Decca is releasing a 3-CD box set on Friday, Jessye Norman: The Unreleased Masters, consisting of tapes challenged by the singer during her lifetime. The operation is authorized by the rights holders and carried out under the aegis of the best authorities of Universal Classic. But the question remains: can the artistic wishes of a musician be circumvented post mortem?
The most spectacular hijacking operation in the history of phonographic publishing was that surrounding Sergiu Celibidache. The Romanian conductor professed his fierce opposition to recording and to the very idea of sound reproduction. However, after his death, his son opened the floodgates leading to the publication of around fifty CDs by EMI (now Warner) and several boxes by Deutsche Grammophon. One can understand it: in addition to the lucrative operation, he thus controlled the message and artistic legacy of his father at a time when, the radio tapes falling into the public domain after twenty years in Europe, many small publishers in Italy and Elsewhere published for their own profit concerts which cost them nothing.
Two weights, two measures
The tolerance threshold of artists is very diverse. These days, especially in piano, we are amazed at anything and everything that is authorized for publication: Grigori Sokolov’s DG albums on poorly captured heterogeneous instruments, or the recent Hammerklavier Sonata too late by Maurizio Pollini (DG), on a piano so ugly that one wonders why it was necessary to mention the name of a sound engineer.
Conversely, we have known obsessive perfectionists who blocked tapes despite common sense. For a defect that no one but himself could spot, pianist Ivan Moravec banned a 15e Sonata of Beethoven like no other. Perhaps because she was coming face-to-face with death as her cancer recurred, Ferenc Fricsay had not released her stereo recording from the pathetic symphony by Tchaikovsky. When Universal Japan unearthed it in 1999, we discovered a heartbreaking Pathetic of the desert island.
Alluring bands are still sleeping: Van Cliburn and Charles Munch recorded very officially, on October 6, 1958 in Boston, the piano concerto by Schumann. Van Cliburn then redid it with Fritz Reiner and let this last recording be released. We would like to be able to get an idea to determine which of the two is really worth the detour, but the questions of rights are sometimes complex.
A beautiful box
Three “scrap” CDs by icon Jessye Norman, who died in 2019 at age 74, are therefore coming to us. And we are very far from the “garbage cans” of musical history. The box, essential for admirers of the singer, is interesting for all from several points of view. Already, he reminds us what voice she was. And that, in itself, is a “reminder shot” that feels good. It also documents an unfinished project, CD 1, excerpts from a Tristan and Isolda aborted in 1998 with Thomas Moser as Tristan and Kurt Masur as director. We have the prelude, the death of Isolde, scene 2 of act II and scenes 1 to 3 of act I. We are really late in the career of Jessye Norman, the voice is a little dull in the treble (but barely), the sustain loosens up a bit, but those are small details she could hear. To our ears, his presence and breadth make the chef’s direction all the more bland. Cyrus Meher-Homji, project manager, reports tensions between the chef and the singer. This Tristan was at an impasse. Here are the pieces.
The second CD combines two concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic and James Levine: the Last Four Lieder of Strauss in 1989 and the Wesendonck-Lieder by Wagner in 1992. Wesendonck are glorious, with a fairly prominent mixed voice and an orchestra to die for (vibrato at the end of The Engel !). This is the top of the cabinet, a ” must for fans and an enigma as to why they never came out. The Strauss adds nothing compared to the luscious studio version with Masur in 1982. It’s a very fine concert, but the balance is not as successful as in Wagner, and we first listen to the details revealed by a great conductor…
CD 3 contains “Scenes” — Berenice by Haydn, The death of Cleopatra of Berlioz and Phaedra by Britten — with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in February 1994. It’s really excellent. Cyrus Meher-Homji explains in the notice that Haydn and Britten had been accepted, but that Jessye did not like Berlioz’s mix. It has been redone in this edition. In practice, the only sound short of true resplendent fullness is that of Last Four Lieder.
No shame, therefore, far from it: Jessye Norman seems to fall into the category of “nitty-gritty artists”, and this editorial project seems useful and legitimate!