Until the twentieth century, it was customary for theater performances to also be music. The protagonists sometimes sang a song when the action indicated it or when there was dancing. That was not a problem, because there was no strict separation between singer and actor yet. Such incidental music is still performed now and then, but often makes a somewhat incomprehensible impression. After all,
… she refers to aspects of a theater act that one misses and often no longer knows. In this respect, this CD offers an original solution: here the music that Hugo Wolf wrote in 1891 for Ibsen's play Das Fest auf Solhaug is performed with spoken texts that summarize the action. Hearing these rarely heard pieces is interesting enough, but now it also immediately becomes clear what the role of the relatively short pieces that pass in review here was. The summary can also be used to interpret the three preludes that Hans Pfitzner composed in 1890 for the same play, as they are related to the act in quite detail. This CD not only offers a beautiful and rarely heard repertoire, but also a very effective approach to present it. (JvG)more
