Otto's Opera House: Wagner

Showing posts with label Wagner. Show all posts

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Edda Moser - Wagner - Arias and Interludes

Release Date: November 4, 1992
Label: Stradivari Classics
Number of discs: 1
Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Edda Moser
cd info/ buy

Review:

For fans of German opera singer Edda Moser this album may come as a bit of a surprise. Edda was not a Wagnerian soprano. She sang the role of a Rhinemaiden in Das Rhinegold for Herbert Von Karajan as her operatic debut and she went on to sing Sieglende from Act 1 of Die Walkure but she was chiefly a dramatic coloratura soprano whose most successful repertoire was Mozart. Her dramatically rendered performances as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni were utterly brilliant, Her Elettra in Idomeneo and Aspasia in Mitridate were other triumphs for her. Her Mozart Concert arias won her praises from critics and fans worldwide. She was skilled at singing Baroque opera and Strauss operetta. The latter came easy to her since Strauss' Viennese operettas was music she had heard since her childhood as a native German speaker. In this recording, made in 1989 in Ljubljana, Maestro Anton Nanut conducts her in Wagner's most demanding soprano music in his catalog - the Immolation Scene at the end of Gotterdammerung, and the Liebestod of Isolde in Tristan And Isolde. Normally a Mozart singer would destroy herself singing such heavy repertoire. The tessitura is very high, and in addition the music calls for power in the lower notes, middle voice and chest voice. While Edda doesn't have bottom, she is certainly comfortable in the top registers. Her Isolde here is divinely beautiful, with excellent polished technique, and this is saying a lot about her since in 1989 when she recorded this, she had been singing for many years and was a veteran opera singer late in her career. Yet she sounds youthful and every bit the passionate Isolde. Her Liebestod as recorded in this disc is well worth listening and fans will be in for a treat.

flac, covers

Friday, June 3, 2011

Wagner - Parsifal - Lehman, Urmana, Pape, Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky

Release Date: 09/14/2010
Label: Mariinsky
Number of discs: 4
Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Valery Gergiev
cd info/ buy

Review:

Gergiev’s act I Prelude doesn’t seem especially slow. Yet when it’s all over, this Parsifal is eight minutes longer than the classic 1962 Bayreuth recording led by Hans Knappertsbusch, certainly not one known to rush through the opera. Like Kna, Gergiev always knows where he’s headed and keeps musical structures, large and small, in view. In that act I Prelude, listen to how effectively the conductor contrasts the first 19 measures with the next 19. The sense of light/dark dichotomy, hope vs. despair, is palpable; the dialectic of the entire drama seems to be contained within those first moments of the work. The opera unfolds with dignity and grandeur, never with any aura of cultish ritual. Gergiev doesn’t overwhelm his singers, but always assures that the orchestra makes its illuminating commentary register. When Gurnemanz, in act I, describes how Kundry transformed a desert into the magic garden, Gergiev has us briefly feel a verdant, out-of-doors atmosphere. The conductor makes much of instrumental passages that even those very familiar with the score may not have thought much about, as when Gurnemanz is extracting the transformed Kundry from the underbrush at the outset of act III. The closing pages of the opera are beautiful beyond words.

Gergiev has a terrific cast to work with. René Pape is the Wagnerian bass of his generation, and he’s in especially good voice. This Parsifal really moves along, both because of Gergiev’s dramatic instincts and because Pape’s Gurnemanz functions as much more than a narrator. He’s a representative member of the Grail community and helps us to understand how they have suffered since Amfortas’s disaster. At key moments in his exposition, such as “O wunden-wundervoller heiliger Speer! Ich sah dich schwingen von unheiligster Hand!,” Pape makes the back story come alive.

Gary Lehman portrays a thoughtful Parsifal, his voice possessing more than adequate heft and an appealing timbre. Violeta Urmana, an experienced and much sought-after Kundry, is womanly but not slutty in act II, quite effectively turning up the heat as poor Parsifal fails to fall before her charms. The front cover of the box holding this SACD set lists only Lehman, Urmana, and Pape, presumably because they are international stars. This is terribly unfair to Evgeny Nikitin, the Amfortas. Amfortas is arguably the most interesting character in the opera and it takes an insightful singer in the role to take any Parsifal to an exalted level. Nikitin provides a lyrical and richly colored representation that is fully alert to the extremes of the king’s physical and psychological torment; it’s a performance reminiscent of what Thomas Hampson brings to the role. Another Russian singer, Nikolai Putilin, offers a Klingsor with just the right degree of bitterness: He sputters and shouts, but also sings quite well.

The orchestral playing is top-notch and the chorus well prepared (though the six Flowermaidens get a little squally when singing together). The sound is superb. Veteran producer James Mallinson (of Decca fame) oversees a best-seat-in-the-house sonic perspective. The orchestra has impressive weight and impact, yet there’s an admirably natural balance between instrumentalists and singers, the latter positioned behind the players, as we see in a photo in the set’s booklet. If you do multichannel, this is a good one: Your listening room will be commandeered by the spacious acoustic of the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall.--Andrew Quint ''A truly moving performance. One of the finest Wagner recordings of recent years.'' --Gramophone Magazine

Performer: René Pape, Nikolai Putilin, Violeta Urmana, Gary Lehman, Evgeny Nikitin, Alexei Tano Vitski
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra/Ensemble: St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater Chorus

flac, booklet

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Bayreuth 1974 - Carlos Kleiber

Release Date: May 30, 2000
Label: Melodram
Number of discs: 3
Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Carlos Kleiber
cd info/ buy

Review:

"Magic happens as Kleiber conducts with fire, unearthing little nuances that others throw away, always in the interest of the piece at large. For the Kleiber-Tristan experience, this is the recording to get..." -Jens F. Laurson, Ionarts.org

As all collectors lament, recordings of the late, great conductor Carlos Kleiber are far too few. Those that exist are often among the greatest ever made. Kleiber made a studio recording of Tristan and Isolde, but this live performance from Bayreuth in 1974 is generally considered to be superior. Some of the soloists are unsurpassed in their roles, and the conducting is perhaps the best one will ever hear.

# Performer: Catarina Ligendza, Donald McIntyre, Heinz Feldhoff, Heinz Zednik, Helge Brilioth, et al.
# Orchestra: Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

flac, scans

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg - Bernard Haitink

This memorable performance of one of Wagner's most well-known opera date from July 1997 just prior to the refurbishment of the Royal Opera House to what it is today. Bernard Haitink never recorded Die Meistersinger commercially so this set will be very much sought after by Wagnerians and legions of Haitink's admirers. These performances also celebrated Bernard Haitink's 10th anniversary as Music Director of the Royal Opera House with a cast filled with mainly English singers.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Die Meistersiner von Nürnberg
Premiere: Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich, on June 21, 1868

Opera in three Acts
Libretto: Richard Wagner

Hans Sachs.............John Tomlinson (Bass)
Walther von Stolzing...Gösta Winbergh (Tenor)
Eva....................Nancy Gustafson (Soprano)
Pogner.................Gwynne Howell (Bass)
Beckmesser.............Thomas Allen (Bass)
David..................Herbert Lippert
Magdalene..............Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mezzo Soprano)

Royal Opera House Covent Garden
Conductor: Bernard Haitink
Recording: July/10/1997 , Royal Opera House

Track listing

01. Applause [0:00:21.85]
02. Vorspiel [0:09:46.72]
03. Da zu der Heiland kam [0:03:29.25]
04. Verweilt! Ein Wort [0:04:37.05]
05. Da bin ich: wer ruft? [0:04:00.30]
06. David! Was stehst? [0:01:57.66]
07. Mein Herr! Der Singer Meisterschlag [0:02:42.04]
08. Der Meister Ton und Weisen [0:06:52.68]
09. Aller End ist doch David [0:03:02.57]
10. Seide meiner Treue wohl versehen [0:03:52.36]
11. Gott gruss Euch, Meister! [0:02:59.10]
12. Das schone Fest, Johannistag [0:04:05.94]
13. Eva, mein einzig Kind, zur Eh [0:08:13.84]
14. Dacht ich mir's doch! [0:02:56.68]
15. Am stillen Herd [0:04:03.06]
16. Merwurd'ger Fall! [0:05:36.98]

01. Fanget an! [0:02:55.76]
02. Seid ihr nun fertig? [0:02:19.58]
03. Halt, Meister! Nicht so geeilt! [0:03:35.28]
04. Ihr mahnt mich da gar recht [0:03:40.74]
05. Applaus [0:00:46.44]
06. Applaus [0:00:32.42]
07. Johannistag! Johannistag! [0:03:55.98]
08. Lass sehn, ob Meister Sachs zu Haus? [0:05:30.68]
09. Zeig her! 's ist gut [0:00:54.05]
10. Was duftet doch der Flieder [0:05:44.94]
11. Gut'n Abend, Meister! [0:08:18.22]
12. Das dacht' ich wohl [0:01:58.97]
13. Da ist er! [0:03:56.96]
14. Geliebter, spare den Zorn [0:02:08.16]
15. Uble Dinge, die ich da merk' [0:01:59.45]
16. Tu's nicht! Doch horch! [0:01:01.96]
17. Jerum! Jerum! [0:04:40.77]
18. Das Fenster geht auf! [0:07:27.36]
19. Den Tag seh ich erscheinen [0:05:13.77]
20. Seid ihr nun fertig? [0:01:24.60]
21. Ach, Himmel! David! [0:04:56.53]

01. Applaus [0:00:41.88]
02. Vorspiel [0:07:45.89]
03. Gleich, Meister! Hier! [0:04:03.34]
04. Am Jordan Sankt Johannes stand [0:03:38.09]
05. Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn! [0:06:54.04]
06. Grüß Gott, mein Junker! [0:04:42.64]
07. Mein Freund, in holder Jugendzeit [0:04:28.77]
08. Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein [0:05:10.84]
09. Abendlich gluhend in himmlischer Pracht [0:04:48.57]
10. Zwischenspiel - Interlude [0:02:29.66]
11. Ein Werbelied! Von Sachs! [0:04:34.90]
12. Das Gedicht? Hier liess ich's [0:07:38.36]
13. Sieh, Evchen! [0:04:13.65]
14. Weilten die Sterne [0:02:05.16]
15. Hat man mit dem Schuhwerk nicht seine Not! [0:01:31.49]
16. O Sachs! Mein Freund! [0:03:44.80]
17. Ein Kind ward hier geboren [0:04:16.12]

01. Selig, wie die Sonne [0:04:30.05]
02. Nun, Junker, kommt! [0:02:02.80]
03. Sankt Krispin, lobet ihn! [0:03:47.17]
04. Ihr tanzt? [0:05:49.40]
05. Silentium! Silentium! [0:00:43.56]
06. Wacht auf, es nahet gen den Tag [0:03:05.76]
07. Euch macht ihr's leicht [0:05:21.80]
08. Zum Teufel! Wie wackelig! [0:02:07.50]
09. Morgendlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein [0:03:38.34]
10. Das Lied, furwahr, ist nicht von mir [0:04:32.14]
11. Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein [0:05:14.94]
12. Den Zeugen, denk es [0:01:45.04]
13. Verachtet mir die Meister nicht [0:07:35.45]

TT=4:24:07

Wagner - Der Fliegende Holländer - Hotter, Krauss, Bayerische Staatsoper

The stellar quality of this recording is well known.

Practically every male in this production is outstanding, Maestro Krauss included. Yet, the name Viorica Ursuleac (pronounced in Romanian [UR soo lyak]) is strong enough to persuade some buyers to choose another production altogether. I did not know until recently how misunderstood this artist of historical importance is.

Ursuleac's voice is large, rich, full, dark and quite powerful from top to bottom. It is trained to maintain a high tessitura. The vowels are based on the sound [oo] as the word "spooky". For those who want a reference, Ursuleac seems to be a fine mixture of Zinka Milanov and Antonietta Stella. In fact, Milanov's later style seems based on Ursuleac's example, they are that similar. Yet, Ursuleac is less slavic and more open toned, and in the top and bottom ranges she is more powerful than Milanov. She does not match Milanov's middle voice but her piano tones are on a par.

There is much to be studied about Ursuleac since she was the original R. Strauss soprano. Ranczak and Grob-Prandl among many others have spoken of her big and easy top register, which persuades me that Schwarzkopf, TeKanawa, and Fleming may be the modern version of the Strauss soprano; lighter voices. It seems that Ursuleac was able to sing ALL of the Strauss operas. It seems now that there are two types of Strauss sopranos: the dramatics and the lyrics.

My own opinion is that I am fond of her voice, if not the way she sings. I don't like that her High C in "In questa reggia" sounds as if it came from another throat or that her tone sags at times. Yet, I love the sound, the heaviness, that molasses like heaviness; sweet, thick, and rich.

Bravo Ursuleac!!!! It's about time!--Amazon

CD Content

Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), opera, WWV 63
Composed by Richard Wagner
Performed by Bavarian State Opera Orchestra
with Karl Ostertag, Franz Klarwein, Georg Hann, Hans Hotter, Viorica Ursuleac, Luise Willer
Conducted by Clemens Krauss

Monday, August 30, 2010

Wagner - Lohengrin - Kubelik, Chor & Symphonieorch. Bayrischer Rundfunk

The attributes of the version under consideration, which appears for the first time on CD, have been underestimated. It held my interest from first to last, not least thanks to Kubelik's masterly overview. Not only does he successfully hold together all the disparate strands of the sprawling work, he also imparts to them a sense of inner excitement through his close attention to the small notes and phrases that so often delineate character in this score and through his vital control of the large ensembles. He is helped inestimably by the Bavarian Radio forces - gloriously singing strings, characterful winds, trenchant, involving chorus -of which he was, in 1971, a beloved chief. There's never a dull moment in this vivid, theatrical Lohengrin. The recording, produced by Hans Hirsch, imparts a suitably spacious atmosphere to the piece but also places the principals up front where they should be except when distancing is required - as at Lohengrin's first appearance and at the moment when Elsa appears on the balcony to address the night breezes.

Janowitz's Elsa is one of the set's major assets. Pure in tone, imaginative in phrasing, she catches the ear from her first entry, very much suggesting Elsa's vulnerability, then implies all her blind faith and belief in her saviour - listen to the single phrase "Verzeih euch mir!" when she is telling evil Ortrud of her love for the unnamed knight -though her part in the big Act 2 ensembles sometimes puts a strain on her lovely tone. Later she eloquently conveys her deep feelings in the love duet, followed by her voicing of all the doubts that beset confused Elsa.

King's Lohengrin is more ordinary; today we would be grateful for such solid, musical and welljudged singing, few if any Lohengrins can sing the passage starting "Höchstes Vertraun" (third disc, track 5) with anything like King's true tone and powerful conviction. Thomas Stewart sings a sturdy Telramund, managing the high tessitura with consummate ease. He is horribly plausible in his complaints against Elsa. This portrayal, taken with his roughly contemporaneous Sachs, also made under KubelIk and only recently rescued from DG's vaults by Myto, discloses him as a grossly undervalued singer, possibly because he lay under the long shadow of Hotter in the late 1960s and early 1970s.--Gramophone

Tracklisting

cd1
01. Vorspiel [0:08:18.00]
02. 1. Akt / 1. Szene / »Hört! Grafen, Edle, Freie von Brabant!« [0:04:42.17]
03. 1. Akt / 1. Szene / »Dank, König, dir, daß du zu richten kamst!« [0:07:12.82]
04. 1. Akt / 2. Szene / »Seht hin! Sie naht, die hart Beklagte!« [0:04:00.00]
05. 1. Akt / 2. Szene / »Einsam in trüber Tagen« [0:04:53.00]
06. 1. Akt / 2. Szene / »Mich irret nicht ihr träumerischer Mut« [0:05:20.86]
07. 1. Akt / 2. Szene / »Wer hier in Gotteskampf zu streiten kam« [0:05:22.00]
08. 1. Akt / 3. Szene / »Nun sei bedank, mein lieber Schwan!« [0:03:49.73]
09. 1. Akt / 3. Szene / »Zum Kampf für eine Magd zu stehn« [0:05:40.46]
10. 1. Akt / 3. Szene / »Welch holde Wunder muß ich sehen?« [0:03:34.00]
11. 1. Akt / 3. Szene / »Nun höret mich und achtet wohl« [0:01:52.13]
12. 1. Akt / 3. Szene / »Mein Herr und Gott, nun ruf' ich dich« [0:05:39.66]
13. 1. Akt / 3. Szene / »Durch Gottes Sieg ist jetzt dein Leben mein« [0:04:35.13]
14. 2. Akt / 1. Szene / Einleitung [0:04:23.24]
15. 2. Akt / 1. Szene / »Erhebe dich, Genossin meiner Schmach!« [0:08:19.76]

cd2
01. 2. Akt / 1. Szene / »Du wilde Seherin, wie willst du doch« [0:08:06.00]
02. 2. Akt / 2. Szene / »Euch Lüften, die mein Klagen« [0:03:51.20]
03. 2. Akt / 2. Szene / »Elsa!« -- »Wer ruft?« [0:04:36.04]
04. 2. Akt / 2. Szene / »Entweihte Götter! Helft jetzt meiner Rache!« [0:04:16.26]
05. 2. Akt / 2. Szene / »Wie kann ich solche Huld dir lohnen« [0:08:31.96]
06. 2. Akt / 3. Szene / Szenenmusik [0:03:25.40]
07. 2. Akt / 3. Szene / »In Früh'n versammelt uns der Ruf« [0:01:27.20]
08. 2. Akt / 3. Szene / »Des Königs Wort und Will' tu' ich euch kund« [0:08:27.73]
09. 2. Akt / 4. Szene / »Gesegnet soll sie schreiten« [0:05:33.86]
10. 2. Akt / 4. Szene / »Zurück, Elsa! Nicht länger will ich dulden« [0:05:34.90]
11. 2. Akt / 5. Szene / »Heil! Heil dem König!« [0:03:22.73]
12. 2. Akt / 5. Szene / »O König! Trugbetörte Fürsten! Haltet ein!« [0:05:57.53]
13. 2. Akt / 5. Szene / »Welch ein Geheimnis muß der Held bewahren?« [0:05:28.56]
14. 2. Akt / 5. Szene / »Mein Held, entgegne kühn dem Ungetreuen!« [0:06:51.60]

cd3
01. 3. Akt / Vorspiel [0:03:34.44]
02. 3. Akt / 1. Szene / »Treulich geführt ziehet dahin« [0:04:58.22]
03. 3. Akt / 2. Szene / »Das süße Lied verhallt; wir sind allein« [0:07:34.60]
04. 3. Akt / 2. Szene / »Atmest du nicht mit mir die süße Düfte?« [0:05:02.13]
05. 3. Akt / 2. Szene / »Höchstes Vertraun hast du mir schon zu danken« [0:08:10.20]
06. 3. Akt / 2. Szene / »Weh, nun ist all unser Glück dahin« [0:05:20.90]
07. 3. Akt / 3. Szene / Szenenmusik [0:03:27.20]
08. 3. Akt / 3. Szene / »Hat Dank, ihr Lieben von Brabant!« [0:03:42.20]
09. 3. Akt / 3. Szene / »Macht Platz dem Helden von Brabant!« [0:06:28.09]
10. 3. Akt / 3. Szene / »In fernem Land, unnahbar euren Schritten« [0:06:20.13]
11. 3. Akt / 3. Szene / »Mir schwanck der Boden! Welche Nacht!« [0:06:12.77]
12. 3. Akt / 3. Szene / »Mein lieber Schawn!« [0:08:27.09]

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Lohengrin (1850)
Romantic Opera in Three Acts
Libretto: Richard Wagner

Elsa......................................Gundula Janowitz, soprano
Ortrud....................................Gwyneth Jones, mezzo-Soprano
Lohengrin.................................James King, tenor
Telramund.................................Thomas Stewart, baritone
Herald....................................Gerd Nienstedt, baritone
King Henry................................Karl Ridderbusch, bass

Bavarian Radio Chorus,
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Rafael Kubelík
Redording: 1971