PACO073 - HONEGGER Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher

"A beautiful American performance (in French) on finely engineered records" - Gramophone

This work was commissioned and first performed by Ida Rubinstein, the dancer who had previously commissioned Ravel to write Bolero. It's appropriate, then, that the narration in this recording is performed by Vera Zorina (born Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin), an accomplished ballerina and later Hollywood actress who married George Balanchine and who, at the time of this recording, was married to Columbia Records president Goddard Lieberson. Her participation in this recording was not mere nepotism, however. She had not only performed the role of Joan in the U.S. premiere (in 1948 with Charles Munch and the New York Philharmonic), but had also participated in every subsequent performance in North America up to the time of this recording. For his part, Ormandy's association with Honegger dated at least from his Minneapolis days in the early 1930s, when he had recorded the composer's Concertino for Piano and Orchestra.

The present transfer was made from the best portions of two first edition blue label American Columbia pressings. There are some instances of distortion, dropout and studio noises which are on the original LP master tape.

Vera Zorina

notes from Wikipedia

Vera Zorina (January 2, 1917 – April 9, 2003) was a Norwegian ballerina, musical theatre actress and choreographer.

Background

Vera Zorina was born Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin, Germany. Her father Fritz was a German and her mother Billie Hartwig was Norwegian. Both were professional singers. Zorina was brought up in Kristiansund where she debuted as a dancer at the Festiviteten, the oldest opera house in Norway. She received her education at the Lyceum for Girls in Berlin but was trained in dance by Olga Preobrajenska and Nicholas Legat.

Career

She was presented to Max Reinhardt at age 12 who cast her in his A Midsummer Night's Dream (1929) and Tales of Hoffman (1931). A performance at London's Gaiety Theatre led to her entrance into the company of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1933. She changed her stage name to Vera Zorina when she joined the Ballet Russe. She won a lead role in the London company of On Your Toes (1937) and was seen by American film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who signed her to a seven year film contract. Between 1938 and 1946, she would appear in a number of Hollywood movie productions.

One of her most iconic stage roles was the title character in the 1938 Rodgers and Hart musical I Married an Angel, in which she played an exquisite angel who descends from heaven to marry Hungarian banker Dennis King, but whose complete lack of human guile presents him with a whole new set of problems. Her role in the film version was played by Jeannette MacDonald.

Starting in 1948, Zorina was associated with Arthur Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, in which she played the title role in the first American performance with the New York Philharmonic under Charles Münch. She subsequently played the role many times, notably in the recorded performance from the Royal Festival Hall in June 1966 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa.

In the 1970s, Vera Zorina was appointed director with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet (Den Norske Opera & Ballet). In later years, she was active with the Lincoln Center as an adviser and director and for several seasons directed operas at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. In 1986, Vera Zorina completed her autobiography entitled Zorina (New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux. 1986)

Personal life

She was George Balanchine's second wife; they were married from 1938 to 1946. She danced in productions he choreographed, both on the stage and screen, including On Your Toes, a Broadway hit later adapted for the screen by Lawrence Riley.

She was also married to Columbia Records president Goddard Lieberson from 1946 until his death on May 29, 1977, by whom she had two sons: Peter Lieberson, a composer, and Jonathan Lieberson. Her final marriage was to harpsichordist Paul Wolfe from 1991 until her death at age 86.

Notes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Zorina

Pristine Classical Historic Recordings

Background

Career

Personal life