A ‘Fidelio’ That Comes Alive in the Mind

This recording incorporates valuable new performance and editorial ideas about Beethoven’s monumental opera. But even without them, Mackerras’ electrifying, sensitive conducting and the singing of amostly brilliant cast make it staggering as a staging in the theater of the mind.

The critical issues pertain mostly to scoring and balance among instrumental forces, and adding of vocal appoggiaturas. Also, Mackerras appends the “Leonore” Overture No. 3 to the end, rather than dropping it altogether or inserting it between the two scenes of the second act. All of this is discussed in the interesting notes.

Gabriela Benackova is a rich-voiced and secure Leonore. Anthony Rolfe Johnson brings lyric flexibility as well as heroic power to Florestan. Franz-Josef Kapellmann is a terrifying Pizarro.

Siegfried Vogel is a genial Rocco. Ildiko Raimondi sings Marzelline with purity and lightness. John Mark Ainsley makes Jaquino an appealing youth, hesitant in his ardor. One disappointment: David Wilson-Johnson lacks ideal vocal heft as Don Fernando.

** SIBELIUS; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concertos. Sarah Chang, violin. Berlin Philharmonic. Mariss Jansons, conductor. (EMI)

Chang is yet another gifted young violinist whose rising career seems to be driven more by the PR industry than any inherent profound artistry. She is a virtuoso who plays with sweet and lyrical tone and who doesn’t seem fazed by technical challenges. But hers is a tone that rarely changes and never engages. It never becomes dramatic, urgent or even personal. Nor does Chang create a very big or heroic sound. Considering the possibilities in these concert warhorses, this disc consistently disappoints. The Mendelssohn is all yielding grace unfolding at dreamy tempos. The Sibelius is pressureless and surprisingly low-voltage. Jansons conducts with appropriate restraint and facelessness, though he occasionally lets the orchestra loose in grand 20-bit digital sound.