El rey que rabió
(Chapí)
Luis Sagi-Vela, Josefina Cubeiro,
Octavio Alvarez, Ramon Alonso. Coro Cantores de Madrid, Orquesta Lírica
Española, c. Federico Moreno Torroba EMI 5 74229 2
Pilar Lorengar, Toñy Rosado,
Carlos Munguía, Manuel Ausensi. Coro Cantores de Madrid, Orquesta
Sinfónica c. Ataulfo Argenta Novoson Z-536
Amparo Albiach, Mary Isaura,
Enrique Parra, Angel de León. Gran Orquesta y Coro del Teatro de Liceo,
c. Concordio Gelabert Blue Moon BMCD
7525
Sara Fenor, Angeles Ottein, Eduardo
Marcén. Coro del Teatro Calderón de Madrid y Gran Orquesta
Odeón, c. Modesto Romero Blue
Moon BMCD 7520 [highlights]
Chapí's comic operetta explores the familiar theme of
the King who disguises himself - in this case as a shepherd - to discover what
his subjects really think of him. The central role was written for a soprano,
but modern practise often replaces her with a tenor - or in the case of the
EMI recording the unique tenor-baritone of Sagi Vela. He makes
the best possible case for the substitution, never overpowering his beloved
Rosa (Cubeiro) in their duet and singing with graceful ease throughout.
She matches his qualities in the gorgeous romanza "¡Ay de mi!",
and with Torroba drilling the important choruses notably well, this is
very appealing.
It's not often that Sagi Vela may be matched against
Lorengar, who took the King for Alhambra in the somewhat
elderly-sounding recording under Argenta. His comparatively relaxed but
pointed direction is a major asset, as is Lorengar's melting sweetness. She is
well-contrasted with the weightier Rosado, but the thought occurs that
they might have been better cast the other way round. There is strong support
from the rest of the cast, not least Munguía as Rosa's pathetic
suitor Jeremías - here allowed his comic raconto, cut by EMI -
and altogether this is another performance which will give satisfaction, though
the BMG-Novoson remastering is strangely parsimonious with tracking.
The virtually complete historic recording under
Gelabert comes across with greater immediacy. There's more sense of
comedy here than in either of the LP recordings - for example, in the witty
string traceries of the orchestral minuet, or the tongue-in-cheek
bagpipe drones of the 'back up' vocalists in the King's Pastoral Idilio
- and the 1931 recording is better balanced than any rival! The individual
singers may not be of the calibre of a Sagi-Vela or Lorengar, but they play off
one another intelligently, and BM 7525 would make a high-spirited
alternative to either of the later recordings, or even a viable first
choice.
The other Blue Moon (BM 7520) contains about 23' of
highlights from another early performance. It is mainly of interest for
Ottein's beauty of line in "¡Ay de mi!" - and for the
coupling, a marvellously funny El dúo de La
Africana.
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