By BL71556
03-Sep-2009

Auber - a delight  

It seems that history has all but forgotten the works of Daniel Francois Esprit Auber. Fortunately Arthur Fiedler saw fit to commit to vinyl the Overtures from some of his more popular Operas. A prolific composer in his time and well loved by the Paris community, where he was Director of the Paris Opera, Auber was accredited as the father of Opera Comique. For me the real pleasure of his music comes with some of the individual arias within these Operas rather than with the Overtures. The age of 'bel canto' was expressed to perfection by Auber with arias such as "Ferme tes Yeux" from La muette de Portici, Act IV (ClassicsOnline Opera Rara ORR221). The recording quality in the present Fiedler recording is surprisingly good for the times (1947) with the higher pitches particularly well reproduced. At times the clarity of the bass is less than acceptable, with a booming resonance. But that is excusable given the restraints of the recording media at the time. For a better quality recording of the Overtures I highly recommend Auber: Overtures and Rare Ballets [IMPORT], B Tommy Andersson, Conductor, Gothenburg Opera Orchestra. But for an introduction to Auber's engaging musical style there is much to enjoy in the Fiedler performance on this disk.
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