Search - Nikolaus Harnoncourt :: Gershwin: Porgy & Bess

Varese and Berg, or Porgy and Bess?

Musicfiend76 | Seattle, WA | 11/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let's be honest. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, a Habsburg, seemed like a poor candidate to conduct this opera. I was expecting a turgid, uptight performance that would confirm Harnoncourt doesn't "got rhythm". And while I agree with the previous reviewer that Porgy and Bess themselves are not on a par with the greatest exponents of the roles, the mostly South African cast is up to the task overall. (It's a shame that Measha Bruggergosman was in hospital instead of onstage - she was originally slated to be Bess - but we should be thankful that she's alive to perform at all!)



To echo the previous reviewer again, this really is Harnoncourt's show. The performance itself is obviously cleaner than the 1952 recording from Berlin, with less of the "gutsy" feeling (and yes, less of the natural swing) of that performance - but it's really a question of apples and oranges. Harnoncourt's understanding of the piece seems predicated on the knowledge that Gershwin admired the music of Alban Berg, and actually requested to take composition lessons with him. This is a European/modernist slant that I've never heard before, emphasized by the inclusion of a long introduction to Act III/3 which could have been composed by Edgard Varese. I don't drop these names lightly - this introduction (which Harnoncourt says has never been performed before) includes what sounds like pre-recorded tape, bizarre sounds (bowed percussion?) and complex rhythmic passages for pitched and unpitched percussion that sounds almost exactly like "Ionisation". And much of the harmony and counterpoint is shot through with the flavor of Berg - think a tuneful "Lulu" and you've got the idea. It's certainly not a traditional performance! But neither is it as perverse as I had expected.



Here is a take on this masterpiece that I'd never imagined, and Gershwin's ability to synthesize all these elements reveals him as perhaps the greatest musical genius of the 20th century. Harnoncourt the iconoclast has done it again."

Don't laugh, but Harnoncourt deserves his top billing

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems more than faintly comical: the scowling Nikolaus Harnoncourt, soon t turn eighty, conducting Porgy and Bess? In Graz with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe? And yet the result is utterly gripping, by far the most energetic, theatrical Porgy on disc. Where other conductors have failed to find the right tone for Gershwin's folk opera -- or magnificent musical -- Harnoncourt miraculously gives us big voices like Jonathan Lemalu's as Porgy, while not letting them slip into operatic mannerisms. Simon Rattle, leading a Glyndebourne production directed by Trebor Nuunn, was hailed for his pitch-perfect grasp of this music, but he's plodding and polite compared to Harnoncourt's razor-sharp, dangerous conducting. You feel the extremes of desperation, violence, and fear that run through life in Catfish Row, but the joy and vitality of that life aren't shortchanged. A truly murderous Crown could have stepped out of a crack house, yet POrgy isn't made into a pasteboard saint. Much credit is due to the minor actors and chorus, who create a constantly vibrant backdrop for the principal singers.



All of this is such good news that I'm sorry to report that neither Porgy nor Bess is first rate. Lemalu is rather neutral and faceless. We don't love him the way Louis Armstrong made himself lovable in a jazzy, scaled down rendition with Ella Fitzgerald, neither of whom could have managed the role in an opera house, of course. Despite his big voice, Lemalu doesn't manage to sound imposing, as William Warfield did. As fir Isabelle Kabatu's Bess, her soprano is dark and a bit muffled, and lacking in charisma. Rattle's set surpasses this one in having Willard White and Cynthia Haymon, but to be frank both of them were more than a touch too operatic. Warfield and his Bess from fifty years ago, Leontyne Price, remain the top Porgy and Bess. In every other regard, however, Harnoncourt races ahead of every rival I've ever heard, including the recent Mauceri version and those under Maazel (Decca) and John DeMain on RCA's once-famous set derived from the Houston Grand Opera.



Anyone who loves this unique work and dreams of an ideal modern cast should have a listen. Harnoncourt has managed a remarkable thing to translate Gershwin into Graz."

The Not So Definitive Porgy

Ronald P. Martin | 03/10/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Harnoncourt's attempt to present a definitive Porgy and Bess disappoints. This is because he makes injudicious cuts, all of which diminish the tragedy and simplify the main characters, who seem as a consequence less full-rounded, even two-dimensional. For instance, Harnoncourt does away with much of the dialogue leading to the duet "What You Want Wid Bess" (Act II, scene 2), where Crown sings, "Yo sho got funny taste in men but dat's your business, I ain't care who you takes up wid when I's away..." (the lyrical, virile music accompanying this shows Crown to be quite human; with the passage removed, he comes across as a brutal villain). But even more egregious is Harnoncourt's elimination of important dialogue prior to the duet "I Loves You, Porgy" (Act II, scene 3), beginning with Porgy's despairing, "You ain' got nuttin' to be afraid of. I ain' try to keep no woman that don't want to stay. If you want to go to Crown, dat's for you to say" and leading to Bess's ravishing arioso, "I wants to stay here, but I ain't worthy, you is too decent to understand...but when he (Crown) calls, I know I have to go." The latter, for me, is one of the most achingly beautiful passages in all of opera, and I do not find Harnoncourt's rationale for excluding it convincing at all.



For the 1935 New York premiere the composer gave his consent to the cuts taken by Harnoncourt, but the matter is not so simple. Rouben Mamoulian, the director of the original production, had a less tragic vision for the opera and put considerable pressure on Gershwin to make Porgy less nuanced and more accesible to the audience of his day. Still, Gershwin loved every note, and some of his most mature and most expressive ideas were removed from the working manuscript. Thankfully, the published score includes all of the music Gershwin wrote. This is the score Maazel and Rattle use in their recordings.



Another point: Howard Pollack, whose book George Gershwin: His Life and Work is indispensible, talks about the almost symphonic structure of Porgy and Bess. If the cuts are taken, the opera comes across as a less convincing musical structure, with weak development and transitions; the opera seems more like a musical; and one walks away with the impression that Gershwin was something of a musical naif--which he decidedly was not.



I could list many other unfortunate deletions (particularly missed is much of the music of the final scene, where Porgy is distributing gifts). And while Harnoncourt does include Porgy's tragic aria, "Buzzard Song," this is little consolation. It's such a disappointment, really, because in many ways Harnoncourt has a handle on the Gershwin style--listen, for instance, to his take on the "Pagan Dance" leading to "It Ain't Necessarily So" (you can sample it at You Tube). Harnoncourt's orchestra here and throughout is precise, lean, and rhythmically pointed, in keeping with Gershwin's own performance standards. It's just that the opera seems to have been eviscerated. Too much essential material is missing.



Porgy and Bess is one of the great treasures of 20th century music. Stick with Rattle or Maazel. They satisfy where Harnoncourt only frustrates."