Ring des Nibelungen recordings
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 6:00PM
The years when I adored Wagner in a passionate, even obsessive way are long past me, but I still love and respect his music and I frequently return to what I consider the masterpieces of 19th century opera: Tristan, Parsifal and of course the Ring.
Maybe it's fun to discuss the various merits of our "Rings" - not necessarily in order to single out the "best" ones (which is as always, highly subjective).
I've got 4 complete cycles in my collection, listed in order of purchase:
1. Janowski, Staatskapelle Dresden, early 80's, studio.
The first digital recording and the one that made me love the Ring. Orchestral playing is glorious througout and the soloists are mostly very good, excellent even. I recently re-listened to it, and found its apparent qualities are a bit overshadowed by the lack of theatre atmosphere and Janowski's sometimes uninvolved direction. It tends gets boring at times.
2. Furtwängler, Scala, 1950, live.
No chances of boredom here. It's a 14-hour rollercoaster ride, but completely different in nature than the classic Solti recording (see below). The unique tension and foreward momentum that Furtwängler generates makes one forget about the VERY dated mono recording, which sounds bad even for early 50's standards. Legendary soloists too. One of the highlights (at least, it's a scene that I can still recall vividly) got to be the first act of Siegfried, a sometimes tedious affair in other recordings, but here Set Svanholm and Furtwängler make it sound so exciting that you wanna jump up in your chair during the sword forging scene.
3. Solti, VPO, early 60's, studio
Then I got the famous Solti disks. It may be herecy, but after all the superlative praise I heard about it, I found the actual performances not always entirely satisfying. True, the orchestral playing is brilliant all the way through, and Solti's coherent vision is supported by a justly legendary recording quality. The soloists aren't always in top form, however. Hotter just sounds too old to me, way past his prime. I'm not a huge fan of Windgassen either. It's significant that the performances as a whole get better as the story unfolds - and as Wotan's part gets smaller. Siegfried and specially Götterdämmerung must be the highlights of the cycle. For Rheingold and maybe Walküre, I actually prefer Janowsky, as long as we're talking stereo recordings.
4. Neuhold, Baden, early 90's, live.
Got this Brilliant Classic box because it was so ridiculously cheap. I can be short about it: it benefits from decent orchestral playing and a nice theatre atmosphere, but suffers from the VERY uneven performances by the soloists. There are actually 2 Siegfrieds here and neither of them is convincing. Recordings like this one makes you wonder if it's a good idea to stage "provincial" Rings, if the budget doesn't allow some of the rare top names in Wagner singing to be contracted.
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 7:58PM
#2
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
This could be a really controversial thread!
For me the greatest Wagnerians during the second half of the twentieth century to be heard in the Ring were:
singers: Varnay (Brunnhilde), Nilsson (Brunnhilde), Windgassen (Siegfried), Hotter (Wotan).
Conductors: Knappertsbusch, Krauss, Kempe.
Both Knappertsbusch and Krauss can be heard with Varnay, Windgassen and Hotter, recorded at the Bayreuth Festival between 1953 and 1958. Almost all the other roles arte cast from strength.These are my favourite recordings. The Decca-recorded performances from the 1955 Festival conducted by Keilberth seems to me much less inspiringly conducted, but is much better recorded than the Bavarian Radio sourced others.
So for me Krauss (Bayreuth 1953, Orfeo) or Knappertsbusch (Bayreuth 1956, Orfeo or 1958 (Walhall). The latter has Jon Vickers superb Siegmund and would be my first choice.
Kempe was less lucky with his singers at Bayreuth and his 1957 Covent Garden performances, with a superb cast, are in very poor sound alas.
Stand by for lots of argument!
Chris
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 11:51PM
#3
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
C hris, I didn't intend the topic to be highly controversial, at least not up the the level of name-calling and skull-bashing ;)
I got to admit I'm not a historical Ring connaisseur, but your preference of the Solti soloists (specially Hotter and Windgassen) in older recordings kind of confirms my suspicion that these singers were just a bit too old and past there prime when they recorded the Decca Ring. After all, there's a 10-15 years gap between the recordings you mentioned and the completion of Solti's cyle.
Wed, Oct 31 2012, 12:07AM
#4
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
C hris, I didn't intend the topic to be highly controversial, at least not up the the level of name-calling and skull-bashing ;) I got to admit I'm not a historical Ring connaisseur, but your preference of the Solti soloists (specially Hotter and Windgassen) in older recordings kind of confirms my suspicion that these singers were just a bit too old and past there prime when they recorded the Decca Ring. After all, there's a 10-15 years gap between the recordings you mentioned and the completion of Solti's cyle.
I agree with you that there's no reason why this topic should provoke controversy, but perhaps Chris is speaking with the voice of cynical experience of this forum!
I agree with Chris that, in general, Solti's singers are heard to better effect in other and earlier recordings and that the post-war period has some truly wonderful Ring cycles to explore. What an era it was.
Wed, Oct 31 2012, 12:27AM
#5
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
50m, listen to as many recordings of the Ring you may find, in one or the other way. Almost all have something new or different to offer, in one or more fields of this massive, multi-layered and multi-faceted work. A very complex, relentlessly immense and the most monumental achievement in Classical Music.
I have all the possibly well recorded recordings up to the most recent ones. I still believe that the reference recording (not performance), as an overall production, is the one of Decca with Solti. It serves the work as good as it could possibly get (all the minor orchestral details, balance, stage picture, depth, presence, most of the best possible soloists of the time, a dream Orchestra at its best and a conductor most committed than few others). The latest Deluxe Edition, at a very high price, justifies the significance of this project, which, quite often, has been called the greatest achievement in the recording History.
Having said that, I wouldn't stay without at least Bohm, Karajan, Janowski and Barenboim from the well or very well recorded cycles, while I believe Simone Young's, Sebastian Weigle's and Thielemann's recordings have something new, fresh and substantive to offer.
Of course, there are the very great ones of the mid 50s that Chris mentioned. At least, the one on Testament sounds magically good and the voices are of the dream cast level.
Parla
Wed, Oct 31 2012, 4:52PM
#6
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
OK, perhaps I was too pessimistic. It seems that a 'light relief' topic causes lots of friction whilst Wagner, often a controversial topic, elicits entirely friendly discussion. All the better; glad to have been wrong!
Parla, your summary seems to me an excellent one. the Solti is as you say "the reference recording (not performance), as an overall production". Two of the greatest singers (Windgassen and Hotter) are not heard at their best but the engineering and production achievement is undeniably of the finest. The biggest question is how you find Solti. I'm very much in sympathy with Alan Blyth's Gramophone review (August 1998, in the Archive!) and just cannot get on with his (to me) too excitable, every moment at its maximum, approach to almost everything he touched. But for anyone in sympathy with Solti's way it must be the reference recording!
I casn't understand how I could have omitted Bohm from my list of the greatest Wagnerian conductors, nor his superb Bayreuth 1966/67 recording, Nilsson superb (finer than for Solti), Windgassen, less fresh than in the 50s but a performance full of years of accumulated understanding. Theo Adam's Wotan is more uneven, but the whole performance is cast from strength. Incidentally Windgassen also sings a superb Loge in that well recorded version. Bohm is magnificent throughout, amost as fine as his astonishing, unbelievable Tristan und Isolde!
For anyone interested in sampling the 1950s Knappertsbusch Ring, the 1958 cycle on Walhall has the finest sound of any of his cycles. You could do worse than try the Walkure with Jon Vickers, Leonie Rysanek and Josef Greindl, and of course Hotter and Varnay, all at their very best.
I do enjoy Barenboim's too, though the singing is not in the same class. Recording is excellent in its way but could have been recorded anywhere. There is no feeling of the famous Bayreuth acoustic.
Of course no one recording tells it all, but at 13 or 14 CDs each set, one has to stop somewhere I have 7 complete cycles so far.......
Chris
Wed, Oct 31 2012, 6:10PM
#7
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
....... Theo Adam's Wotan is more uneven, but the whole performance is cast from strength.........Of course no one recording tells it all, but at 13 or 14 CDs each set, one has to stop somewhere I have 7 complete cycles so far.......
Chris
Your remark about Theo Adam make me wonder if you've ever won a school prize for understatement, Chris! For me, he's quite the most ropey Wotan by an extremely long chalk. I even prefer F-D, and for me that's really saying something.
I think both you and Parla are absolutely correct, both in your assessments of the Solti Ring and in saying that one could never have enough versions of the work. If someone had predicted 30 or 40 years ago that there would be so many readily available as opposed to whispers of a bootleg release on some EJS-type label, they'd have been considered barmy. We live in fortunate times indeed in that respect.
Wed, Oct 31 2012, 6:49PM
#8
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
"Your remark about Theo Adam make me wonder if you've ever won a school prize for understatement, Chris! For me, he's quite the most ropey Wotan by an extremely long chalk. I even prefer F-D, and for me that's really saying something."
I really don't think thats quite fair JKH!! (I mean on Theo Adam, of course!)
All Wotan's are found wanting after Hotter (and Schorr I suppose). Adam is in much better voice for Bohm than for Janowski. His wobble got bigger as he went on. But to me he's quite acceptable and better than most who followed. The one I can't take is the much respected Ferdinand Frantz. But whoever it is, ultimately I miss Hotter. Irreplaceable!
Chris
PS: I never won any school prizes!
Sun, Nov 11 2012, 4:41PM
#9
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
I always found that by ignoring Alan Blyth's reviews I acquired some truly great recordings. Such a true-blooded Englishman would have shuddered at the thought of any passion or excitement in music.
Sun, Nov 11 2012, 5:19PM
#10
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
I always found that by ignoring Alan Blyth's reviews I acquired some truly great recordings.
I'm sure you did Adrian, but you missed a great many more! Not least Knappertsbusch and Krauss in The Ring!
I'm not sure though that Solti is so much less appreciated today. His recordings always did divide opinion. But in many ways, it was his earlier recordings that defined people's impressions, and I remember them all first appearing from Rheingold (reviewed March 1959) onwards and how they seemed perfectly to embody the spirit of the early 60s - brash, exuberant, self-confident, as the post-war austerity finally came to an end. I started collecting LPs at the end of 1958, just at the beginning of the 'Solti' era, and it has been fascinating going again through the, now perfectly readable, archive. My first Gramophone (December 1958) jumps off the pages just as it did then. Incidentally, in that issue was reviewed the stereo LPs of Solti's first recording of Die Walküre Act III with Flagstad's Brünnhilde: Solti much more fiery than in the complete recording made 10 years later.
If Solti's star has waned somewhat since those days, it is nothing compared with his DGG colleague, Karajan, of whom never a bad word was spoken at the time! In fact it is fascinating to see how many recordings now regarded as classics were often coolly received at their first review (and vice versa).
Thanks to all concerned for this wonderful resource.
Chris
Sun, Nov 11 2012, 8:03PM
#11
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
The Ring I keep going back to is that by Böhm, but if it weren't for the sound quality I'd probably vote for the Furtwängler Rome cycle and his Walküre from Vienna in 1954. Barenboim offers glorious sound and interesting conducting, in Karajan I find a lot of interesting details no one else seems to have (especially Rheingold). Levine I don't like at all, the Neuhold cycle is great but - like already said - uneven singing. I very much like the Götterdämmerung of Elder, maybe he will one day produce a full cycle. Finally, I look forward to the upcoming Ring by Janowski, I very much liked his other Wagner recordings so far (the recent ones).
Thu, Nov 15 2012, 10:25PM
#12
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
I had never heard the Ring until the Boulez was televised on Swedish TV some 30 years ago. I was mesmerized even if I couldn't watch all of it. I had a small child who usually demanded my attention and I think I even tried to watch Götterdämmerung while working a late Sunday evening at the office.
To me the reference Ring is the Solti one, because that's the first one I truly listened to. That's why I still think Hotter's Walküre Wotan is the "best", although it obviously was recorded somewhat too late in his career. The voice is worn and sometimes unsteady, but to me it reflects his agony perfectly.
Since then I have acquired the Barenboim (once a dirt cheap download from the Warner website), Böhm, Levine (on DVD), Keilberth and parts of the Karajan. Each one has it's pros: Böhms tempi and Nilsson in better voice; Karajan's orchestral sound, especially in Die Walküre.
But I comes down to two favourites: Solti and Keilberth. The latter has the better singers. Compared to the others he's got the only (to my ears) listenable Mime in Paul Kuen, Hotter and Windgassen are in much better shape than in later recordings and Varnay is more tone perfect than Nilsson
But still, it's the Solti I usually pick from my shelves. And I will soon do it again, since I've just ordered the latest huge Decca box. I just couldn't resist it.
Thu, Nov 15 2012, 11:41PM
#13
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
I can understand you very well, janarell.
I almost entirely share your views expressed in your post. I also purchased immediately, after being released, the new "Deluxe Limited Edition" of the "Ring". I trust you'll fully love and treasure it.
Parla
Sun, Nov 18 2012, 1:39PM
#14
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
I received the huge boxed set Friday. Yesterday I just looked at it. Today I did the first rather ridiculous test listening: How does the refined remastering affect the famous moment when you can hear the studio cat?
I can report that it is almost inaudible now, you need to know it's there to hear it. Whether that's good or bad I haven't decided yet.
And for those of you who haven't noticed it, the cat can be heard on the 4th disc of Siegfried, track 9, shortly after 4'30. I recommend earphones.
Now on to the music.
(Edit: I'm listening to the cd's, but am planning to buy a blue-ray player within a few months. The box contains a blue-ray disc with the whole Ring in 24 bit flac files.)
Sun, Nov 18 2012, 2:58PM
#15
RE: Ring des Nibelungen recordings
With any luck I shall get the Solti set as a late Christmas present from my wife when we next have visitors from overseas. Now I need to tink of something suitable in return...
What about the Clemens Krauss cycle?