ANTONÍN DVORÁK

 

The King and the Charcoal Burner / Král a Uhlír

 

Comic Opera in 3 Acts

 

Dalibor Jenis, Peter Mikuláš, Michelle Breedt, Lívia Aghová,

Michal Lehotsky, Markus Schäfer

Prague Chamber Choir, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln / Gerd Albrecht

 

Never previously available complete, Dvorák's second opera Král a uhlír is released here jointly by Orfeo and WDR in a performance recorded during the spring of 2005.The complexity of the first version of this work, with a heavy Wagnerian debt, weighed against performance, and it was not until 1874, when the second, revised version was staged, that the piece was triumphantly acclaimed.The plot, which recalls Lortzing's Zar und Zimmermann, offers ample opportunities for rousing ensembles as well as ballad scenes and the sort of rhapsodical forms on which Dvorák was able to lavish his whole wealth of melodic ideas. Lívia Ághová and Dalibor Jenis are ideal casting as the charcoal burner's daughter Liduška and King Matyáš, while no less lively portraits are offered by Michelle Breedt and Peter Mikuláš as Liduška's parents and by Michal Lehotský as Jeník, who goes on a journey of discovery from Liduška's jealous lover to the king's favourite.The conductor is Gerd Albrecht, who brilliantly marshals his team of soloists, together with the WDR Choir, the Prague Chamber Choir and the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, allowing their energies to find expression in a performance that leaves nothing to be desired in terms of its sense of Bohemian roguishness and love of life.

 

Orfeo 2cds C678062H