Jonas Kaufmann, Hillevi Martinpelto, Steve Davislim, John Eliot Gardiner - Weber: Oberon (2005)

Oberon, despite Weber's magical score, has failed to gain a place in the standard repertoire largely because of the innumerable inadequacies of its completely dotty libretto.
Even so, Gardiner claims that he has conducted more productions of it than any other opera. He has opted for the original English text, which has not been previously recorded. In order to avoid Planché's dreadful spoken dialogue, he has linked the musical numbers with a narration, read by Roger Allam. In this way you can easily miss out the narration if you want to. It has taken three years for Philips to release this studio-made version (the first with period instruments) of Weber's "romantic and fairy opera". The score is one of Weber's finest. Even though that text is delivered in a rather old-fashioned style, it works and never gets in the way of the music.
In Hillevi Martinpelto and Jonas Kaufmann, Gardiner has found ideal singers for roles that look back to the Mozart of Die Zauberflöte quite as much as they anticipate Wagner. The set is worth buying for Kaufmann, who easily negotiates the heroic roulades of From boyhood trained (the preposterous Sir Huon of Bordeaux's opening number). There are no disappointments at all among the supporting cast, and Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir contributes vividly as mermaids, slaves, genii and elves. The role of Oberon is by no means the most important, though Steve Davislim does what he can with it; Hillevi Martinpelto as Reiza, the daughter of the caliph of Baghdad, has the best numbers, while Jonas Kaufmann cuts a suitable dash as Sir Huon de Bordeaux. The Weber tenor role of Huon is supposed to possess the heft of a Tannhäuser while performing graceful flourishes in the manner of Rossini's Count Almaviva. Francisco Araiza in 1991 as Max under Colin Davis's `Der Freischütz' demonstrated how to sing such a Weberian role. In 2002 when this was recorded, Jonas Kaufman brings forth the lyrical sweetness and technical skill for that part of it, and can still produce extra power and ring for the heroics. The voice is far more flexible than a decade later. The heroine Rezia, however, is sung with some what less distinction by Hillevi Martinpelto. Ideally the part calls for a voice of melting beauty for the 'vision' solo and the cavatina, and the strength and nobility of a Brünnhilde in the 'Ocean' aria, but this Rezia falls rather ineffectually between. The rest of the cast do well, with the Fatima (Comparato) taking full advantage of her two attractive solos and the Oberon (Davilism) keeping his voice light and distinct from Huon. The Monteverdi Choir make a point of singing in character and with attention to the dramatic situation.

The period instrument ORR, fresh from a run of performances at the Châtelet, play beautifully for Gardiner, and the recording, made in the wide open spaces of the Watford Colosseum, is atmospheric and imaginatively directed.

For fans of Kaufmann, this recording is a virtual `must'.