Hulda

"Recording of the month: Even Franck's greatest admirers were hardly aware that he had written operas ... Last year I reviewed a recording of Hulda ... [This one] outclasses Bollon's estimable version in every way: it is better sung, better played, better recorded and comes with a full libretto and translation ... The cast is a strong one. The title role is taken by the American soprano Jennifer Holloway ... She dominates the action and she has taken care with her French ... This is not a curiosity but a really worthwhile and impressive work ... Franckists should not hesitate to snap it up".

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"This is a world premiere recording of Franck's opera Hulda in its original version ... Franck's music is very compelling throughout the opera, with not a pedestrian moment anywhere ... Meagan Miller as Hulda is dramatically effective, but her voice is not particularly outstanding and her vibrato can at times turn toward wobble. Neither is Anja Jung a great asset, but the rest of the cast is fine and Fabrice Bollon's conducting is simply excellent ... In addition, the Freiburg choruses sing quite convincingly throughout ... Despite these encumbrances, my verdict is still very positive about this opera. Franck mavens will certainly want this set and I believe many other lovers of opera, Wagnerians in particular, will find this an intriguing and worthwhile acquisition".

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"Jennifer Holloway is magnificent in the immense title-role here, if occasionally steely in tone, marvellously alert to the text...and superb in her delineation of Hulda's transformation from victim to monster ... Edgaras Montvidas, sounding really sexy, plays Eiolf, the unheroic hero, as a dithering sensualist ... and Judith va Wanroij does wonders as the enigmatic Swanhilde ... Matthieu Lécroart makes a terrific Gudleik, stroppy and very dangerous indeed, while Véronique Gens is impeccable, as one might expect, as the Aslak matriark Gudrun ... This is a fine achievement, and well worth hearing".

"Fabrice Bollon and his Freiburg forces have done much of late to re-examine the lesser-known operatic repertory ... Their latest venture is the first uncut recording of 'Hulda', César Franck's 'légende scandinave' ... based on a play by the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson ... The conducting, playing and choral singing here are all excellent. Bollon impressively ratchets up the dramatic tension with measured inexorability".