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Opera News
December 14, 1996 OFFENBACH: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Erato 0630-14330 (3) Erato's Hoffmann is billed as "the first complete recording of the grand-opera version edited by Michael Kaye." (Kaye has also constructed a version with "authentic spoken dialogue/mélodrames.") Kaye's exhaustively thorough edition is based on Offenbach's autograph manuscripts brought to auction in the 1980s, other manuscripts earlier recovered from a private collection by Antonio de Almeida and a recently unearthed manuscript of the final scene of the Giulietta act. The recording orders the acts Olympia-Antonia-Giulietta-Stella, according to Offenbach's preference, and includes just under three hours of material. The edition omits "Scintille, diamant" but includes the Giulietta act's spurious "septet" (albeit with an unfamiliar text). Kent Nagano again proves himself a French-repertory whiz kid, conducting a performance that is both dramatically taut and musically spacious. The cast is generally splendid, led by José van Dam's pantherlike quartet of villains and Roberto Alagna's headstrong, virile Hoffmann. Alagna has a few over-hasty moments, but his commitment and zeal are undeniable. Gabriel Bacquier makes a full meal of his cameo as Crespel, and there is vivid support from Gilles Ragon's four stooges, Ludovic Tezier's aptly named Schlémil and the gloriously dithering Spalanzani of Michel Sénéchal. Catherine Dubosc is both a fittingly boyish Nicklausse (couplets intact) and a clear-toned Muse. Natalie Dessay is a silvery yet steel-nerved Olympia, tossing
off a high G or two when the mood is on her. (Why no ratchet sound when the doll is wound up?) Leontina Vaduva makes a passable Antonia, wistful in her aria but lacking the oomph to do battle with Van Dam in the trio. Kaye's edition gives Giulietta the most difficult aria Offenbach wrote for her, and coloratura Sumi Jo nails it, providing the courtesan with real vocal glamour and a whiff of toughness.
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