Robert Craft leads a thrilling performance of Oedipus Rex, incisive, swift, and as mercilessly inevitable as fate itself. From the opening bars, where those spine-chilling runs in the trumpet penetrate the orchestral tutti like screams of horror, you can tell that Craft has every detail of this work (his second recording) well in hand, and so for that matter does the Philharmonia. Anyone who believes that Craft is a dull conductor should listen to this urgent account–from the great choruses (first announcing Jocasta’s entrance, with particularly clear timpani and piano ostinatos, and later her death), to the Verdian energy he brings to the Oedipus/Jocasta duet in Act 2. It would have been even better, however, if Craft had followed Stravinsky’s lead in his own early-1960s recording: repeat the “Gloria” chorus with the opening Act 2 narration in the middle. It’s not a major point, and strictly speaking it’s not what’s in the score; but it’s such marvelous music, and hearing it twice simply doubles your pleasure.
As for the singers, they do well–for the most part. Martyn Hill settles down after some initial unsteadiness to close Act 1 most affectingly, and his singing in Act 2 is very good. Jennifer Lane’s Jocasta sounds younger than, say, Jessye Norman’s, and her lighter touch gets around the notes better than many a bigger, heavier voice. As Creon, David Wilson-Johnson offers disappointingly approximate pitch in his big Act 1 aria, but he does much better in the slower-moving proclamations of the Messenger. The smaller roles come off without any problems, and the Simon Joly Male Chorus sings more confidently than it did in its recent Symphony of Psalms. Speaker Edward Fox sounds like a bored Oxford don, but at least he admirably refrains from the annoying histrionics that some bring to the part (particularly in its French-language version). And Craft naturally makes sure that as Stravinsky wanted, Fox pronounces the protagonist’s name “Eedipus” as opposed to the chorus’ “Oydipus.”
Moving on to the shorter works, Wilson-Johnson offers eloquent narration, both in Babel and A Sermon, A Narrative, and A Prayer, while Jennifer Lane’s singing in the latter work leaves little to be desired. Few conductors (Oliver Knussen perhaps) match Craft in late Stravinsky, and his conducting here combines his customary clarity with ideal pacing. His performance of Zvezdoliki (“King of the Stars”), Stravinsky’s rather Scriabinesque early cantata, features amazingly precise diction–so much so that compared to previous performances from Michael Tilson Thomas and Pierre Boulez, the closing pages sound almost like a totally different piece. Excellent sound completes this extremely valuable, well-filled package. [1/29/2003]
