SCHOENBERG Moses und Aron • Georg Solti, cond; Franz Mazura (Moses); Philip Langridge (Aron); Aage Haugland (Priest); Barbara Bonney (Young Girl); Chicago SO & Ch • DECCA 000994102 (2 CDs: 96:27 Text and Translation)

This is a musically potent but dramatically wanting performance of Schoenberg’s difficult opera. Langridge is one of the finest Arons on records; for once that character’s easy, smooth-talking communicativeness comes across the footlights and out of the speakers. The trouble is this is an opera about Moses, for whom Aron is supposed to be a foil, not the other way around. Even though he does not sing, Moses must be the central dramatic figure. Mazura has proven a fine singer and an excellent stage actor (Lulu’s Dr. Schön at the Met comes to mind), but he does not come across as a strong stage presence on this recording. The opening scene—Moses receiving instructions from God—fails to ignite. It lacks mystery, and the voices from the Burning Bush convey confusion rather than authority. When they meet in the wasteland, Moses fails to squelch Aron’s ego at being chosen to present God’s word to the people. The force of this production picks up as the music and drama involve the rest of the cast—orchestra and chorus are superb—but the personal struggle between the title characters never catches up.

Decca’s recorded sound is spectacularly bright and vivid, a bit too much so, hitting one over the head with the brilliance of the orchestra, especially its percussion. It is a sound typical of Decca Records, of the Chicago Symphony, and of Solti’s conducting. Their admirers will be thrilled, but this hard-edged music needs more warmth; the golden glow of DG’s Boulez recording in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw is preferable. This inexpensive reissue in Decca’s “The Originals” series provides generous notes in four languages plus a German/English libretto.

The difficulty of making a non-singing role dominate an opera cannot be overstated. Moses is always a baritone or bass rather than a stage actor, because he speaks in prescribed pitches and rhythms. A recent Arthaus DVD (Fanfare 31:2) demonstrates that a visual presentation helps a great deal, as does the superb acting of Franz Grundheber as Moses. That is my first recommendation for Moses und Aron, over and above all CD recordings.

FANFARE: James H. North