Hindemith: Die Harmonie Der Welt [The Harmony of the World]

Fortunately, Die Harmonie der Welt gets a fine performance from Marek Janowski and his cast. Francois Le Roux is excellent as Kepler, singing and acting with authority, and subsidiary roles are well done and often better than that. The only flaw here is the casting of Susanna, the soprano lead and love interest with a singer who is, to be blunt, downright awful. But in the overall scheme of a 2-hour-and-40-minute opera, she inflicts minimal damage. Opera buffs, especially those attracted to accessible tonal modern operas, will want this important recording. They can be secure in the belief that it gets a worthy performance and is not likely to be rivaled for a long time to come. --Dan Davis