Commented
Discography of the Ring des Nibelungen,
by Olivier
wagner
re:opera
Introduction
Furtwängler conducts
the Ring
Neues Bayreuth: Karajan,
Krauss, Keilberth, Knappertsbusch, Bohm, Boulez and Barenboim
Studio recordings:
Solti, Karajan, Haitink, Levine and Dohnányi
Other recordings
Introduction
The main reason for the fascination created by the Ring is the different
levels of signification and understanding of this masterpiece. The fantastic
scenery allows Marxist, Freudian, Jungian and almost all kind of interpretations
as well. The large cast and the incredible subtlety of such characters
like Wotan, Brünnhilde or Alberich make for countless psychologically
rich situations with large amounts of feelings and dramatic motivation.
The poem of the Ring has been first thought at the same time Richard
Wagner was politically quite involved with Bakunin. Thus, the Ring is
definitely made of social conflicts : Gods versus Giants, Nibelheim
versus the world, Siegmund versus society or Siegfried versus the Law.
On another hand, it is important to understand the connection between
Marxism and R. Wagner : Wagner keeps the idea that Humanity (and its
History) is lead by social conflicts. But if Wagner kept the strong
Marxist analysis (i.e., the world is made of social conflicts), he did
not adopt the Marxist conclusions : otherwise, the proletarian Giants
would have reigned instead of Wotan. Wagner's conclusion is that the
redemption of the world is made by love, not by proletarian revolution
: only love can suppress the human neurotic inclination to steal power.
After all, all this story begins because Alberich betrays human nature
(in quite a Rousseaunian point of view) as he sacrifices love to steal
the Gold. And does not Loge explain that everywhere in the world, all
human beings would not change love for anything else? This point introduces
the third fascinating feature of the work - conflict between values.
Fricka and the Law, Alberich and Richness, Wotan and Power, Siegmund
and Individualism, Loge and Intelligence, Mime and Work, Gunther and
Glory, Brünnhilde and Compassion, Sieglinde and Love, Hunding and Society,
Freia and Youth, Erda and History, Gutrune and Affection, Hagen and
Legacy, Fasolt and Desire, Fafner and Possession, Siegfried and Freedom
and so on. The philosophical, ethical, political and psychological richness
of the Ring is definitely a vision of the whole World and Humanity,
similar to the Balzacian purpose, but summed in 16 hours of theater,
and this is probably the reason of the fascination of this unique work.
The richness of the psychological portrayal and evolution of characters
during the Ring involves the casting subtle singers, able to perform
all the aspects of their characters, but also to identify themselves
with the ethic value they represent. Three Wotan's ages needs to be
well differentiated: the young and arrogant character in Rheingold;
the mature and serious one in Die Walküre and the resigned and distant
Wanderer. This needs a subtle and eloquent singer (Schorr, Hotter and
Adam were great Lieder singers) with charisma, elegance and power. Brünnhilde's
evolution is no less fascinating: a naive and innocent teenager, full
of compassion in Walküre, both wise and sexy in Siegfried, she becomes
strong and mature in Götterdämmerung before the difficult final scene
where she is the only character to understand all the story of the Ring
and where she has to take the responsibility to restore of Order of
the World making for a new era : Humanity. Brünnhilde must absolutely
be both sweet and heroic, beautiful of tone and enthusiastic. Alberich
is the third character to appear in the three days of the Ring: he is
also one of the reason of the action. He must represent the impossibility
to obtain love : a Freudian vision of his action could be that his inability
to access sexuality (because of his ugliness) will make him despise
love he cannot obtain and compensate it by a will for power (although
it is a pity Wagner did not take time enough to relate his union with
Frau Grimhilde : Alberich's behaviour after having obtained sexuality
would have been passionate ). Alberich must display both his will for
the Ring (and for power) and also the pain due to the lack of love :
both involve violence of tone, and the energy of obsession. Siegfried
is both the most simple main character and the most difficult to cast:
he has to reach the highest freedom, with heroic enthusiasm and self-confidence.
The main trouble here is that the need of performing freedom means that
the singer must show ease and eloquence in a role vocally extremely
difficult. Erda appears twice, in Rheingold and Siegfried, as the conscience
of Wotan. She is the Mother Earth, and so her tone needs to be magnificent,
ample, fantastic and legendary. It requires the rarest voice of a dramatic
contralto, a rich and fascinating one. The dramatic impact of the role
is mainly in the voice and all acting (vocally or on stage) should ultimately
be avoided in the role : she is only an appearance, almost a Ghost invoked
by Wotan's conscience. Siegmund and Sieglinde only appear in Walkure,
but their importance on casting a Ring is extreme: the twins represent
true love, and so humanity, and the strength of their feelings, of their
despair and their emotions is the emotional apex of the Ring. Siegmund
must be violently despaired, he is Wehwalt, and Sieglinde must be able
to express that all the fulfillment in her life will take place in only
one night so intense in love and humanity. Loge also only appears in
one day in the Ring; but his natural form, fire, is present in the three
last days. If Loge is the brain of the initial robbery of the Ring by
Wotan, he will also be called by Brünnhilde at the end of Gotterdammerung
to burn the Walhalla and reestablish the order of the world. Loge is
in fact a kind of intellectual mercenary, enslaved by Wotan, but mentally
free, without any other real purpose than offering his services and
especially being on his natural shape (fire of the three ending of the
last journeys). The singer must be eloquent (Loge is the brain), eccentric
(he has neither purpose nor interest) and unreachable (he is fire).
That is why he is frequently cast with character tenors. His narration
of his journey requires also a lot of lyricism, and that is why, in
the other hand, a beautiful dramatic tenor can also be very satisfying
in the role. I will end this psychological and vocal description of
the characters by the most interesting character : Mime. Mime has a
strange mimetic quality related to Alberich involving the possession
of the Ring. But the psychological reason of the quest for the ring
(quest for power) for Mime is not to compensate a sexual frustration
Mime never express in anyway (presenting himself as mother and father
to Siegfried, he involuntarily admits his asexuality). His purpose is
to have his revenge after the permanent humiliations inflicted on him
by Alberich. His patience and ability to work, his technical mastering
will never compensate his lack of imagination and creativity: Only the
transgression of law and ability to bet his life create a hero. He is
too conventional and without success, and too much a coward to succeed.
The role requires a talented actor, on stage and with the voice, to
compose such a character. All other main roles are much more one-dimensional:
Hagen is born to succeed where Alberich failed, and the meaning of his
life is to get back the ring since his birth ; Fricka is a goddess,
Wotan's unhappy wife, and the symbol of faith, law and order; Waltraute
is the deus ex machina manqué, and the moral conscience of Brünnhilde
; Hunding represents the brutal intolerance of the majorities; Gunther
the inhibition of unwilling aristocracy; Fasolt and Fafner the strength
without intelligence. All those roles are less complex than the main
ones, but are quite far from being conventional : they all requires
first-rate actors… and first-rate singers.
If I do not talk so much about the singers, it is because, paradoxically
I am unsure if the quality of singing is the most important feature
of the cast. Nowadays, many people think Wagner's interpretation standard
is a large powerful orchestra, with slow tempi, requiring even more
stentorian voices. This is not Wagner's own interpretation on how his
music, and especially the Ring, should be interpreted. In a famous letter
to Franz Liszt, about Lohengrin, Wagner insisted a lot that «his music
has to be conducted alla breve». It is interesting also to notice that
Wagner was also considered in the middle of XIXth century as the best
conductor of his time. A lot of descriptions of his art as conductor
makes us think his performances of Beethoven's 9th symphony were quite
frenetic, with an exaggeration of slow or fast speed. In no case it
was something uniformly slow. During rehearsals of the Bayreuth first
performances of the Ring, Wagner also asked the festival orchestra to
soften his indications of 'forte' and 'fortissimo', as « the singers
on the stage have to be heard without effort ». A few conductors only
have respected those indications : Clemens Krauss, Karl Böhm and Pierre
Boulez are probably the most faithful to what Wagner wanted, and listening
to the highlights of Richard Strauss conducting Parsifal in 1933 in
Bayreuth, it becomes obvious this is the right way to conduct this music.
Regarding singers, it seems Wagner did not require singers with the
largest voices. As I said before, he asked his orchestra to avoid forte,
whereas Bayreuth theater was already build to give an advantage to singers
instead of the orchestra. Wagner always insisted to have 'actors who
can sing'. The discography below will show a few excellent examples
: Reiner Goldberg has the perfect voice of Siegfried but is dramatically
very weak ; Wolfgang Windgassen, with half the voice of Goldberg, but
with wonderful eloquence and sense of theater will be infinitely more
convincing. A singer like Anne Evans, who is far from having the voice
needed for the role, is a very convincing Brünnhilde, because her interpretation
is very consistent to the dramatic truth of Brünnhilde and her feelings.
On the opposite, the most superb voice of Jessye Norman cannot convince
by itself in Sieglinde, because of her absence of dramatic truth. Finally
the wonderful success of the Boulez-Chereau production has demonstrated
that bad singers transformed into first-rate actors can achieve the
best Ring ever produced.
Furtwängler conducts the Ring
1 - Die Walküre
(highlights 70 minutes), Wiener Staatsoper (live), February 1936 - Franz
Völker, Maria Müller, Alfred Jerger, Anny Konetzni, Walter
Grossmann (LYS)
2 - Die Walküre
(3rd act), Covent Garden (live), May 1937 - Kirsten Flagstad, Rudolf
Bockelmann, Maria Müller (LYS, Gramofono2000)
3 - Götterdämmerung
(highlights 105 minutes), Covent Garden (live), June 1937 - Kirsten
Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Herbert Janssen, Ludwig Weber, Kerstin Thorborg
(LYS)
4 - Götterdämmerung
(highlights 86 minutes), Bayreuth (live), July-August 1937 - Frida
Leider, Max Lorenz, Ludwig Hoffmann, Jaro Prohaska, Kate Heidersbach
(LYS)
5 - Götterdämmerung
(highlights 34 minutes), Covent Garden (live), June 1938 - Frida Leider,
Lauritz Melchior, Herbert Janssen, Wilhelm Schipp, Anny von Stosch (LYS)
6 - Götterdämmerung
(Siegfried’s journey on Rhine, Trauermusik, Brünnhilde’s immolation),
London (studio), 1950-51 - Kirsten Flagstad, Philarmonia Orchestra (EMI)
7 - Der Ring des Nibelungen,
La Scala, Milan, (live), March 1950 - Ferdinand Frantz, Josef Hermann,
Kirsten Flagstad, Set Svanholm, Max Lorenz, Alois Pernestorfer, Günther
Treptow, Hilde Konetzni, Ludwig Weber, Elisabeth Höngen, Joachim
Sattler, Peter Markvwort (Music and Arts)
8 - Der Ring des Nibelungen,
RAI Roma (radio), October-November 1953 - Ferdinand Frantz, Martha Mödl,
Ludwig Suthaus, Gustav Neidlinger, Wolfgang Windgassen, Hilde Konetzni,
Ira Malaniuk, Elsa Calvetti, Julius Patzak, Gottlob Frick, Josef Greindl,
Alfred Poell, Elisabeth Grümmer, Sena Jurinac, Rita Streich, Lorenz
Fehenberger, Margaret Klose, Hilde Rössl-Majdan (EMI)
9 - Die Walküre,
Vienna (studio), 1954 - Ludwig Suthaus, Leonie Rysanek, Gottlob Frick,
Martha Mödl, Ferdinand Frantz, Margaret Klose, Wiener Philarmoniker
(EMI)
No other conductor is more
associated to the concept of "Wagner conducting" than Wilhelm
Furtwängler - with the possible exception of Clemens Krauss, Strauss’s
librettist in Capriccio, from a purely musical point of view. Furtwängler
has incarnated for more than half a century the idea of a complete view
of the German composer’s work, because this conductor’s highly
developed vision of the interpretation of Wagner’s music was more
than up to Wagner’s mythologic narration. It is important to notice
how much ancient Greek culture was part of Furtwängler’s own education.
This would explain a part of this unique tragic sense this artist threw
into his view on the Ring. Nonetheless, most opera lovers know Furtwängler
mainly for his post-war performances and the HMV recordings. Walter
Legge, conscious of the importance of this legacy, hurried him to record
in London from 1950 to 1954, the year the conductor died, Tristan und
Isolde, short highlights of Götterdämmerung and only the first
day of a Tetralogy left incomplete, since death carried the conductor
after a monumental Don Giovanni in Salzburg for the benefit of posterity
during the summer of 1954, a few months after the end of the HMV Walküre
recording, adding an omnipresent new character to Mozart’s opera,
the shadow of death.
I intend to explain below
the idea that no one can claim to have an idea of Furt’s conducting
before the war, if he never experimented his live recordings from the
30’s in London, Vienna and Bayreuth. Post-war recordings are intense,
tragic, perfect in classicism, slightly slower, but had lost the excited,
enthusiastic, nervous phrases of pre-war recordings. As a biographical
comment, it is important to understand that the III Reich broke this
man who refuse to leave Germany, not because of any sympathy with nazism,
but because he thought music, Mozart and Beethoven were essential to
oppressed people during wartime. More honestly, he was so much attached
to his beloved Germany – in a cultural and clearly not in a political
sense - that, if he had left it , he would have died of sadness and
yearning. Being used as a toy by the nazists, who humiliated him and
took profit of the publicity based on his inability to leave, he finished
the war almost mentally dead and charged by the allies with the crime
of having been the nazist he never was. On the contrary, he had been
the defender and protector of Jewish musician of both Wiener and Berliner
Philarmoniker as long as he could. Yehudi Menuhin testified in Furtwängler’s
trial in order to help him, since their relationship had allowed the
birth of those incredibly great recordings of Brahms’ and Beethoven’s
violin concerti.
The highlights of Die Walküre
in 1936 in Vienna are the perfect recording to understand what I previously
meant. Made of many excerpts – one or two minutes long, some less –
those highlights introduce a frenetic view of the score, with imaginative
ardent phrasing, shining with clarity (even in that recorded sound !),
naturality and musicality. The cello has an unique emotive distinct
vibration in the first act; the final scenes of the second act are just
frantic. There are so many ideas there. Also, the strings lead the Walkürenritt
rather than the brass (an unforgettable idea of movement), among many
other niceties. There is no interest in multiplying examples : let’s
say it is full of life, of exciting theatrical and musical imagination.
People who believe Furtwängler to be a slow conductor would be
very surprised. The cast is first-rate, and the Fritz Völker-Marie
Müller Wälsungenpaar shines. More lyrical, perhaps lighter-voiced,
but illuminated somehow, perfect musicians and stylists, they are not
in any way inferior to the Melchior-Lehmann famous twins. As these recordings
are very fragmented, in a far from perfect sound, they are perhaps best
fit to Ring collectors. But for them, and for anybody with an interest
in the deep knowledge of wagnerian conducting, they are simply essential.
The third act of Walküre
recorded in Covent Garden in 1937 with Bockelmann, Flagstad and Müller
is a collectors’ classic and should be known by everybody, since,
besides the greatness of the conducting, three reference incarnations
of Wotan, Brünnhilde and Sieglinde are offered here.
Essential for all wagnerians,
the set of 3CD LYS offers large highlights of three Götterdämmerung
performances of the 30's. In an interesting sound, including complete
scenes, those performances are just grandiose and features the best
in wagnerian singing in XXth century : Flagstad and Melchior have the
attitude, the heroic feeling never found later, Herbert Janssen is unmatched
in vocal perfection, stylistic elegance, a truly aristocratic Gunther.
Frida Leider, a kind of warmer Nilsson, with a small but incisive untiring
voice, is another part of this mythic era and Kerstin Thorborg’s Waltraute
is another idea of what singing an epic and tragic drama means. Jaro
Prohaska and Ludwig Hoffmann, without reaching this level, are fantastic
compared to nowaday’s standards, as well as the young Ludwig Weber.
I repeat myself, but the keyword here is "essential" for any
wagnerian.
The three HMV studio recordings
of Götterdämmerung in the Abbey Road studios around 1950 will
introduce the later Furtwängler style as it is mainly known. Intense,
tragic, quite pessimistic, a bit slower (but not so much, opposing the
legend - Furt’s tempi, even in the 50's, are really much faster than
those under the baton of Solti, Karajan, Barenboim or Levine…), with
a classic transparence and elegant phrasing, always the grandiose feeling,
perhaps with more art but less spontaneity. But do not let yourself
be fooled: even in the 50’s, Furtwangler’s conducting owns a theatrical
sense no other conductor would ever offer again. Even if fate didn’t
allow us to dream of a HMV Ring of Bruno Walter and Furtwängler,
I mean complete and in a technical appropriated sound, Furtwängler
left us at least two complete Rings made – paradoxically – on Italian
soil. Those two recordings are clearly frustrating ones, and will never
compensate what could have been done by Walter Legge’s team at that
time. In both cases, the orchestra is not at the level of the event
and casts offer both unforgettable incarnations and awful peformances.
But let us enter the subject, with the 1950 La Scala Ring. The orchestra
is far from perfect, but seems to be sensitive to Furtwängler charisma
and still provides us excitement, energy and interesting phrasing, despite
of lot of errors in the playing. The cast is quite heterogeneous. Kirsten
Flagstad’s three complete Brünnhilde, even late in her career,
are a gift from Heaven. Even if she never sounded really involved (as
Mödl wouldl be later for Furtwängler), that golden voice exists
by itself and procures a feeling of security, of semi-deity without
equal. Style amd tone are perfect, and this voice is so musical, so
beautiful, so natural in fact. A legacy for eternity, which justifies
by itself the existence of this Ring. But this recording also gives
us the presence of three unforgettable tenors, also recorded quite late
in their careers. First of them, Günther Treptow as Siegmund is
at his best here – much better than in the Moralt 1949 recording, and
completely different from his ugly Stolzing with Knappertsbusch in Decca
the same year. His Siegmund is the most anxious, the most heroic too
somehow. One can hear the fear, the deep love in this Siegmund. Listening
to this performance is an experience you will never forget. Alas, Hilde
Konetzni as Sieglinde is unimaginative, indifferent, weak, tame, even
with such an involved partner. Set Svanholm is a clear young Siegfried,
mastering all difficulties of the role with ease and is also able to
act. Peter Markwort as Mime is also excellent. Max Lorenz gives us here
his typical overacted interpretations of the 50’s. The Lorenz so
fresh and young in the 30’s was verging on Sprechgesang at the
end of his career. Anyway. even overacting, he is still so heroic, so
exciting in the projection, in the use of words… I am always instinctively
fascinated by this performance, although, intellectually, my stylistic
sense would press me to reject it. Besides those legends of past, Elisabeth
Höngen is also here for Fricka, Erda and Waltraute - simply excellent.
Ferdinand Frantz and Josef Hermann (Siegfried only) as Wotan are somewhat
gray and unimaginative, but also vocally able and noble, quite acceptable.
Pernestorfer is a good Alberich and Ludwig Weber (Fasolt, Hunding, Hagen)
is also first-rate. But forget immedialtely all others, especially the
Rheintöchter, Norns and Walküren, as well as the horrid Loge,
Joachim Sattler. To sum it up. this Ring is interesting first for the
unique presence of Kirsten Flagstad and some other performances such
as the heroic desperate Siegmund of Gunther Treptow and the fascinating
- if controversal – old Max Lorenz’s Siegfried. Rheingold can be ignored
(it is globally awful), Walküre shines only with Flagstad and Treptow,
but Siegfried is quite exciting and homogeneous, and finally, Götterdämmerung
offers a mature but exciting couple Max Lorenz and Kirsten Flagstad,
with excellent support of artists such as Weber’s Hagen, Hermann’s Gunther
or Höngen’s Waltraute.
Globally, I would rather
recommend the RAI edition, which gathers an exciting set of singers,
and fabulous second roles. Just picture Elisabeth Grümmer as Freia,
Rita Streich as der Vogel, Sena Jurinac as Gutrune, the fascinating
Julius Patzak’s Mime (astonishing indeed), Greindl and Frick as the
giants, Margaret Klose as Erda, Lorenz Fehenberger as Froh and Alfred
Poell as both Donner and Gunther ! ! ! A glamourous trio of Rhinemaids
too with Jurinac, Rössl-Majdan and Gabory and fascinating Nornen
including Klose, Rössl-Majdan and Jurinac again ! ! ! Regarding
the main roles, as much as in La Scala’s perforance, it is the
Brünnhilde who is the most distinguished element of the recording.
Martha Mödl in her prime – and it did not last for long – is magic
with involvement. Of course, technical problems that would ruin her
voice were already here - some sounds can be strange, but vocal projection
is of iron (and the voice is dark and heavy enough to create the needed
excitement) and at the peak of its powers. You will never find more
moving Brunnhilde (except perhaps for Régine Crespin, but in
a quite different style) : passionate, emotional, full of compassion
in Walküre, in love then first-rate tragédienne in Götterdämmerung.
Each inflexion of her voice, each accent, each word fit both the music
and the drama in a way Wagner would have dreamt of. As the result of
a miracle, she found perhaps the best Siegfried possible at that time,
the underestimated Ludwig Suthaus. Heroic but without any fault of style
and with true ease, this stately Siegfried has the shape of a hero.
Mödl and Suthaus, together with all the great second-role performers
named above, produce very impressive vocal results in Siegfried and
Götterdämmerung. Ferdinand Frantz repeats his sober and unimaginative
yet noble Wotan, but at least vocally able and without stylistic faults
and Gustav Neidlinger replaces Alois Pernestorfer for one of the most
well sung and fascinating Rheingold of the discography. Alas, the best
loved day of the Ring, Die Walküre, is quite weak compaired to
the three other parts : Hilde Konetzni is unbearable as Sieglinde once
again, Wolfgang Windgassen (excellent as a lyrical charming Loge by
the way) does not find the key for Siegmund and Elsa Calvetti is awful
as Fricka (Ira Malaniuk is much better in Rheingold). This Walküre’s
disappointment could be easily handled, given the incredible vocal standards
of the three other parts, but, alas, the RAI orchestra is an ordeal
all the Ring long. The sound of instruments is just poor and does not
allow Furtwängler to give life to the legendary beauty of his tragic
phrasing. Of course, the architecture remains impressive - it is Furtwängler
- but the colors are definitely unexciting due to the RAI orchestra.
Regarding those two weak orchestras, none of Furtwängler’s
recorded complete Rings can be considered neither as a reference, nor
as a priority. But those are still essential performances and ideas,
and no real wagnerian would pass a Furtwangler’s Ring by. One has to
remember all the faults there, though. Otherwise, disappointment could
be too strong. For those more interested in voices, I would rather recommend
the 1953 RAI set (despite of Walküre). For others more attracted
to theater and orchestral playing, the 1950 La Scala one.
To end this essay about
Wilhelm Furtwängler’s recorded performances of Der Ring des
Nibelungen, I will now comment the last recording. His last wagnerian
recording,. the very last recording by the way. The HMV 1954 studio
recording of Walküre is a classic set everyone should own. The
Wiener Philarmoniker is here this time in a studio recording and the
view of the score becomes illuminated by genius. Just listen to the
first encounter of the twins and the quality of the phrasing of the
cello or the desperate introduction of the second act, or the excitement
of the closing of the second act or even the pure beauty of Wotan’s
farewell, which has never been surpassed. The Wiener Philarmoniker allows
Furtwängler to recreate an imaginative aesthetically perfect run
of the score, with so many moving accents, rich colors and so much theatrical
sense. The cast – so weak in previous recorded Walküre - is magnificient.
Martha Mödl replaced Kirsten Flagstad (furious against Walter Legger,
after that people learned the "Schwarzkopf’s high-C " incident during
the 1952 Tristan recording sessions, she just cancelled definitively
any recording she could have made with him) and irradiates humanity,
sympathy for Siegmund, mercy to Sieglinde and so much tenderness towards
Wotan. It is a wonderful performance. Ferdinand Frantz was already old
at that time, but his Wotan is still noble and without diffculties,
while Margaret Klose is a true majestic goddess, even so late in her
career. Ludwig Suthaus has heroic stature and is a deeply concentrated
Siegmund, sad and tragic, and just perfect of style. Gottlob Frick’s
Hunding is a classic of the discography and the young Leonie Rysanek
is already the passionate woman Böhm and Wieland Wagner would transform
into pure fire 10 years later in Bayreuth. She is here somewhat shy
and the voice is less dark in tone and lighter than in her following
recordings of the role, but it is unfair to compare her to herself with
Böhm (unforgettable Sieglinde, full of love, passion and energy).
Even younger, she was already climbing the stairway to legendary singers’
Walhalla. Although I will not recommend this recording fas anyone’s
first Walküre – I would rather recommend Böhm – it is a close
second, as long as we talk about official recordings (Knappertsbusch
Bayreuth 1958, with Vickers, Rysanek, Greindl, Varnay, Hotter and Gorr
is my personnal reference – Melodram). It is also truly enjoyable.
So, for anyone interested
in Furtwängler’s view of the Ring, I would first recommend the
studio recording of Die Walkure, added to the 1937 London 3rd act (which
can be easily found). Highlights of Götterdämmerung 1937 and
1938 are a must have (but not easy to grab) for anybody wanting to know
exactly, and in an acceptable sound, what was really Furtwängler’s
genius in conducting Wagner. I would recommend the complete Italian
recordings for wagnerian collectors only… in case they would not already
own them.
Neues Bayreuth: Karajan, Krauss,
Keilberth, Knappertsbusch, Bohm, Boulez and Barenboim
After World War II, Bayreuth was kept closed until 1951, both as a
symbol and as it was necessary to reorganize a theater that had been
too much involved with Nazism: Winifred and Hitler were close friends.
These changes have created a wonderful artistic revival, mostly because
of the spirit Wieland Wagner dad introduced on taking over the house.
His modern vision of theater helped new singers to reach a new style
of interpretation, definitely superior to the pre-war standards. To
illustrate this point, I remind an interview with Erich Leinsdorf: the
conductor was surprised about the idea of a Golden Age in the 30’s,
something he refused to recognize, and explained that of course the
singers in the 30’s had perhaps better voices, but that their artistic
sense was quite inferior to post-war singers. For example, he related
that the great Lauritz Melchior was bored by his presence on stage during
the first act ending of Parsifal, and used to sing with the choir to
pass time… Can you imagine King, Vickers or Domingo behaving the same
way in such an opera like Parsifal? In the beginning of the 50s, the
Wagner brothers gathered a magnificent team of singers transformed into
real actors under their direction (especially Wieland's one) : Hans
Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gustav Neidlinger and Josef
Greindl, and later Leonie Rysanek, Jess Thomas, Martti Talvela, James
King, Christa Ludwig and, of course, Birgit Nilsson. Those singers are
the protagonists of many wonderful live recordings from Bayreuth, under
the baton of the most celebrated Wagnerian conductors. The best recordings
of the Rings are probably those of post-war performances.
The 1951 Ring : Karajan and Knappertsbusch
To celebrate the reopening event, two cycles were played in Bayreuth,
one under the baton of Karajan, and the other one under with Knappertsbusch.
Both were recorded, but for mysterious reasons, none of them was entirely
published. Nevertheless, private recordings of Rheingold and Siegfried
conducted by Karajan have been available since long time ago, as well
as the third act of Walküure published by EMI. Testament recently
published Knappertsbusch's Gotterdammerung, although they lost the rights
to keep it in catalogue due to a legal action.
Karajan's Rheingold and Siegfried are magnetic recordings, because
in the 50s Karajan was a lyric and energetic conductor, already interested
in transparency, but with much more life and naturality than later in
his DG recordings. His cast is unimpressive, and most of the singers
will not appear in Bayreuth for a while. This is the case for the handsome
but finally a bit insipid Wotan of Sigurd Björling and the glamourous
Woglinde of ElisabethSchwarzkopf (Rosalinde is sometimes not so far…).
It is interesting to notice the only singers to be very interesting
will be the one for many years in the Bayreuth team : Wolfgang Windgassen
(Froh), Paul Kuen (Mime), Ludwig Weber (Fasolt), Leonie Rysanek (Sieglinde),
and of course the magnificent Astrid Varnay (Brünnhilde).
Knappertsbusch's Gotterdammerung is impressive. The conductor is fascinating,
spectacular, musical, and always keeping tension even in such slow tempi.
The cast for this third journey of the Ring is by far the most consistent
with what Wieland Wagner's team would be later. First, the Brünnhilde
of the young Varnay is a splendor of vocal security, good taste and
dramatic understanding, and her energy in this first performances in
Bayreuth is amazing. Just imagine she could have never sung in Bayreuth
at all, since she had refused to present herself to an audition, as
she has related in her excellent autobiography. Finally, she was chosen
to the Bayreuth team only because of her reputation in USA, without
having ever been heard neither by Wolfgang, nor by Wieland ! Hermann
Uhde had been one of the most fequent singers of the Neues Bayreuth,
and would be usually cast as the Holländer, Telramund, Klingsor
and even Wotan with Kempe. His Gunther is dramatic, and excellently
sung. Ludwig Weber's Hagen is very good and Martha Modl sings an unusually
involved Gutrune and a fascinating dritte Norn. As in Rheingold, Woglinde
is sung with Schwarzkopf's hallmark beauty and mannerisms. Bernd Aldenhoff
is far from being totally satisfying : the voice is solid, the top register
easy, but the style is too much prosaic - tame indeed. Wolfgang Windgassen
had not begun in Siegfried at this time (he would in 1953 with Krauss),
and Aldenhoff was probably the only option at this time, and is in fact
much more acceptable than many others. A beautiful version, very well
published with an excellent sound by Testament.
The 1953 Krauss' miracle
In 1953, Wieland Wagner's cast got to be almost entirely defined. Hans
Hotter is the best Wotan ever. The heroic quality of the voice, the
subtlety of the interpreter, the qualities in expressing words and feelings
(Hotter was also an outstanding Lieder singer), and the wonderful and
powerful dramatic involvement of the singer are without rival in the
discography. In the 50s he is in the superlative voice nobody could
imagine listening to the Solti's later recording. As in 1951, Varnay
is immense as Brünnhilde. Gustav Neidlinger began to sing that
year his well-known definitive Alberich, and Greindl began to offer
his usual frightening impersonations of Fafner, Hunding and Hagen Ramón
Vinay also debuted his dark, intense, and exciting Siegmund. Alas, his
partner, Regina Resnik, is certainly correct and full of life as Sieglinde,
but without lyricism and beauty.
In 1953, Bayreuth finally foun its Siegfried for the next 15 years
:Wolfgang Windgassen. Windgassen was probably not an Heldentenor, but
he had elegance and an unmatched eloquence. Just listen to his 1953
young Siegfried : enthusiastic, young, eloquent, exuberant: it is a
wonder. H is the only one to sound like a teenager and to make each
word interesting, with lyriscim and elegance. Wieland Wagner recognized
that, without him, he could not have made the Bayreuths revival in the
50s. But Windgassen is more than the only solution : he is a true artist,
an outstading actor and a wonderful singer.
But if 1953 is a legendary year in the History of Wagner performances
in Bayreuth, it is because, for one year only and only one cycle (the
other one was under Keilberth's baton) Clemens Krauss conducted the
Ring. And Krauss is the perfect conductor for Wagner: the tempi are
fast and enable drama to take place with urgence and dramatic truth.
Tthere are wonderful sobriety and transparence, an unmatched naturalness
under his baton. Everything sounds spontaneous and one is forced to
believe that it couldn’t be done otherwise.. Krauss' orchestra
displays at the same time Karajan's transparency, Böhm's dramatic
sense and Boulez’s modernity and naturalness. A miracle that took
place only one year, as Krauss died a few months after those performances,
after having left us this immortal Ring and a wonderful Parsifal recorded
this same year.
The Keilberth's years 1952-55
Keilberth is not Krauss' equivalent but he is a sensitive and excellent
Kappelmeister offering interesting phrasing and fast tempi. His 1952
and 1953 Rings were available on LP a long time ago, but I am not sure
if they have been published on CD.
The 1954 Walküre is famous because Max Lorenz was called at the
last minute to sing a strange Siegmund, almost sung in Sprechgesang
all the first act long and quite difficult to assess: a very strange
performance. This record is also the only Sieglinde from Martha Mödl
I know, quite intense but too heavy. Varnay and Hotter are superlative
and the final scene is one of the best I know, because of the emotional
quality of Hotter’s piano singing and the magic sound Keilberth
obtains in the fire music. The 1955 Walküre is another famous performance,
because it offers the magnificent performances: Mödl’s Brünnhilde,
Vinay's Siegmund, Hotter's Wotan… and the astonishing Sieglinde of Astrid
Varnay, an impresive performance, although I do prefer her as Brünnhilde.
Both the 1954 and 1955 Walküren have been published on CD by Melodram.
The Knappertsbusch's years : 1956, 1957, 1958
Knappertsbusch offers probably the opposite to what the reference conductor
Krauss is for this work. Knappertsbusch is spectacular, slow, but powerful
and imaginative, although these tempi do not work all the Ring long
(especially in Siegfried). In fact, I have the feeling this epic very
tragic vision of the Ring is the ideal complement to the naturality
of Clemens Krauss.
Knappertsbush casts gather the usual singers of the 50s, but with slight
differences, which can help one to choose among the three years, all
of them available on CD (1956 Music Arts, 1957 Laudis, 1958 Arkadia).
- The main interest of the 1956 version is the Third Norn of Varnay
(before singing Brünnhilde), but in 1957 the same rolen is taken
by no less than Birgit Nilsson !
- Windgassen and Brouwenstjin in 1956 are less interesting ash Wälsungen
than Vinay and Nilsson (amazing!) in 1957 and the wonderful 1958 twins
Jon Vickers and Leonie Rysanek
- The 1957 Siegfried is Bernd Aldenhoff, really less interesting than
Windgassen in 1956 and 1958, but Siegfried is the less interesting day
under Kna's baton.
- In 1956 and 1957, Alberich is Neidlinger, whereas 1958 introduces
Franz Andersson in the role.
- In 1957 and 1958, Elisabeth Grümmer is both Freia and Gutrune,
- In 1956 and 1957, Uhde's Gunther is much better than Otto Wiener’s
in 1958,
- In 1958, Theo Adam is Fasolt and Gorr is Fricka.
So it’s up to you!
With Nilsson's Sieglinde and Third Norn, Neidlinger as Alberich, Grümmer
(a much beloved singer) as Freia and Gutrune, Vinay as Siegmund and
Uhde as Gunther, I think the 1957 Ring has my prefence.
The sound of the Laudis CDs of the 1957 Ring and the Music Arts ones
of the 1956 Ring are much better defined than the awful one offered
by Arkadia for the 1958 performances. But who could resist the Vickers-Rysanek
Wälsungen, in a Walküre also cast withHotter, Varnay, Gorr
and Greindl ? This recording of Die Walküre, in spite of the bad
sound, is definitely my favorite one.
Rudolf Kempe
Although I have never heard Kempe's Ring, I can imagine that Uhde's
and Hines' Wotans are less satisfying than Hotter, and Hans Hopf definitely
inferior to Wolfgang Windgassen as Siegfried. I also assume Ottokar
Kraus can not be compaired to Gustav Neidlinger and I usually dislike
Windgassen as Siegmund. As Aase Noordmo-Luvgerg does not seem to me
as an attractive Sieglinde, I guess only interest in this live recording
is Rudolf Kempe, so wonderful in his EMI Lohengrin.
The reference : Karl Böhm's Ring
Karl Bohm's Ring is the first Bayreuth Ring officially recorded and
the sound is really excellent. He is also an outstanding conductor for
the Ring his fast tempi, his passion, lyricism, his phrasing that sings
and sometimes almost dances creates a very theatrical atmosphere and
offers amazing musical richness. His Ring displays wonderful humanity
and the rendering of each character’s feelings has never been so
immediate, not even under the baton of Clemens Krauss.
With such a conductor and such a stage director (Wieland Wagner) together,
we can understand why singers play their roles with so much truth and
intensity. Windgassen's Siegfried, Neidlinger's Alberich, Greindl's
Hagen, Mödl's Waltraute are in the end of their careers and if
the voices are tired, they are at the peak of their dramatic involvement.
Theo Adam is not Hans Hotter, but the singer is heroic enough and acts
also with intensity and outstanding eloquence. Windgassen's Loge is
a wonder with his expressive and elegant singing, Wohlfahrt's Mime is
probably the best ever recorded, Stewart the ideal Gunther and Talvela
is impressive as Fasolt. Add to that the impressive Freia of Anja Silja
Freia and the Gutrune of Ludmilla Dvorakova, not vocally as ideal as
Grümmer, but making a true character of such passive roles and
you can have a vision of how theatrical values ares immense in this
version.
But the jewel of this already outstanding and magnificent set is definitely
the Wälsungenpaar Leonie Rysanek's intense Sieglinde is at her
top here, and every moment of her performance is unforgettable. I have
never heard such an intense nightmare in second act, and of course her
shout at the end of the first act is already legendary. James King's
Siegmund is here en état de grâce and sings the best Siegmund
of his career and probably the best Siegmund ever, with incredible intensity
in tragic feelings and love for Sieglinde. I do consider this Siegmund
and Sieglinde as the best ever inthe discography, even superior to Melchior
and Lehmann.
Regarding to the first act end, Leonie Rysanek related on French radio
(an interview I was lucky enough to record) that she had not foreseen
to behave that way, but needed to shout because of the intensity of
what was happening on stage with James King, At the end of the act she
was convinced that the serious Wieland and Böhm would be angry,
and she was frightened to see them both upset almost running to her…
to ask if she was able to do it again for the next performances.
Easy to find, cheap, very well recorded, wonderfully acted and sung,
magnificently conducted, full of life, of feelings and of true theater,
with King and Rysanek, this Ring is certainly the best one to begin
with and probably the most well-rounded one. A wonder.
The centenary Ring : Pierre Boulez
This Ring is a paradox. According to the media you use to have access
to it, its qualites definitely change. If you just listen to the CDs,
you will be seriously disappointed by the singers : Gwyneth Jones is
far from her best as Brünnhilde (but we would like to have such
a Brunnhilde nowadays), McIntyre is far from being impressive as Wotan,
Becht sounds disappointing after singers like Neidlinger or Kelemen,
Hoffman encouters serious troubles with his top register and Manfred
Jung sings Siegfried with half the voice needed for Mime and it is an
ugly voice. Of course Altmeyer is a wonderful Sieglinde, Salminen a
superb Hunding and Fasolt, and Heinz Zednik a wonderful Loge and Mime.
But when main roles are so poorly cast, excellent performances of Sieglinde,
Fasolt and Mime are useless…
On another hand, if you look at the video of those performances you
will be fascinated by the quality of acting of those singers and the
most intelligent stage direction byPatrice Chereau. Whatever you use
as media, Pierre Boulez's orchestra will also impress you by its modernity,
intelligence in transparency and naturalness. I cannot find enough words
to praise such a wonderful orchestral vision.
As for the audio I have heard that the 1976 recordings have been shortly
available on CD in Japan. Fact or fiction? Any information would be
welcome, as the 1976 performances are vocally much more interesting
than the ones officially recorded in 1980 Kollo instead of Jung as Siegfried,
Ridderbusch instead of Hübner as Hagen, Minton instead of Schwarz
as Fricka, and Kelemen instead of Becht as Alberich !
The last recorded Ring : Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim is probably the best Wagnerian conductor today His
way to conduct the Ring was very criticized, and I think it is both
cruel and unfair. In fact, his orchestra offers outstanding musical
richness, with elegance, lightness and magnificent colors. His tempi
are slow, but not so much, and the musical interest of his direction
is always present. Some people have seen here a Furtwängler's imitation,
and it appears to me as nonsense, as Barenboim conducts the Ring as
a wonderful painter and colorist, with a quite Debussy-ian sense, quite
far from the nervous manner of Furtwängler's
His cast offers interesting performances. John Tomlinson's voice is
not always under control, but the singer is eloquent, powerful and plays
his role with intensity. Gunther Von Kannen's Alberich and Siegfried
Jerusalem's Siegfried are the best ones since 70s and Graham Clark is
fascinating both as Loge and Mime. Philip Kang's Hagen is impressive
and Bodo Brickmann is a good Donner and Gunther. Poul Elming is just
correct as Siegmund. Anne Evans is a congenial, young, clear Brunnhilde
(albeit a lightweight one), Nadine Secunde an intense Sieglinde and
Waltraud Meier is probably the best Waltraute ever recorded.
As this Ring is very well recorded, I think this version is serious
competition to Levine’s and Haitink's studio contemporary versions.
Conclusion
Bohm is according to me the version to begin with, and probably the
most satisfying Ring recorded. Boulez's Ring is essential to everyone…
but only on video format. All experimented Wagnerians will want to own
the 1953 Ring, for Hotter, Varnay, Windgassen, Neidlinger and Greindl
at their best, but also to listen to the Krauss' wonderfulorchestal
direction. They will probably be interested in the complementary vision
of Knappertsbusch and I strongly recommend the 1957 edition, except
if they cannot resist to the 1958 twins. Finally, Barenboim's Ring is
a modern Ring with many interests… in order to wait for 2006 Thielemann's
one.
Studio recordings: Solti, Karajan,
Haitink, Levine and Dohnany
Solti told that when he met Walter Legge and annouced him he was recording
Rheingold, the famous producer answered «Nice work, but you won't sell
50 copies». Solti's Ring was of course a greatest success, because it
is both a fascinating work and which benefits from the stereophonic
LP (or CD) amplitude. As soon as Solti began, Karajan launched a rival
recording, and a few years later at the beginning of the 70s, rival
labels published Böhm's and Furtwängler's RAI versions. Nowadays,
Wagnerians can choose (or just pick all of them by the way…) among 4
complete studio recordings, 5 official live recordings, the two Furtwängler
cycles… and a couple of private recordings from Neues Baytreuth. Nevertheless,
each new Ring recorded in studio is an outstanding event in most Wagnerians’
lives, due to the unique excitement this work plays in our Fafnerian
collecting lives.
Solti's Ring is from now on a classic, historic for its extraordinary
cast and, of course, because it has the mythic value of the precursor.
At last, but really late, Hans Hotter was officially recorded in Die
Walküre and Siegfried because of George London's illness (an outstanding
Wotan in Rheingold by the way) and is unmatched by anybody else’s
Wotan except the young Hotter (with Krauss and Knappertsbusch) himself.
Nilsson, Windgassen and Neidlinger were also finally officially recorded
in correct sound, but all three show more emotion (Nilsson), more excitement
(Windgassen) or more spontaneity (Neidlinger) on stage, as if the studio
slightly inhibited them. This is also true for King, much more involved
with Böhm, but who is still here the most convincing Siegmund of
the discography, with a supreme partner: the so feminine and beautiful
Sieglinde of Régine Crespin. Fischer-Dieskau's Gunther is an
exciting piece of casting, whereas Gottlob Frick's Hagen, dark and frightening,
is definitely the most exciting and believable Hagen ever recorded.
Rheingold also introduced Flagstsad's Fricka superb of tone and musical
presence, and Set Svanholm's perfectly sung Loge (perhaps lacking in
fantasy or spirit). There are also Christa Ludwig's reference Fricka
in Die Walküre, the theatrical Mime of Gerhard Stolze and the pleasure
of listening the likes of Wächter's Donner or Sutherland's woodbird.
Fourty years later, the much praised sound and Solti's view are probably
the controversed features of this recording. Solti is most of the time
noisy and lacking in subtlety, true lyricism, poetry, and perhaps imagination,
lost in this one-dimension vision. As the sound clearly enables this
impressive, heroic and finally quite prosaic orchestral vision (in spite
of the fabulous contribution of the Wiener Philarmoniker) to have the
advantage versus singer, this version can be frustrating in a long-run
audition, as it is sometimes difficult to focus on singers' (true) eloquence.
I have the feeling it is time to put in perspective the true rank of
this recording, once past the event of its being the first Ring ever
recorded.
Karajan offered a very personal view on the Ring, very subtle and transparent,
very refined. He refused Solti's grandiloquence and offered a kind of
chamber Ring. If the transparence, fluidity and elegance of his orchestra
are admirable, he could not really reach the truth of Krauss and Boulez’
identical vision of the score, because differently from this two conductors
Karajan's tempi are definitely too slow and so prevented him to reach
the incredible naturaliness of those conductors. The slowness and perhaps
excessive refinement of the Austrian conductor finally produce a feeling
of poetry without theater, of glamour without truth and emotion. To
be honest, I think this is both magnificent and decadent, but does not
match the epic needs of the Ring. To be consistent with this vision,
Karajan chose lyrical singers. Crespin's Brünnhilde in Walküre
is full of poetry and sensitivity, whereas Dernesch is lyrical, elegant,
young and seductive in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. Fischer-Dieskau's
Rheingold Wotan is eloquent, and Stewart, inthe last days, shines with
true elegance and verbal subtlety (he is a perfect Gunther by the way).
Brilioth's Siegfried, Janowitz' Sieglinde or Ridderbusch's Hagen are
magnificiently sung, but Karajan's tempi and preciousism inhibit them
as soon as the drama should be leading. Vickers is probably the singer
the more consistent to Karajan's vision: the poetry and refinement are
admirable, but the Canadian tenor lost all the spontaneity he had with
Knappertsbuch (or even Leinsdorf in RCA studios) and showed the usual
mannerisms he developped in his recordings with Karajan. Finally, Zoltan
Kelemen's Alberich, Josephine Veasey's Fricka, Christa Ludwig's Waltraute,
Martti Talvela 's Fasolt and Jess Thomas' young Siegfried are the only
performances which have suceeded in both respecting Karajan's vision
and the dramatic and vocal requirements of their characters. This Ring
is fascinating and, according to the listener's response to Karajan's
hedonism, can be a total musical success or an absurd dramatic failure.
Anyway, the enterprise is definitely the most fascinating one of the
discography because unique with a very strong personality… but I do
not think that the truth of Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen can be heard
here.
After such conductors like Karajan and Solti, Marek Janowski may appear
as less legendary. He is perhaps less famous, but he is definitely more
faithful to Wagner's score, and his orchestra, the wonderful Staatskapelle
Dresden, is probably the most beautiful ever recorded in this work.
Janowski's reading is a classical one, with priority given to orchestral
transparency and beauty, with exact tempi and very musical phrasing.
It is probably less imaginative than Karajan's hedonist (some would
say decadent) or Solti's mythological (some would say megalomanic) visions,
but finally much more pleasant and satisfying. In th other hand, it
is a pity Janowski recorded this Ring so soon in his career, as there
is perhaps a lack of dramatic breath, which was definitely present in
his three performances of the work with the Nouvel Orchestre Philarmonique
in Paris and Orange later in the 80s. Alas, Janowski's cast is the weakest
in the discography - except, of course, for the Prag live under Swarkowsky,
which is not a performance but a joke of bad taste. René Kollo's
Siegfried is vocally uncomfortable, dramatically ridiculous, instable,
and, if he is acceptable in Siegfried, he is unbearable in GötterdÄmmerung.
Jeanine Altmeyer is a young and sensitive Brünnhilde, but this
excellent Sieglinde can not deal with the heroism of the virgin. Theo
Adam is still a good Wotan, more mature than with Bohm, but also less
spontaneous. Nimsgern is impressive as Alberich but a bit one-dimensional.
Jerusalem and Norman are very musical twins, but dramatically absent
and without any imagination. Minton's Fricka, Moll's Hunding, Salminen's
Hagen are excellent, whereas Schreier's Loge and Mime are the only really
exciting performance of the set, with the glamourous Woglinde of Lucia
Popp. There is much enjoyement in those sets, but Kollo and Altmeyer,
and also in a less important degree, Jerusalem , Norman and Adam disqualify
this Ring in being really competitive as a whole.
Ten year's later, Haitink, conducting the Bayerischer Rundfunks, offered
the same kind of orchestral pleasure than Janowski with Dresden. Haitink's
orchestra is somptuous, and the conductor is classic, elegant, lyrical,
with more dramatic involvement than Janowski, but with the same search
for classicism and truth. This is musically as elegant and refined as
Karajan, but with much more spontaneity and dramatic truth. The sound
is superlative (probably the best one of the discography) and offers
both orchestral details and the good ratio between orchestral and vocal
performances. And Haitink has a true wagnerian cast, whatever the always-nostalgic
wagnerians may say. James Morris dark, fresh-toned and heroic Wotan
has studied the role with Hans Hotter: he has both the heoric format
of George London and the vocal subtlety of Thomas Stewart - he is probably
the best Wotan since the 60s. Siegfried Jerusalem’s both heroic
and poetic Siegfried is also without match since Jess Thomas and is
quite seductive of tone, of dramatic involvement and eloquence and simply
of good taste. Eva Marton's vibrato can be surprising for Nilsson's
fans, but she is the one who best match Nilsson: she has an equivalent
vocal power - and heroism, a pleasant tone and she is sensitive and
emotional. Cheryl Studer sings Sieglinde with emotion, lyricism and
a rare beautiful voice. She is magnificent. Peter Seiffert's elgant
Froh, Heinz Zednik's classic Loge, Matti Salminen's firghtening Hunding
are first rate, and Waltraud Meier is a superlative Fricka in Walkure
- Lipovsek is also wonderful as Fricka in Rheingold but less impressive
than Meier. Theo Adam is the only relative weakness of this set: too
old, the voice is poor for Alberich, although he is still quite eloquent
and slightly better in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung than
in Rheinbgold. Reiner Goldberg is not deeply satisfying as Siegmund,
but he is more alive, in better voice, more confortable and definitely
superior to his impossible Siegfried with Levine. John Tomlinson's voice
is quite tired for Hagen, but the character is really alive and frightening.
But the rest of the cast is wonderful with such pleasant performances
like Hampson's Gunther, Haage's Mime, Lipovsek's Waltraute or Te Kanawa's
Waldvogel. Other advantage, except for the Fricka sung by Lipovsek and
Meier, is that all the characters are sung by the same singer all the
Ring long. With such a sumptuous cast, such a beautiful orchestra so
finely conducted, without excesses and with musicality and the best
sound of the discography, this version is probably the studio best well-rounded
version.
At the same time Haitink was recording his Ring for EMI, Levine began
his own one with DG and his usual Met team. The Met orchestra is here
one of the best feature of this Ring, since this orchestra is excellent
- although it cannot totally match the Berliner, the Wiener Philarmoniker,
Haitink's Bayerische Rundfunks nor Janowski's Staatskapelle Dresden.
Levine conducts quite slowly his orchestra, but the result is round,
very lyric and warm, quite pleasant most of time. As with Haitink, and
even more, I just regret sometimes a lack of dramatic involvement. Levine's
singers are definitely less homogeneous than in Haitink's set, and some
weaknesses are difficult to accept, especially Reiner Goldberg's boring
and unpleasant Siegfried he sounds bored, old and without the freedom
and enthusiasm of Siegfried. Nevertheless, he is more acceptable than
all the recent Siegfried like Jung or Kollo, except for Jerusalem, much
better for Haitink. Hildegard Behrens' vocal shape varies a lot from
a day of the Ring to the other: superb in Walküre, she finds herself
in extreme difficulty in Götterdämmerung and sounds tired
in Siegfried. Nevertheless, this moving and beautiful Brünnhilde
is finally quite satisfying. Jessye Norman's Sieglinde is slightly more
dramatic than with Janowski, but she definitely is too far from a character
which needs spontaneity and passion. Siegfried Lorenz's Donner is quite
uninteresting, and Bernd Weikl's Gunther could have been more characterized.
Otherwise, all the other singers are good : Morris' superb Wotan, Wlaschiha's
dark Alberich, Kurt Moll's reference Fafner and Hunding, Gary Lakes'
convincing Siegmund (probably the best one since James King), Siegfried
Jerusalem's wonderful Loge (probably the best one of the discography),
Kathleen Battle's glamourous Waldvogel, Heinz Zednik's nowadays reference
Mime, Cheryl Studer's beautiful Gutrune and an incredible trio of norns
that has no less than Helga Dernesch, Tatiana Troyanos and Andrea Gruber!
To sum it up, this Ring is globally very pleasant as long as the listener
is not too much annoyed by the undramatic slow conducting of Levine
(especially as the orchesra is quite forward in relation to singers)
and accepts to have such an unpleasant and dramatically weak Siegfried.
But how one is supposed to listen to Siegfried and GötterdÄmmerung
without a convincing Siegfried ?
After EMI and DG launched their Ring, Decca's answer was easily predictable.
And the winner was Dohnányi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra.
Nevertheless, the enterprise stopped after Rheingold and Walküre,
as they said they cannot find a Siegfried. I remember an interview with
Dohnányi where he said this Ring would be followed as he had
found his Siegfried, but would let Decca announce who this singer would
be. This announcement never came (Ben Heppner would have been ideal
in such a conception), and I guess this Ring stopped mainly beacause
of poor selling. This is a pity as Dohnányi's very transparent
conducting is excellent, with lots of details and beauties, close to
Karajan's style when it deals with textures, but without the slow tempi,
self-concern… but also without the Berliner Philarmoniker beauties.
Rheingold is excellent (the conductor's style is perfect for this work),
Walküre quite weak beacause of its singers. Robert Hale's Wotan
is superb : if James Morris seems to have taken after George London,
Hale takes directly after Thomas Stewart's best qualities, with an homogeneous
emission and a subtle eloquent authority. Kim Begley's Loge, Franz-Josef
Kappelmann's Alberich, Nancy Gustafson's Freia, Hanna Schwarz's Fricka
are not at the same level than their most illustrous predecessors but
are all excellent indeed. Eike-Wilm Schulte's Donner and Peter Schreier's
Mime are excellent and can be compaired to the best singers of the discography
without fear. All that makes a consistent and fascinating Rheingold,
as this prologue involves mainly nicest orchestral performance and an
homogeneous team: both are here. The cast of Walküre, except for
Robert Hale, is almost inacceptable. Of course Anja Silja's Fricka is
welcome, especially as she can be magnetic, but isn't it a bit too late?
Plácido Domingo was foreseen to record his famous Siegmund in
this version. For some unknown reasons he could not, and Poul Elming
was recorded instead : this Siegmund lacks strength and, worse for such
a role, personality. But the main disaster occurs with Gabriele Schnaut's
unsubtle, vulgar and vocally instable Brünnhilde. And also with
Alessandra Marc's lazy Sieglinde : I cannot catch a single word of what
she sings, her phrasing is heavy and never takes off, and she shows
no enthusiasm and a sad apathy in one of the most moving role of the
operatic repertory. The recorded sound of the two sets is impressive,
and sounds like a fascinating transparent crystal. Becayse of the choice
for Brünnhilde and the weakness of Walküre, I guess we do
not have to develop regrets regarding this Ring, except he lost the
probaly last occasion to record the Siegmund of Domingo
To conclude, I would recommend in choosing between Karajan, Solti,
Haitink and Levine, to let each one’s preferences decide. Of course,
reviewers usually prefer 60s versions to more recent ones, as the past
is always better… the same critics usually thought those 60s versions
used to be definitely inferior to what they had listened to in the first
half of century. By the way, Bernard Shaw already noticed this usual
judgement with 19th century Beckmessers. Do not believe them, Haitink's
and Levine's sets have excellent singers. There is definitely no supreme
choice, and all four versions have their own interest, except perhaps
for Levine, disqualified by an unbearable Siegfried. In the other hand,
Met opera-goers may find here a globally acceptable version with singers
they are used to see on stage. Solti proposes a wonderful cast, spectacular
but unsubtle conducting - this version is commonly presented as a classic
and is part of any Wagnerian's culture. Karajan's version presents such
a personality that it can both fascinate or disgust, and it depends
only on the usual preferences of the listener. Finally, Haitink's version
is an excellently recorded one, excellently sung and excellently conducted
with almost no weaknesses… except perhaps stage excitement. Because
I do think a Ring can be alive only on stage, and this is quite noticeable
when comparing all recordings of the work.
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