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Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau and his wife. Julia Varad\\ as Lear and Corde/ia

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At Long Last, Lear

Reviewed by Patrick J. Smith

Ariijert Reimann's Lear has been one of the mosi successfiil operas premiered in Europę in recent years. Written for the Bavarian State Opera (Munich) and tirst givenJuly9. 1978, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role. it was widely praised. Its American receplion, how-ever. was somewhat diflferent. It premiered last June in San Francisco to a press at best weakly positive and mostly actively hostile. This recording was madę from performances during the work's original 1978 run.

Is the opera a genuine addition to the limited twentieth-century repertory?

I think not. although it is an honest. ac-complished. and at limes distingmshed work.

First, foremost, and centrali), its problem liesin itssubject: Shakespeare’s King Lear. Scholars have long debated over this work: Is it Shakespeare's great-est tragedy or one that transcends the lim its of the stage and cannot be acted, but must only be read? In eithercase. the melodramatic naturę of the plot is linally

As failhful readers of our “Letters” col-umn are aware. we missed the hoat w ith the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Rei mann 's Lear when it came out, ahout rwo vears ago. As failhful reuders—if such there he—of our editorial notes are aware. Alfred Frankenstein had agreed. hefore that finał, fateful trip to the hospital. to re-view it. No w, ftna/lw Patrick Smith has gracioush stepped in.—Fd

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overshadowed bv the preeminence of the character of Lear as Cordelia’s father and a suftering human being. summed up most poignantly when the ruined king appears with the dead Cordelia in his arms-certainly one of the transcen-dent moments in all of drama. Unless Lear and his suflfenngs finally over-whelm the plot. the work remains a melodrama. albeit one with some well-drawn characters. This is what Rei-mann's Lear is.

Reimann (born 1936) has written mostly for voice-song cycles. cantalas. etc. He is also noted as a Lieder accom-panist. for Fischer-Dieskau. among oth-ers. His earlier opera. Melusine. given its American premiere at Santa Fe. was at its best an aflecting. lyric work of some power Yet it indicated that hisstrengths were best suited to a limited scalę and scope. Lear the subject and King Lear the e\perience go far beyond anything he had hitherto attempted. and his musie falls short of the drama*s demands.

Claus H. Henneberg fashioned the libretto from Shakespeare's play: a com-mendably serviceablejob. it includes the big scenes and all the characters. The Fool becomes a speaking role: Edgar, the ultimate inheritor of the kingdom. is set for high tenor/countertenor and pro-vides. apart from Lear, the best charac-terization in the opera.

Reimann works with tonę rows. and to judge from the comple\ity of the “plans." as outlincd in the booklet ac-

ReimamYs electric writing keeps the melodrama to the fore.

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companying the recording. he hasorgan-ized his opera as rigorously as did Schoenberg and Berg theirs before him. Bul the result is morę akin to the organi-zation of that Berg d iści ple. Al berto Gi-nastera: The obdurate form triumphs over the matter. Reimann's gift for lyr-icism and small-scaled elfects has largely given way to a search for the grand gestu res necessary for a work of this magni-tude. The banał and often incorrect charge that all twelve-tone musie is gray and cold is here accurate: 1 here is far too little variety of color or free-flowing in-vention for the majesty of Shakespeare’s conception. In the big scenes-Lear on the heath in the storm. Lear mad. I.ear with Cordelia- Reimann's musical Solutions sound derivative rather than per-sonal. He seems in only partial control of His materiał, relying on the tone-row or-ganization to attempt a task it can never perform. Thus, he reduces the work to something smaller than Shakespeare’s.

Within its limited scope, however. the opera has good features. which ac-count for the success it has had. The scenes are short (there are eleven. in iw o “parts”). making for a quick pace. and Reimann*s nervously electric writing for slrthering strings, yelping brass. and snarling percussion keeps the melo-druma to the fore. ( And at its narrowest. Shakespeare’s is an action play, fuli of nasty characters.) This electricity. how-ever, is overdone, for the opera offers little relief from the continua! head-

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