St. Stanislaus

James Conlon, Conductor
Cincinnati SO
Michael Chertock, organ
May Festival Chorus
Kristine Jepson, mezzo-soprano
Donnie Ray Albert, baritone
TELARC-CD

So, out of nowhere, a substantial part of St. Stanislaus appears
in print (A-R Editions) edited by Paul Merson.  Five years later we
are blessed with a live performance and a subsequent recording.  What
we get here is the beginning (Scene I) and conclusion (Scene IV) of the
oratorio.  Liszt composed Scene I in 1874, which was a very productive
year including such works as the Bells of Strasbourg Cathedral, the
Cecilia Legend (final version) and Hymne de l'enfant a son reveil (final
version).  Liszt was probably inspired by the first complete performance
of Christus in Weimar in May 1873.  However, already back in 1869 he
planned St. Stanislaus (and St. Stephen).  Scene I is generally a very
sombre affair, and if you are looking for beautiful operatic melodies
this is nothing for you.  Here we get something of a "sprechgesang" as
found later in Via Crucis (and Parsifal), this time accompanied by a
lugubrious polonaise theme.Somewhat lighter in mood is the aria of the
St Stanislaus' mother, which by the way was orchestrated by the editor.
It reminds me slightly of Elisabeth's great aria in the Elisabeth Legend.
Scene IV opens with the impressive orchestral interlude "Salve Polonia".
This is a revision of a work that Liszt wrote in 1863.  It is supposed
to depict King Boleslaw's pilgrimage to a monastery in Austria.  There
the King and the monastic choir sing "De profundis" and then oratorio
ends with the exclamation "Hail Poland".  As noted in the booklet, there
is a remarkable shift in mood on going from Salve Polonia to De Profundis.
In the piano version, the second part of "Salve Polonia" is optional,
and maybe that should apply to the orchestral version as well.  This
would be a better transition to "De Profundis", but that would leave out
the national anthem.  I'm quite convinced that Liszt would have completed
the oratorio and (Scene IV in a different way) if his failing eye sight
had not prevented him.

Liszt was dissatisfied with some parts of the libretto (which was probably
written by Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein and Gregorovius), and the libretto
was therefore subsequently revised by Edler with some assistance from
Carolyne's daughter.  Peter Cornelius, who provided the German translation,
died in 1874, and that is probably the reason why Liszt made little
progress for the next eight years or so.  In the missing scenes two and
three Stanislaus rebukes the King, and then the King murders the bishop
in a fit of passion.  Apparently Liszt first intended to include the two
Polonaises in the fourth scene, but he must have changed his mind and
replaced these with a revised version of his earlier orchestral piece
Salve Polonia.

I am not completely satisfied with the recording.  The voices are not
as much in the foreground as one could wish and the strings are dominating
too much.  There is an older Polish recording of the Salve Polonia, and
in that recording there is a much better balance between strings, woodwind
and brass, so that Liszt's ingenious counterpoint is clearly audible.
Hopefully the sound balance is better in the SACD- format.

"Mikael Rasmusson" <[log in to unmask]>