A video recording of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex is a bit of an oddball really.  It’s quite short (55 minutes) and it’s an oratorio rather than an opera.  I guess it could be staged but the version recorded at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 2022 isn’t.  It’s a concert setting, in concert dress, with music stands.  There’s not even minimal blocking.

For some reason Stravinsky chose to set a Latin translation of Sophocles text and that’s what’s given here though the Speaker’s part is in Italian.  It’s straightforwardly loud and declamatory.  It’s scored with lots of brass and percussion and Daniele Gatti goes for the big sound.  His singers back that up by singing in a very direct, declamatory manner and even the Speaker, Massimo Poolizio, is quite histrionic in a very Italian way.  It’s probably what Stravinsky intended but I’d be interested to hear a more nuanced approach.

Given that basic approach the singing and playing are of a piece.  AJ Glueckert and Ekaterina Semenchuck, as Oedipus and Jocasta, belt it out; maybe getting a bit more lyrical in their big duet.  They are well backed up by Alex Esposito as Creon, Adolfo Corrado as Tiresias, Luca Bernard as the shepherd and Sebastian Geyer as the messenger.  The orchestra play with verve and the (male) choir is excellent.

The main event is preceded by Pizzetti’s Three Orchestral preludes for Oedipus Rex by Sophocles that featured in a performance of the play in Milan in 1904.  Again lots of brass and percussion but not all operatic or Italianate.  If I hadn’t known otherwise I’d have guessed a German composer.  Quite a good choice for a “filler” though.

There’s really not much for video director Tiziano Mancini to do so we get a succession of rather obvious concert shots but the sound (hi-res stereo and DTS-HD-MA) is good and so i the video.  The booklet contains a synopsis, some useful information on the Pizzetti and an essay on moral responsibility in Greek tragedy which, if you have even a passing knowledge of the mental world of classical Athens won’t add much to your knowledge.

Catalogue number:  Dynamic Blu-ray DYN-57981