Wiener Singakademie - Dvořák: The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69 (Live) (2017)

There could be the dramatic skeleton of an opera lurking beneath the cantata veneer of The Spectre’s Bride, Dvořák’s choral work which was commissioned for the 1885 Birmingham festival but first tried out in the Bohemian city of Pilsen a few months earlier. Based on a poem by Karel Jaromír Erben, about a young girl who is abducted by a ghost she believes to be the spirit of her lover, it was first called The Bride’s Chemise - but that was altered to the title by which it’s known today so as not to upset Victorian sensibilities.

The sequence of 18 solo and choral numbers outlines a taut trajectory, with the wild nocturnal ride on which the spectre carries off the girl as its dramatic centrepiece. Perhaps it’s not all as spectacularly dramatic as it might be in Cornelius Meister’s live performance, which tends to emphasise the lyrical aspects of Dvořák’s score. But there are shapely solo contributions from the ORF orchestra, and certainly some very fine expressive singing from soprano Simona Šaturová as the girl and tenor Pavol Breslik as the spectre.

TRACKLIST

01. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 1, Introduction (Live) - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
02. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 2, Už jedenáctá odbila (Live) - Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
03. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 3, Žel bohu, kde můj tatíček? (Live) - Simona Saturova, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
04. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 4, Pohnul se obraz na stěně (Live) - Pavol Breslik, Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
05. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 5, Hoj, má panenko, tu jsem již! (Live) - Simona Saturova, Pavol Breslik, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
06. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 6, Byla noc, byla hluboká (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
07. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 7, A on tu napřed (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
08. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 8, Pěkná noc, jasná v tu dobu (Live) - Simona Saturova, Pavol Breslik, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
09. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 9, Knížky jí vzal a zahodil (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
10. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 10, A on vždy napřed (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
11. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 11, Pěkná noc, jasná v tento čas (Live) - Simona Saturova, Pavol Breslik, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
12. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 12, A byla cesta nížinou (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
13. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 13, Pěkná noc, jasná, v tu dobu (Live) - Simona Saturova, Pavol Breslik, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
14. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 14, Tu na planině široké (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
15. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 15, Hoj, má panenko, tu jsme již! (Live) - Simona Saturova, Pavol Breslik, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
16. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 16, Skokem přeskočil ohradu (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
17. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 17, Buch, buch, buch! (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
18. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 18, Maria Panno, při mně stůj (Live) - Simona Saturova, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister
19. The Spectre's Bride, Op. 69, B. 135: No. 19, A slyš, tu právě nablízce (Live) - Adam Plachetka, Wiener Singakademie, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien & Cornelius Meister