Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
But for one thing, this has the makings of a classic. Pierre Boulez's recent Bartok recordings with the Chicago orchestra have been standard-setting. And Jessye Norman couldn't be better equipped, vocally and dramatically, to sing Judith. She doesn't disappoint: Her grand temperament suits her character's aggressively curious nature while her increasingly dark lower range is put to good use in conveying the awe and horror of what she finds while probing her husband's past. Polgar is also alert to the dramatic turns of Bluebeard. However, Boulez seems a bit less involved--less coloristically attuned to the score than in past Bartok recordings. But this CD is still of great interest. --David Patrick Stearns

Opera News
[Pierre] Boulez sees Bluebeard's Castle as an implacable ritual, not a drama, and he carefully controls every element of it. The numerous woodwind solos ... are here subdued and precise. As Bluebeard, Laszlo Polgar sings purely and truly.... Jessye Norman as Judith is asked to use the dark, mezzo colors of her voice almost exclusively. The recorded sound, some artificial decay after the big climaxes aside, is true and well balanced.

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle, Music, Laszlo Polgar, Bela Bartok, Pierre Boulez, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jessye Norman, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Hungarian 20th/21st Century Opera, Opera, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio

Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle / Kertész, Ludwig, Berry
Average customer rating:

One of the GREATEST Recordings Ever Made.

Hauntingly Beautiful

Brilliantly sung "Bluebeard's Castle"

OPENING DOORS

Spell-Binding!

Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle / Kertész, Ludwig, Berry

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00001IVQX
Release Date: 1999-09-14

Tracks:

Duke Bluebeard's Castle BB 62 (Op.11): Opening
DOORS: Door 1
DOORS: Door 2
DOORS: Door 3
DOORS: Door 4
DOORS: Door 5
DOORS: Door 6
DOORS: Door 7

Amazon.com

Bartók's lone opera has fared well on disc, and the Kertész is one of the best, even if it lacks the full bite and snap of singers emoting in their native language. Ludwig, a mezzo Judith, is convincing as a loving bride wishing to share her husband's innermost secrets, and Berry is a patient Bluebeard, saddened by her inevitable consignment to oblivion behind the seventh door. They capture the private, intimate horrors at the core of the story. Kertész conducts brilliantly, drawing full, warm sounds from the LSO aided by Decca's spectacular demonstration-quality engineering. Doráti (on Mercury, also with great sound but with native singers) may get closer to the spirit of Bartók's sharp-edged score, but Kertész is in the same league. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

One of the GREATEST Recordings Ever Made........2007-07-09

Decca Records....The very name seems to bring warm thoughts and feelings to one's body and mind...

What a "richer" place the world is, because of Decca, RCA, EMI (and of course, also, Philips, Deutsche Grammophone, and Columbia Records). These companies pioneered sound (and recordings) for us, and through their efforts, we have, currently, little silver discs (formerly, of course, Shiny Black LP's), that document and preserve both their technical achievements and those of the artists/participants of these recordings.

So, "Thank You Very Much" of course deserves to go to these companies for making our lives so much richer.

The Review...

One of these Pioneering Achievements, make no doubt about it, is this Magnificent recording of Bela Bartok's lone opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle (A kékszakkallú Herceg Vára). The sonic achievement of this recording, for clearness, spaciousness, and simply breadth and range will amaze you if you are not famaliar already with it. This recording will probably forever stand as one of the greatest achievements in sound ever done, as it has from it's release right up until today. There is one KnockOut rival*, but it DOES NOT replace it! (see below)

If you are unfamiliar with this work, you are in for a REAL TREAT. If you do not understand it, that's ok, wait a couple days, and play it again! (I'm sure you know how this works, if you have experience with Classical Music and Opera).

Christa Ludwig, let's face it, was simply one of the towering dramatic sopranos of the 20th century, bar none. Her then husband, at the time of this recording, Walter Berry, was a baritone who also certainly held his own on the stages throughout Europe for many many years, and those in America, also, though to a lesser degree.

This opera is a very psychologically powerful work, as is Richard Strauss' "Elektra"........both of them grip one and take you to places that, while you are uncomfortable with it, you willingly allow yourself to be taken there. Both of these operas seem to have a "magnetism" that you cannot shake loose until the final bar/resolve of the work.

Istvan Kertesz, unfortunately, did not live long enough to become "golden" in the eyes of the public like Bohm, Maazel, or Levine, etc., so few know of him today. He was simply one of the most gifted conductors of his time, as was Michael Tilson Thomas. This man immediately takes control over his forces, and Bartok's "blue-black" score, and brings it up to the point that you are mesmerized or locked into it and are not willing to pull yourself out of it. This is powerful music.

Ludwig, of all the people to tackle this role, has NEVER been overshadowed by Anyone Else's performance or rendition of Judith. The shining sense of innocence of the world comes with her into the dark, damp and hopelessly depressing castle. As the doors open, she traverses the "darknesses" that they each hold, and becomes a "world wise" and weary woman as the last door closes into total blackness. Crista Ludwig makes you believe this is a real girl taking this journey, and you believe her progression as she makes the trip to the end, hanging on to her every breath. Few can do this type of role where you have the stage "to yourself" for the duration of an opera and you don't "flag" at any point.

The same can be said for Walter Berry's Duke Bluebeard. His baritone is just captivating. His voice, rich and dark, just draws you in, willingly. You hang onto his every word, and like Judith, you "have to know more".

At the end of this hour's passing, you find that you are astounded that you have been so deeply engrossed or enveloped by this story. So many times I have sat afterwards and wondered "What would a three act version of this opera have been like?"

I realize I have, again, rambled on. Sometimes, when you're wound up in something, it's not possible to express what you want to convey in short clipped sentences. This is a "felt"(as much as any other aspect of it) work.

Trust my judgement from listening to many recordings of this special work over the years (since the 60's) this recording needs to be on your shelves FIRST before any other recording of it. ~operabruin

*That said, I will now make a comment on the rival recording. The EMI release with Anne Sophie von Otter, John Tomlinson, and Bernard Haitink also belongs on your shelves, if you can justify owning two versions of this great great work. (I have 7 recordings of it, and consider all 7 of them viable in one form or another). (see my review of this recording on Amazon here, for more information.) It does not "knock out" the Kertesz recording just reviewed, but it "BELONGS BESIDE IT."

Hauntingly Beautiful.......2007-01-25

I normally don't seek out an experience that is dark and disturbing. Now, this is a dark opera, to be sure, but I am astonished at what a beautiful and powerful opera it is. The music is perfect - the chords, the way the melody supports the vocal lines, the mood that is so perfectly established. This is essentially a psychological tale, in fact the prologue asks us to ponder if this is a story of within (psychological) or without. It is the story of a man who begs his wife not to dig too deep, but she can't help it, she continues to push, until... it is too late. The singing is fantastic. The orchestra playing is lush, the sound quality first rate. Now that I have heard this piece I think the biggest tragedy is that Bartok didn't write more operas. He shows tremendous compositional skill and a great sense of how to unfold the drama that I feel sometimes composers miss. Get your hands on this CD.

Brilliantly sung "Bluebeard's Castle".......2006-04-14

.
Source: Studio recording made in Kingsway Hall, London, November 1965.

Sound: State of the art analogue stereo that received high praise when it was issued in 1966. The second digital remastering, done in 1999, has been very successful. More acute ears than mine have noted the sound of the occasional tape join and some slight hiss. I do not go searching for such things and I certainly have not heard them on my copy.

Text: The work is performed in Hungarian as "A Kekszkallu herceg vara." [Sorry about the forms of the vowels, but Amazon has not been accepting my properly spelled foreign words recently.] The 28-line spoken verse prologue has not been recorded.

Documentation: Libretto in Hungarian joined with the standard, very loose, English singing translation by Christopher Hassall. Brief memoir on the origin of this recording. Short record of a conversation between Kertesz and Ludwig in which the conductor provides his interpretation of some aspects of the story. Track list shows timings.

Format: One disk - eight tracks; 59:30.

Cast: Bluebeard - Walter Berry; Judith - Christa Ludwig. Conductor: Istvan Kertesz with the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1911, the thirty year-old Bartok began setting the libretto of "A Kekszkallu herceg vara" ["Duke Bluebeard's Castle"] by his friend, Bela Balasz. It was not performed until 1918. Because it is performed in opera houses and involves two people singing over an orchestra, the piece is casually lumped into the category of opera. To me, though, an opera is a sung drama or comedy--and "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" most assuredly is neither. It is at most a ritual, or perhaps no more than a mere reverie.

Just as Beethoven did a century earlier with "Fidelio," Bartok came to opera as a man of the concert platform, not of the theater. He provided little or no real drama for his singers; their characters have neither choice nor conflict. All the drama, all the color of the work, and Bartok crammed in a great deal of both, are to be found in his orchestra. The orchestra embarks on a impressive tonal voyage, but the singers merely utter their symbolic words on pitch.

And the symbolism? Well, let's face it, even for 1918 the symbols were absurdly simple-minded. Their simplicity, however, does not make them unambiguous. Here is how Kertesz is quoted: This "Bluebeard story is quite different from the fairy tale. The point is that all the blood is his blood. It means his suffering. Everything happens in the imagination". Being clearly on Bluebeard's side, he goes on to say that Judith is "horrible to him. She does not want him; she just wants to open his doors." Ludwig, naturally, is quoted as holding quite a different view.

Christa Ludwig and her then husband, Walter Berry were operatic aristocracy. They sing brilliantly here, particularly in light of the thin stuff provided by Bartok. That is not a matter of debate. Do they sing authentically? I haven't the slightest idea. The good, grey Gramophone Magazine says they lack the "texture and tang of native Hungarian singers". That may be so, although I can only wonder if a London-based English reviewer is any better judge than I am on the point.

The orchestra sounds terrific. Kertesz's approach is a little more subtle and inner-directed than is to be found in other recordings I have heard which are given more to the boom and bang approach.

On the whole, this is an excellent and classic recording. I can't vouch for its authenticity but I can assure you that it will give any sympathetic listener a full hour of pleasure.

Five stars.

(For those who find this work particularly appealing, I suggest that it might be worth your while to look into Korngold's much-underrated Twentieth Century masterpiece, "Die Tote Stadt," which traverses some of the same territory.)

OPENING DOORS.......2004-11-11

For 1965 the sound-quality on this disc is quite extraordinarily good - it would be that in 2004 - and Decca have every right to be proud of it. Everyone concerned has a right to be proud of the performance too. Ludwig and Berry are not only in superb voice, they seem to me to have penetrated to the heart of this dark and wonderful allegory. In the discussion that forms part of the liner-note Ludwig interrupts at one point to disagree with a certain view of Judith that she hears being expressed. No harm in that - this particular story is full of mystery. Only so much certainty is possible, and the ambiguity is essential to its power and magic.

For any music-lover struggling with Bartok - say with the quartets or the first piano concerto - this, or maybe the better-known violin concerto, would be the doors through which I would suggest approaching him. Purely at the musical level the idiom is modern without being forbidding or particularly challenging. Indeed the orchestration in Bluebeard is among the most thrilling I have ever heard, and Kertesz and the LSO (then at its very peak) do it proud. This is a short drama - a story like this can only be stretched out for a finite length - and the dark and sinister sense of fear and foreboding must never relax in performance, nor do they in this performance. The story is a powerfully convincing one to me, and I do not know how many of my own sex I can speak for, although I suspect it's most of us. In my view, which is a totally impressionistic and unscientific one as far as this is concerned, a man has a mental and emotional hinterland that nobody should try to trespass on. `Nobody' means not wife, not parent, not child, not the closest friend. It is irrespective of the most intense love that may be involved, and it can come up against an equally deep-seated female urge to know the man in her life as deeply as she can. It will not, in many cases, involve anything particularly dark, dramatic or seeming to demand secrecy, but I sense rightly or wrongly that it is a basic part of the male psyche. What this whole story dramatises with intense effect is the self-destructive power of the clash between these basic male and female tendencies. Bluebeard and Judith are not individuals in my view but types, and nowhere could provide a more atmospheric background for this modern morality-play than the seemingly `transylvanian' castle where Bluebeard and Judith open the doors that should perhaps not have been opened.

It all lasts not quite an hour, and far from leaving me emotionally drained as I might have expected it left me even exhilarated by the sheer truthfulness of it, to say nothing of the quite wonderful music and the quite wonderful way it is enacted. The English version of the libretto struck me as slightly odd with its stilted idiom, thou's thine's and similar nonsense until I saw who it was by - Christopher Hassall, the man who killed Walton's Troilus and Cressida at birth or before. I suppose he was responsible for the English version of the stage-directions too, as I took leave of the drama with the wives of Bluebeard progressing along a beam of `moonshine'. As well as the main liner-note, Decca have understandably and very helpfully included a technical leaflet on the recording technology which, as I have said, is something they are very entitled to preen themselves on. I only wondered why with so much top technology at their disposal they could not have got the leaflet to fit the box a bit more exactly.

Spell-Binding!.......2003-09-16

I am not a Bartok fan. I generally do not listen to Bartok. Neither have I listened to any other Bluebeard - this is the only one I have. The only reason I bought this set is that I heard it was good and since I managed to get a dirt cheap price for the set, why not try and listen. I was pleasantly surprised. Once I started listening, I was spell-bound!! The music is good. But even more importantly, the singing is superb!! It's unbelievable how good Christa ludwig and Walter Berry are. In fact, even if the music did not sound nice (which is not the case), just listening to Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry vocalizing would be worth the purchase. The two of them have such gorgeous voices that I could just sit there and listen to them all day long. Furthermore, both singers sing with a lot of dramatic sense and make this experience a really thrilling one. I've had experiences where I listen to a favorite piece by a mediocre performer, and I simply get bored even though the music is nice because the performers spoils the piece. Similarly, there are pieces which I am not too enthusiastic about, but some performers imbue them with so much beauty, power and life that I become fanatic about these pieces. This recording is one of those that fall into the latter category. It goes to show that the performers matter a lot!! And this is a fantastic performance which I highly recommend to all. It is worthy of being in the Decca Legends series. To borrow the quote on the cover (which is completely accurate in this case), "Astonishingly evocative and full of atmosphere ... Must count as one of Decca's great operatic recordings .. This is a thrilling recording of a great work. Gramophone." Don't just believe it, experience it yourself!!

Average customer rating:

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000F9SZCG
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Tracks:

Minstrel: 'Bluebeard's Castle, A Myth, A Legend'
Bluebeard: 'Will You Enter? Look Around You'
Judith: 'Here I Am In Bluebeard's Castle'
Bluebeard: 'Tell Me Why You Came Here, Judith'
Judith: 'Ah! I Can See SEven Doorways'
Judith: 'Oh, I Heard Your Castle Sighing'
Bluebeard: 'What's There? What's There?'
Bluebeard: 'What's There?'
Bluebeard: 'Trembling Seizes All My Castle'
Judith: 'Glittering Gold!'
Judith: 'Oh! Lovely Flowers! Oh! Beautiful Scents'
Judith: 'Ah!'
Bluebeard: 'Look! Brightness Has Filled My Castle'
Judith: 'Silent Tranquil Peaceful Waters...'
Bluebeard: 'My Last Door Will Stay Unopened'
Judith: 'Tell Me Truly, Tell Me Bluebeard'
Judith: 'I Know What's Behind It Bluebeard'
Bluebeard: 'Look Upon The Other Women'
Bluebeard: 'Daybreak-When I Found The First One'
Bluebeard: 'Midnight-When I Found The Fourth One'

Average customer rating:

An overrated conductor and wobbly Slavic singers
A most powerful and authentic performance

Bártok: Bluebeard's Castle

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Mercury Living Presence - You Are There - The True Story of a Legendary Label

ASIN: B0000057LX
Release Date: 1992-10-13

Tracks:

Bluebeard's Castle: Opening
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 1
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 2
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 3
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 4
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 5
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 6
Bluebeard's Castle: Door 7
Wozzeck, Three Excerpts: Act I, Scenes 2 And 3 - Helga Pilarczyk
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Customer Reviews:

An overrated conductor and wobbly Slavic singers.......2006-05-18

The reviewer below has gone overboard. Dorati's conducting here is, if anything, a bit stodgy, and his two Hungarian singers sound wobbly and artistically provincial. The whole enterprise sounds good on paper, given Dorati's credentials, but he made a career of lowering expectations. The sonics have the high-treble sting familiar from Wilma Fine's engineering for Mercury. All in all, I would rank this set well below those from Kertesz, Haitink, and Fricsay, to mention three of the best.

A most powerful and authentic performance.......2002-05-23

This is the most powerfully conducted Bluebeard among the several versions that I have heard, one of unequalled dramatic thrust and intensity. Dorati, who, as a young man in Budapest, was a pupil of Bartok, brings out the Hungarian folksong based rhythms and colors of this music instead of, as other interpreters tend to do, soften or smooth them out (perhaps in order to create a more overtly dream like atmosphere), which robs the music of its considerable dramatic force. The singers, though lacking the vocal beauty of those in some other recordings, are both native Hungarians, and moreover, the Bluebeard in this recording was tutored in the role by Bartok himself. Arguably then, the singing here, along with the conducting, possesses the most stylistic authority of all the versions currently available.
Finally, the recorded sound is crystal clear and dynamic, thus enhancing the qualities of Dorati's performance.
If you are a lover of Bartok, this is an essential purchase.

Average customer rating:

Yeah, ok.
A Bluebeard to enjoy but not to treasure
Bartok's Gothic Opera
Bartoks' Masterpiece With Samuel Ramey and Eva Marton
Darkness...Darkness...

Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle
Bela Bartok , Adam Fischer , Eva Marton , Samuel Ramey , Andras Virag , and Hungarian State Orchestra
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Date With the Devil

ASIN: B0000026NQ
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Bluebeard's Castle: Here We Are Now
Bluebeard's Castle: Ah, I See Seven Great Shut Doorways
Bluebeard's Castle: Watch And Marvel, Watch The Sunrise
Bluebeard's Castle: Three More Heavy Keys I Give Thee
Bluebeard's Castle: Judith, Open Now The Fourth Door
Bluebeard's Castle: Look, My Castle Gleams And Brightens
Bluebeard's Castle: Come Now, Place Them On My Heart
Bluebeard's Castle: Come, I Grant Thee One More Key
Bluebeard's Castle: The Last Of My Doors Must Stay Shut
Bluebeard's Castle: I Have Guessed Your Secret, Bluebeard
Bluebeard's Castle: Take It, Take It. Here's The Seventh And Last Key
Bluebeard's Castle: The First I Found At Daybreak

Customer Reviews:

Yeah, ok........2006-09-04

The singing on this recording is really great, but I wish the orchestra was better. And I wish the interpretation had more strength.

A Bluebeard to enjoy but not to treasure.......2006-05-18

Because it requires only two singers and a conductor in sympathy with Bartok's quasi-gothic melodrama, you'd think Bluebeard's Castle would be easy to record. Yet such estimable conductors as Boulez and Dorati have come up with duds; we are still waiting for a modern set to compete with the remarkably vivid Kertesz recording from the mid-Sixties. That's an unmissable performance, one that put Bluebeard on the map, but this Sony set is more than respectable. It has excellent sound, fine orchestral playing, and Adam Fischer's committed, if not inspired, conducting. Of the two principals, Ramey excels because of his gorgeous, steady bass, but Marton, a native Hungarian, turns in a generalized big-voice reading a la Jessye Norman, and her tone wobbles under pressure. Even so, I got a lot of enjoyment from this set.

Bartok's Gothic Opera.......2005-10-22

While I cannot repeat what the other review states, I can only say that he seems to be wrong about Samuel Ramey being Hungarian. Soprano Eva Marton is Hungarian and is doing a marvelous job as the newest victim of the devilish Bluebeard. The story is dark and symbolic. Bluebeard (not Bluebeard the Pirate) is a wealthy property owner who lives in a foreboding castle. He has just married wife No. 3. He warns her not to wander to a certain part of the castle. Naturally, curiosity gets the best of her and she searches the forbidden area despite his orders. What she finds there reveals a darker side to her husband. Eva Marton has a huge voice that fully captures every nunance of this character. Ramey has a terrific voice with all the right earthy and devilish tone for the part. Adam Fischer conducts Hungarian forces in Bartok's great work of Gothic and surreal drama.

Bartoks' Masterpiece With Samuel Ramey and Eva Marton.......2005-02-01

First of all, this album is the most dramatic version of Bartok's opera, whose powerful bass/baritone and soprano leads are the real force of the opera. The drama and dynamic force of the original opera is heightened and the music swells with intensity. The world-renowned bass Samuel Ramey makes a terrific and frightening, diabolical Bluebeard. The equally successful diva Eva Marton makes a dramatic and tormented Wife. The forces of Ramey and Marton are the attraction towards this recording. It is indeed very thrilling to hear them portray the evil Bluebeard and his victim. I think this is a great album but if you want to know a little truth, a lesser known truth at that - Bela Bartok himself would not approve of this. Why ? Because he would have favored authentic, native Hungarians in the two roles and because musically, it must be more toned-down in the intensity and more eerie, slow, haunting and dream-like. Bartok wrote this opera at a time when surrealism and Freudian, psychological nightmarish works were being portrayed in the arts...i.e. The Scream by Munch. This movement towards the nightmarish and surreal reflected the modern period of World War I. For a more true concept of the work get the recording with Antal Dorati conducting. That one features native Hungarians in the duo cast and Dorati himself was trained to be a conductor in Bartok's music by Bartok himself!!!

But this album is very dramatic and attractive. I own this one along with the Antal Dorati version. Samuel Ramey is absolutely frightening as Bluebeard!! The Hungarian voice which he uses is intense, dark and sinister but royal, in the vein of Bela Lugosi. Bluebeard is a wealthy ex-pirate who has become a wealthy lord of a castle. He has married several times but all his wives have been brutally murdered. His current victim is unaware of his dark past but when she starts snooping into forbidden chambers, she becomes his latest prey. The diabolical role becomes supernatural and symbolic in many ways. He is a symbol for evil, he is a dark man, a Devil, and the haunting Gothic imagery- a sea of blood, dead wives buried under the castle a la Edgar Allan Poe style as well as the labyrinth in the garden are all examples of the eerie and chilling effects of a Gothic Opera.

Ramey has made a name for himself in portraying nearly al the villains of Opera in the bass/baritone category - the villains in Offenbach's Tales Of Hoffman, the Devil in Gounod's Faust, Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, Iago in Verdi's Macbeth, Boito's own Mefistofele among others. Opposite his devilish Bluebeard is the dramatic victim that is Eva Marton. Though her voice is quite big, Wagnerian even, she uses subtlety and lyricism to evoke innocence and helplessness. I would have preferred that a lighter soprano played the hapless Wife of Bluebeard because artistically it seems more appropirate - a dark and towering Devil next to an angelic and vulnerable heroine. But Eva Marton makes a great performance that can't be ignored. She's up to paar with the charismatic bass singing opposite her. Think of her performance as a diva caught in a dire situation, enough reason to overact dramatically. This is a great album and a fine dramatic take on Bluebeard's Gothic and bloodcurdling opera.

Darkness...Darkness..........2003-09-30

I avoided this opera for a long time, because I've never been a big fan of Bartok's later works. But I finally succombed, in part due to it's fascinating story. "Bluebeard" is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Though it owes much musically to Richard Strauss, it's musical world is more radical. Still a romantic work, it doesn't swoon and surge like it's romantic contemporaries. Rather, it underlines the sinister turns of the story with unpretentious, unsettling brilliance. The strangeness (to English speaking ears) of the Hungarian text also adds to the underlying sense of horror.

"Bluebeard" is a symbolist work in the truest sense of the word. In it we see characters who interact with one another, yet what we see can't make literal sense. If Bluebeard's former wives have watered his lands with their blood, then how do they emerge from the seventh gate? Yet we accept it, because we sense that we're watching a parable of human nature--of maleness, femaleness, the meaning of marriage, of good intentions, and of psychological damage.

The story of Bluebeard and his wives has been a popular subject for playwrights and operatic composers, including a comedy by Offenbach and another widely admired symbolist opera by Dukas with a libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck. But Bartok's telling must certainly be the darkest.

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle
Average customer rating:

The Quintessential Bluebeard's Castle

Excellent recording of a forgotten gem

"It Was a Dark and Rainy Night............."

A riveting live performance--the best Bluebeard in forty years

A dark and brooding masterpiece

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000002RWP
Release Date: 1996-10-22

Tracks:

Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Prologue and Opening
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. First Door-The Torture Chamber
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Second Door-The Armoury
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Third Door-The Treasury
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Fourth Door-The Secret Garden
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Fifth Door-Bluebeard's Kingdom
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Sixth Door-Tears
Bluebeard's Castle, Op.11: Opera in Act.l Libretto: Bela Balazs. Seventh Door-Bluebeard's Former...

Customer Reviews:

The Quintessential Bluebeard's Castle.......2007-05-20

There is a magic in Bela Bartók's one act opera 'A kékszakkallú Herceg Vára' (Duke Bluebeard's Castle) that is difficult to describe. The work is for very large orchestra, mezzo soprano and bass and while it contains about as much drama as any Wagnerian opera, Bartok succeeded in intensifying this brief opus in one act and in doing so he created a masterpiece of what opera is all about - the marriage of music and drama, neither of which could equally stand alone. Concert versions are as thrilling as staged versions: it is the orchestra that paints the scenery and creates the atmosphere for this chilling story.

Bluebeard enters his castle with his newest bride, Judith. The castle is dark and dank, and when Judith spies a series of doors, her curiosity results in her pleading with Bluebeard to open each door despite Bluebeard's warning that she may not want to know what lies behind each portal. Judith begs him and one by one Bluebeard opens each door: the orchestra describes what is new to Judith's eyes - the torture chamber, the armory, the treasury, the secret garden, Bluebeard's kingdom, the door to the lake of tears, and the final door opens through which pass the spirits of the previously murdered wives of Bluebeard. Judith's curiosity has determined her own destiny.

There are several very fine recordings of this work, but no matter the previous favorite of any listener new to this 1996 recording of a live performance with Bernard Haitink conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Anne Sofie von Otter as Judith and John Tomlinson as Bluebeard, this recording seems to be the zenith. Haitink brings out all of the Technicolor nuances of the openings of each door while keeping the brooding atmosphere of the castle's interior a stable platform for the magnificent, completely committed performances by von Otter and Tomlinson. The result is breathtaking, a bravura performance in which the kudos are equally shared among the singers the orchestra and the conductor. It is a masterpiece of creation, of performance, and of recording art. Grady Harp, May 07

Excellent recording of a forgotten gem.......2007-03-29

Bluebeard's Castle is not exactly one of Bartok's better known works, and it is even rarer to see it performed in person. I had the honor of seeing it just recently, and was so entranced by the dark tale that I had to get the recording too. This is an excellent performance of the one act opera. The opera is short, and very compact, and it has one of the tightest, most intense scores of any opera I know. The story is very dark, definitely not for the faint of heart, and is most reminiscent of the gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Bartok, as it represents some of his most sophisticated and rich music. It is more melodic, I think, than some of his later stuff, though not as accessible as Concerto for Orchestra. Still, this version does it justice, and I really enjoy listening to it!

"It Was a Dark and Rainy Night.............".......2006-07-10

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself!....ahem, on to the review.

This recording is quite simply one of the most spectacular opera recordings of the last decade. Ms von Otter's Judith is, like nearly everything she has done, exquisite--superlative, finely nuanced, and immensely moving.. John Tomlinson's Bluebeard is damned fine, indeed, ranking with the best. And the Berlin Philharmonic.........well, they're the Berlin Philharmonic! Polished, refined, working and magnificently playing together with real bite, and also with the silveryest sheen on the strings imaginable. The honorable Mr. Haitink, as is his tradition, draws from them a magnificently interpreted and played rendition of this complex and wonderful score, and the technicians have captured all this in absolutely breathtaking sound for a live performance. All around, this recording gets top rating in all categories. It belongs in any opera lover's collection. I love this recording........and yet, I still go back to the old Ludwig/Berry/Kertesz recording on Decca from the 60's and I am not really sure why. Perhaps because I "grew up" with this recording or something.......somehow it seems "right". Truth to tell, they both should be in one's collection--one for historic performance's sake, and one for being a monumental performance by today's artists in modern sound. Enjoy them both, they're each excellent and truly worthy of your shelf-space. ~operabruin

A riveting live performance--the best Bluebeard in forty years.......2006-05-18

For the past four decades no one has surpassed Kertesz's classic Bluebeard's Castle on Decca, a miracle of perfect casting, great conducting, and demonstration-quality sound that thrills time after time. What Haitink gives us in this live concert from 1996 is the next best thing: a committed, very musical performance, rather on the gloomy side, that makes its mark through the virtuosity of the Berlin Phill, Haitink's insights, and above all the impassioned Judith of von Otter, surely the best singer in the role since Christa Ludwig. For anyone who loves this early masterpiece of Bartok's, here is an unmissable recording.

A dark and brooding masterpiece.......2004-01-14

Full disclosure: this is one of my favorite operas. My first exposure was the early recording with Boulez and Troyanos (still available), and I've heard a number of others, but this one must now take first place. One strength is that the spoken prologue is included by Sandor Eles, speaking in the original Hungarian. As he reaches the end of his introduction, delivered in delicately creepy Boris Karloff style, the opening music quietly begins, setting an ominous tone for everything that is to follow.

Anne Sofie von Otter is magnificent as Judith. (Some may find her voice too light for the part, although I didn't.) The combination of innocence and increasing desperation is pretty terrifying, thanks to her vocal and dramatic skills. John Tomlinson makes a marvelous Bluebeard, singing to Judith with an almost reassuring warmth. Some may prefer a "rougher" Bluebeard, but I enjoyed the effect of his voice masking his real intentions -- until the shocking conclusion.

Haitink's characteristic understatement works extremely well here, as he encourages the Berlin Philharmonic to ever more sinister heights. This is very much an opera that requires a brilliant orchestra in addition to its two stars, and here the Berlin ensemble just sounds terrific. One of the work's highlights is especially well done, when Judith opens the fifth door that reveals "all of Bluebeard's kingdom." The blaze of orchestral playing here is just spine-tingling.

The sound quality is excellent -- recorded live -- and fittingly caps a project that does a grand job communicating Bartok's dark intentions.

Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle - Jessye Norman / László Polgár / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez
Average customer rating:

"Stones of Sorrow"

Eh

Great singers have walked this path before you

Brilliant Bluebeard

The Ingredients are here but........

Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle - Jessye Norman / László Polgár / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Bartók, Béla | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Hungarian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Norman, Jessye | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
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Béla Bartók: Divertimento / Dance Suite / Hungarian Sketches / Two Pictures - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez

Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra / 4 Orchestral Pieces - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez

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ASIN: B000009CMO
Release Date: 1998-07-14

Tracks:

Bluebeard's Castle: Prologue: 'The Tale Is Old'
Bluebeard's Castle: Judith: 'Is This Really Bluebeard's Castle?'
Bluebeard's Castle: Judith: 'Ah, I See Seven Great Shut Doorways'
Bluebeard's Castle: First Door - Judith: 'Woe!'
Bluebeard's Castle: Second Door - Bluebeard: 'What Seest Thou?'
Bluebeard's Castle: Third Door - Judith: 'Mountains Of Gold!'
Bluebeard's Castle: Fourth Door - Judith: 'Ah! Lovely Flowers!'
Bluebeard's Castle: Fifth Door - Bluebeard: 'Look, My Castle Gleams And Brightens'
Bluebeard's Castle: Sixth Door - Judith: 'I Can See A Sheet Of Water'
Bluebeard's Castle: Bluebeard: The Last Of My Doors Must Stay Shut'
Bluebeard's Castle: Judith: 'Now I Know It All Bluebeard'
Bluebeard's Castle: Bluebeard: 'Hearts That I Have Loved And Cherished'

Amazon.com essential recording

But for one thing, this has the makings of a classic. Pierre Boulez's recent Bartok recordings with the Chicago orchestra have been standard-setting. And Jessye Norman couldn't be better equipped, vocally and dramatically, to sing Judith. She doesn't disappoint: Her grand temperament suits her character's aggressively curious nature while her increasingly dark lower range is put to good use in conveying the awe and horror of what she finds while probing her husband's past. Polgar is also alert to the dramatic turns of Bluebeard. However, Boulez seems a bit less involved--less coloristically attuned to the score than in past Bartok recordings. But this CD is still of great interest. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

"Stones of Sorrow".......2006-10-01

The best way to explain this great work is to listen to it as Bartok's orchestral music interprets the theme behind each door. Judith asks, "Why no windows? No sweet daylight?" None of these questions needs to be answered because the music answers everything. Bluebeard's reference to Judith's father and warnings about proceeding further are close parallels to Jean Cocteau's Beast in his poetic film La Belle et la Bete. There must be a relationship between the two magical works. Appropriately Philip Glass converted Cocteau's film into an opera in the 1990s. As for the doors, Bluebeard warns, "None must see what is behind them"; but we will hear what is behind them in the most remarkable orchestral music imaginable. This opera is one of those uncanny works that seems never to have been performed or heard before the next time you listen to it. Like Poe's House of Usher, the castle seems sentient. Judith says, "I heard your castle sighing" and "Look, the walls are bleeding." Bluebeard agrees: "Stones of sorrow thrill with rapture." Much of the ambience of Bartok's opera depends on the Hungarian language as rendered by Jessye Norman and Laszlo Polgar.

Eh.......2006-09-04

You can do better than this recording.

The ups: The orchestra sounds better in this recording than any other recording out there. Laszló sounds wonderful (though he's better in a different recording).

The downs: Pacing is satisfactory. The orchestra moves sluggishly due to Bou-Bou's self-indulgence (sometimes I like it, but other times it's just stupid). Jessye's singing sounds lethargic, flabby, and overweight..but why am I not surprised about that? Also, her Hungarian diction is just about on par with that of Florence Foster Jenkins. :D

Great singers have walked this path before you.......2005-09-29

Boulez conducts a cool reading without a trace of Hungarian passion or gothic melodrama, both of which are prominent in any really fine performance. His soloists are vocally suited to their parts, but Norman applies her usual generic grand aloofness and plush vocalism to a role that calls for vulnerability and awe changing to horror, while Polgar simply isn't a major artist in any way.

Bluebeard's Castle has attracted magnificent interpretations over the years, and the fact that great singers like Fischer-Dieskau, Walter Berry, Christa Ludwig, Samuel Ramey, and Anne Sophie von Otter have given their all makes this version, despite its good qualities, pretty unnecessary.

Brilliant Bluebeard.......2003-11-12

The Boulez recording of Bluebeard's Castle could well just have become my favourite opera recording! Boulez extracts wonderfull playing from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Bartok's score is terrifically intense. Laszlo Polgar's rich dark voice is a revelation in the title role, however, for me it is Jessye Norman's magesterial performance as Judith which makes the set. The role of Judith makes great use of the glorious, velvety lower range of Norman's voice, yet she is still able to rise to the challenge of the high c of amazement at the fifth door! Fabulous.

The Ingredients are here but...............2002-05-31

All of the elements needed to recreate Bela Bartok's only opera "Bluebeard's Castle" are on this recording - the magician Pierre Boulez, the mighty Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the lustrous Jessye Norman, and the authentic Hungarian Bass Laszlo Polgar. Boulez does draw out superlative playing from the CSO, Norman spins her silvery mezzo effortlessly, and Polgar treats us to the perfectly enunciated Hungarian text. But something remains very cool in this sinister tale of the depths of the human psyche and the dark side of love. Individually all performers are superb, but it is the passion of ensemble that is missing. True, we may hear more detail in Bartok's lushly romantic score, but Norman especially leaves us uninvolved in her bland exploration of the mystery of Judith and her Bluebeard.
A good alternative version, but not the definitive one.

Average customer rating:

Bluebeard's Castle
Bartok , Fischer-Dieskau , and Sawallisch
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B00000E3YT
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Average customer rating:

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hungarian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000E2XD
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Average customer rating:

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

Manufacturer: Hungaroton
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hungarian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000003042
Release Date: 2000-08-18

Tracks:

Megerkeztunk.-Ime Lassad
Nagy Csukott Ajtokat Latok
Jag!-Mit Latsz? (Door 1)
Mit Latsz?-Szaz Kegytlen Szornyu Fegyver (Door 2)
O Be Sok Kincs (Door 3)
Oh, Viragok! (Door 4)
Nezd, Hogy Derul Mar A Varam (Door 5)
Nem Akarom, Hogy Elottem
Csendes Feher Tavat Latok (Door 6)
Mondd Meg Nekem, Kekszakallu
Tudom, Tudom, Kekszakallu
Lasd A Regi Asszonyokat (Door 7)
Hajnalban Az Elsot Leltem
Es Mindig Is Ejjel Lesez Mar

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle [Hybrid SACD]

Average customer rating:

Very nice!

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle [Hybrid SACD]

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hungarian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B0000AKNJJ
Release Date: 2004-01-13

Customer Reviews:

Very nice!.......2006-09-04

I like this recording. The orchestra sounds great (love the keyboard xylophone) and Laszló's singing is superb. But Ildikó's vibrato is really irritating. It kind of sounds like she's being strangled - which I guess you could say is a nice touch, but I'd prefer the singing to be more fresh and a little more dramatic from the female rôle.

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