I, sh!
I love you children dearly, sh!
And care for you sincerely, sh!
Two grains of magic sand I shake
upon your eyes, now scarce awake;
so by themselves they gently close
to give you rest and sweet repose.
And if you're good and really sleeping tight,
the stars will then appear
in Heaven's farthest sphere
and angels bring you dreams of sweet delight!
So dream, my children, dream away,
and angels bring you dreams of sweet delight!
[He vanishes.]
HANSEL [very sleepily]: The Sandman was here!
GRETEL [also very sleepily]: Let's recite our evening prayer.

[They kneel down and fold their hands.]

BOTH: When at night I go to sleep,
fourteen angels watch do keep --
two at my head,
two at my feet,
two on my right,
two on my left,
two that cover me,
two that wake me,
two that guide me
to Heaven's paradise.

DREAM PANTOMIME [I'll spare you the official pantomime scenario, and leave you to imagine something less cloying -- and less idiotically insulting than you'll see in the average opera house.]

Rosemary Joshua (s), the Sandman; Jennifer Larmore (ms), Hansel; Ruth Ziesak (s), Grtetel; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles, cond. Teldec, recorded February 1994

* * *

Now we turn to music of openly didactic intent, showcasing the individual instruments of the orchestra. This is what we're going to be mostly concerned with tomorrow, so let's just sneak some peeks.

SAINT-SAËNS: Carnival of the Animals: "The Swan"

Gary Karr, double bass; Ruth and Naomi Segal, pianos; (New York Philharmonic,) Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Apr. 9, 1962

"The Swan" was, famously, written as a cello solo but is played here -- to the horror of one Amazon commenter -- on the double bass by the then-18-year-old Gary Karr. Getting this kind of legato and tonal beauty out of the double bass seems to me pretty astonishing. Still, if you want cello, here's Misha Maisky from an all-star recording of Carnival.

Misha Maisky, cello; Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos. Teldec, recorded December 1996

And if you really want cello, here -- in 1915 -- is the already-38-year-old Pablo Casals:

Pablo Casals, cello; Charles A. Baker, piano. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 24, 1915

SAINT-SAËNS: Carnival of the Animals: "The Elephant"

Meanwhile here, 34 years after recording "The Swan" with Leonard Bernstein, is double bassist Gary Karr playing "The Elephant."

Gary Karr, double bass; Marielle Labèque, piano. BMG, recorded December 1996

* * *

PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf: Introduction

Jose Ferrer, narrator; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens, cond. Kapp/MCA, recorded 1959


IN TOMORROW'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

Lots more of Peter and the Wolf, along with Carnival of the Animals and Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.

#