Humperdinck: Hänsel & Gretel
Alice Coote (Hänsel), Lydia Teuscher (Gretel), Irmgard Vilsmaier (Mother), William Dazeley (Father), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Witch), Tara Erraught (Sandman) & Ida Falk Winland (Dew Fairy)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Robin Ticciati
The list of major conductors who have recorded Hansel und Gretel is impressive, but I think this is the finest musical account of all. Ticciati conducts on a grand scale, but with extraordinary...
Humperdinck: Hänsel & Gretel
Alice Coote (Hänsel), Lydia Teuscher (Gretel), Irmgard Vilsmaier (Mother), William Dazeley (Father), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Witch), Tara Erraught (Sandman) & Ida Falk Winland (Dew Fairy)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Robin Ticciati
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The list of major conductors who have recorded Hansel und Gretel is impressive, but I think this is the finest musical account of all. Ticciati conducts on a grand scale, but with extraordinary...
About
First conducted in Weimar in 1893 by Richard Strauss, Hänsel und Gretel had immediate worldwide success, the Hamburg premiere in 1894 conducted by Gustav Mahler. In its first year, over 50 German theatres staged a production and it has been translated into over 20 languages. In the UK it was the first complete opera to ever be broadcast from Covent Garden back in 1923, and was a staple in the opera repertory until the 1950s where it fell into a black hole. Here Hänsel und Gretel remained until Glyndebourne’s new production in 2008. This recording comes from the re-staging in 2010.
This recording boasts a fine cast, with Alice Coote a seasoned Hänsel having also performed in the role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lydia Teuscher making a notable UK debut as Gretel with Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke’s beautiful portrayal of the Witch stealing the show. Robin Ticciati, Glyndebourne’s new Artistic Director from 2013, clearly loves the piece: his conducting is nothing short of wonderful, with the performance from the London Philharmonic Orchestra a real highlight on this recording.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
August 2012
The list of major conductors who have recorded Hansel und Gretel is impressive, but I think this is the finest musical account of all. Ticciati conducts on a grand scale, but with extraordinary attention to the detail of Humperdinck's one masterwork...The voices, appropriately, are far from Wagnerian in size, and each singer is fully in character, with mezzo Alice Coote as a plausible Hansel.
October 2012
Let us first praise conductor and orchestra. Ticciati's Hansel is at a completely other remove from the pseudo-Wagnerian-Siegfried-and-Fafner-have-a-bumpy-day-in-the-woods-with-the-kids approach now mostly favoured in larger opera houses...So far, so very good, and the cast continues the upward curve, with Coote moulding her weightier voice well into, and alongside, Teuscher's gentler tones, [&] Dazeley kicking up a characterful storm
3rd June 2012
his Glyndebourne account is unusually spacious for such a youthful conductor, but the LPO and principal singers sustain his tempi admirably. Alice Coote’s coltish Hänsel and Lydia Teuscher’s diamantine Gretel are near-ideal siblings...Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke steals the limelight with his Mime-like Rosine Leckermaul.
18th August 2012
Ticciati rightly lets his winds and horns steal the show; the orchestral playing here is in the luxury class. Alice Coote and Lydia Teuscher are vocally well matched as the two children, both voices capable of singing really softly, really gently...Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke’s Witch is a brilliantly effective pantomime villain... Minimal stage noises and audience reactions add to the atmosphere.
