Music reviews

What a find this opera is! If you want a voyage into the dark fantastical, and don't mind going via the operatic byway in order to get there, you'll enjoy this deliciously melodramatic treat. Written before Wagner, it shows some of the peculiarly German music characteristics of the Romantic period. The music is of a high standard, reminding me very much of Weber's Der Freischutz or Euryanthe. Its theme is the supernatural – the deadly doings of a vampire named Lord Ruthven, whose quest to retain his unnatural existence results in the deaths of two young women, and very nearly a third.

If the plot seems familiar, that's because it's based upon Polidori's novel The Vampyre, which was such a hit in England and Europe upon its publication in 1819. The storyline is changed somewhat, but the dark seductive power of Ruthven, the vampire of the title, runs through both the novel and this opera. This is definitely the only opera in which the anti-hero is killed three times, revived twice by the power of moonlight, finally done to death by a celestial thunderbolt.

The opera begins with Lord Ruthven being informed by the Vampire Master that, in order to sustain his existence for another year on earth, he must deliver up three innocent maidens before midnight. The gloating Ruthven, bared fangs dripping with blood after his first kill that night (the betrothed maiden Janthe, daughter of Sir Berkley), is killed for the first time – only to revive soon after when his friend Sir Aubrey drags him to the top of a hill where the first rays of the moon bring him back. It is Ruthven's recovery that alerts Aubrey that his friend is no harmless and mortal man, but rather a vampire. Being warned upon most horrid pains to remain silent with his knowledge for twenty-four hours, the unfortunate Aubrey flees.

Ruthven's fancy alights upon Aubrey's beloved, Malwina, and somehow manages to convince the girl's father that he is a suitable suitor. Aubrey, bound by his oath, feels powerless to intervene. However, before carrying out his intent upon Malwina, Ruthven lures a servant girl, Emmy, into the woods with him, where she is ruthlessly done to death. The servant girl's betrothed, Georg, shoots the vampire, but again Ruthven revives in the moonlight.

Ruthven then returns to Davenaut Castle to wed Malwina who will be his third and final victim, but Aubrey throws one delay after another into the proceedings, desperate to stop the marriage. Finally, just as the clock strikes one, he is freed from his oath and he announces that Lord Ruthven is the vampire who has been killing the local maidens. Heavenly lightning strikes the vampire, and he is consumed by flames and perishes – for the last time. Sir Humphrey Davenaut, realising what a narrow escape his daughter Malwina has had, bestows his daughter's hand upon Sir Aubrey.

The cast in this recording is utterly splendid. There is a rich and darkly seductive quality in the voice of Roland Hermann. One could not imagine a better vampire – Hermann has the sort of voice that seduces with corruption, inviting the bemused listener to join him in a dark fate that one can barely resist. In contrast, the almost pure tenor of Donald Grobe is ideal as the young Sir Aubrey who is helpless in the face of the terrible threat of the vampire. It's a beautiful tenor voice indeed. Listen to the fabulous confrontation between Ruthven and Aubrey in track 5 of the second disc - delicious! And the Vampire Master is blood-curdlingly good – dark beyond belief, excellently sung by Hans Herbert Fiedler, whose opening scene sets the tone for the ensuing midnight chills that permeate the opera.

Of the women, Jane Marsch is quite good as Janthe (perhaps her voice is a little squally, and she's not of as high a standard as the other two women, but she is by no means contemptible). Anna Tomowa-Sintow as Emmy is remarkably good – what a powerhouse of a voice, and with such dramatic intensity! Arleen Augér is wonderful – there's simply no other word for her. Her voice is pure and agile, and she sings the difficult music of Malwina without any difficulty at all, and with considerable sympathy.

In all, this is a superb recording of a very good (and unusual!) opera. Listen to it on a stormy night – and don't answer the door if you hear a knock.