Vienna State Opera Live, Vol. 9
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Label: Koch Schwann
Magazine Review Date: 8/1995
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 142
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 314642
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 1, '(Das) Rheingold' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Bella Paalen, Contralto (Female alto) Clemens Krauss, Conductor Dora With, Mezzo soprano Enid Szánthó, Mezzo soprano Erich Zimmermann, Tenor Franz Markhoff, Bass Gunnar Graarud, Tenor Hermann Wiedemann, Bass Josef Kalenberg, Tenor Josef von Manowarda, Bass Luise Helletsgruber, Soprano Richard Wagner, Composer Vienna State Opera Orchestra Viktor Madin, Baritone Viorica Ursuleac, Soprano |
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 2, '(Die) Walküre' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Anne Michalsky, Soprano Bella Paalen, Contralto (Female alto) Clemens Krauss, Conductor Dora With, Mezzo soprano Enid Szánthó, Mezzo soprano Eva Hadrabová, Soprano Felicie Hüni-Mihacsek, Soprano Franz Völker, Tenor Friedrich Schorr, Bass-baritone Luise Helletsgruber, Soprano Margit Bokor, Soprano Maria Jeritza, Soprano Richard Mayr, Bass Richard Wagner, Composer Rosette Anday, Contralto (Female alto) Vienna State Opera Orchestra |
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 4, 'Götterdämmerung' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Clemens Krauss, Conductor Emil Schipper, Baritone Enid Szánthó, Mezzo soprano Eva Hadrabová, Soprano Henny Trundt, Soprano Josef Kalenberg, Tenor Josef von Manowarda, Bass Richard Wagner, Composer Rosette Anday, Contralto (Female alto) Rosette Anday, Contralto (Female alto) Vienna State Opera Orchestra |
| (Die) Meistersinger von Nürnberg, '(The) Masters |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Wolken, Tenor Alfred Muzzarelli, Bass Anton Arnold, Tenor Clemens Krauss, Conductor Emil Schipper, Baritone Erich Zimmermann, Tenor Georg Maikl, Tenor Gertrud Rünger, Mezzo soprano Hans Duhan, Baritone Hermann Reich, Bass Hermann Wiedemann, Bass Karl Ettl, Bass Nikolaus Zec, Bass Richard Tomek, Tenor Richard Wagner, Composer Rudolf Bockelmann, Bass-baritone Vienna State Opera Chorus Vienna State Opera Orchestra Viktor Madin, Baritone Viorica Ursuleac, Soprano |
| Parsifal |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Clemens Krauss, Conductor Emil Schipper, Baritone Gertrud Rünger, Mezzo soprano Gunnar Graarud, Tenor Hermann Wiedemann, Bass Josef von Manowarda, Bass Richard Wagner, Composer Vienna State Opera Chorus Vienna State Opera Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Label: Koch Schwann
Magazine Review Date: 8/1995
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 131
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 314592
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 1, '(Das) Rheingold' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Anny Konetzni, Soprano Herbert Alsen, Bass Jaro Prohaska, Baritone Josef Krips, Conductor Nikolaus Zec, Bass Richard Wagner, Composer Vienna State Opera Orchestra |
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 2, '(Die) Walküre' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Anne Michalsky, Soprano Bella Paalen, Contralto (Female alto) Bruno Walter, Conductor Dora With, Mezzo soprano Ella Flesch, Soprano Elsa Weichert, Contralto (Female alto) Franz Völker, Tenor Frieda Stroinigg, Mezzo soprano Herbert Alsen, Bass Hilde Konetzni, Soprano Kerstin Thorborg, Mezzo soprano Ludwig Hofmann, Bass Luise Helletsgruber, Soprano Margit Bokor, Soprano Richard Wagner, Composer Rose Merker, Soprano Vienna State Opera Orchestra |
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 3, 'Siegfried' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Erich Zimmermann, Tenor Gertrude Kappel, Soprano Richard Schubert, Tenor Richard Wagner, Composer Robert Heger, Conductor Vienna State Opera Orchestra |
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 4, 'Götterdämmerung' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Bella Paalen, Contralto (Female alto) Emil Schipper, Baritone Enid Szánthó, Mezzo soprano Gertrud Rünger, Mezzo soprano Gertrude Kappel, Soprano Josef Kalenberg, Tenor Josef von Manowarda, Bass Richard Wagner, Composer Robert Heger, Conductor Rosette Anday, Contralto (Female alto) Vienna State Opera Orchestra Wanda Achsel, Soprano |
Author: Alan Blyth
Sometimes, in reviewing this series, I have found the fleeting extracts greatly frustrating. For instance, I longed to hear a complete Ring conducted by Walter. We know his 1935 EMI Act 1 of Die Walkure (10/88), but here in Vol. 9 are 'tastings' of Acts 2 and 3 that only make one want more of his inspiriting, epic view of the cycle. Then, in Vol. 14 (given over to Krauss conducting excerpts from the 1933 cycle: of course, we do have a complete Krauss Ring from Bayreuth 1953 – Foyer, 6/88), we suddenly hear a quite arresting Brunnhilde. She is Jeritza. So disappointing on most of her commercial discs, she emerges here as the charismatic artist described by her contemporaries. She sings her appeal to Wotan in Act 3 with the desperate urgency that reminds one of other all-in singers, such as Silja. Not all the vocal verities are obeyed, but who cares when the results are so exciting? Through the recording mush emerges a unique singer caught on the wing. And then, who is that familiar Wotan beside her? None other than Schorr himself, confirming his great reputation. With the lovely Huni-Mihacsek in a rare appearance as Sieglinde (Krauss favoured lighter voices and accommodated them in the pit) and that most compelling of all Siegmunds, Volker, also in the cast, those present on that night in June 1933 at the State Opera were indeed privileged.
The extracts from the rest of this Krauss cycle are not so compelling. Kalenberg is a rough Siegfried and Henny Trundt a rather ordinary but secure Brunnhilde in the later pair of operas, although there are maddeningly short glimpses of Helletsgruber's sensuous Woglinde, Mayr's menacing Hunding (a shade worn in tone but still impressive) and Anday's commanding Waltraute; and there is always Krauss's tense, dramatic reading to admire. That is another virtue of all these recordings: Walter, Heger and Krips, who conduct in Vol. 9, adopt just as swift, ongoing tempos as Krauss, proving once again that today's penchant for slow speeds is not in accord with the view of earlier interpreters, who always kept the music flowing forward without any sense of hurry.
In Vol. 9, there are other singers who are admirable. In Die Walkure the young Hilde Konetzni comes forth as an ecstatic yet inward Sieglinde (listen to her secure, thrilling ''O hehrstes Wunder'') beside the, again, excellent Volker; Thorborg confirms her reputation as a threatening, powerful though not over-subtle Fricka, and Hofmann proves a wise, sonorous Wotan. It is interesting to note that by and large Wotan was then sung by deeper voices than is usually the case today. Manowarda (for Krauss) is, like Schorr and Hofmann, much more bass than baritone, yet as is happily the case, the top of their voices is firm and resoundingly projected. Best of all here because she is so poorly represented elsewhere, is Kappel's Brunnhilde. Older operagoers used to tell me that she was quite Leider's equal and here is the evidence to support that view. She is everything a Brunnhilde should be – heroic in timbre yet warm in feeling, phrasing her music with a sure line yet enunciating the text clearly, able to ride easily and without strain over the orchestra. Listen and consider whether any aspirant to the role today comes anywhere near her reading. Her Siegfried (in Siegfried) is Schubert. Though obviously an experienced interpreter and a true Heldentenor, he shows only the remains of a once attractive and appealing voice.
Unaccountably, the recordings from the later 1930s in Vol. 9 are less amenable than the 1933 Krauss excerpts, where the voices can be more easily discerned and therefore assessed. Nevertheless, both volumes are essential documents in the history of The Ring and as such should be listened to with the ear of faith. In the Krauss set, we also hear some extracts from his 1933 Die Meistersinger, too brief to assess, and from Parsifal, where Graarud appears to be a sensitive interpreter of the title-role and Runger an impressive Kundry, but none of the singing here, for once, surpasses more recent readings of this score. '
The extracts from the rest of this Krauss cycle are not so compelling. Kalenberg is a rough Siegfried and Henny Trundt a rather ordinary but secure Brunnhilde in the later pair of operas, although there are maddeningly short glimpses of Helletsgruber's sensuous Woglinde, Mayr's menacing Hunding (a shade worn in tone but still impressive) and Anday's commanding Waltraute; and there is always Krauss's tense, dramatic reading to admire. That is another virtue of all these recordings: Walter, Heger and Krips, who conduct in Vol. 9, adopt just as swift, ongoing tempos as Krauss, proving once again that today's penchant for slow speeds is not in accord with the view of earlier interpreters, who always kept the music flowing forward without any sense of hurry.
In Vol. 9, there are other singers who are admirable. In Die Walkure the young Hilde Konetzni comes forth as an ecstatic yet inward Sieglinde (listen to her secure, thrilling ''O hehrstes Wunder'') beside the, again, excellent Volker; Thorborg confirms her reputation as a threatening, powerful though not over-subtle Fricka, and Hofmann proves a wise, sonorous Wotan. It is interesting to note that by and large Wotan was then sung by deeper voices than is usually the case today. Manowarda (for Krauss) is, like Schorr and Hofmann, much more bass than baritone, yet as is happily the case, the top of their voices is firm and resoundingly projected. Best of all here because she is so poorly represented elsewhere, is Kappel's Brunnhilde. Older operagoers used to tell me that she was quite Leider's equal and here is the evidence to support that view. She is everything a Brunnhilde should be – heroic in timbre yet warm in feeling, phrasing her music with a sure line yet enunciating the text clearly, able to ride easily and without strain over the orchestra. Listen and consider whether any aspirant to the role today comes anywhere near her reading. Her Siegfried (in Siegfried) is Schubert. Though obviously an experienced interpreter and a true Heldentenor, he shows only the remains of a once attractive and appealing voice.
Unaccountably, the recordings from the later 1930s in Vol. 9 are less amenable than the 1933 Krauss excerpts, where the voices can be more easily discerned and therefore assessed. Nevertheless, both volumes are essential documents in the history of The Ring and as such should be listened to with the ear of faith. In the Krauss set, we also hear some extracts from his 1933 Die Meistersinger, too brief to assess, and from Parsifal, where Graarud appears to be a sensitive interpreter of the title-role and Runger an impressive Kundry, but none of the singing here, for once, surpasses more recent readings of this score. '
Vienna State Opera Live, Vol.14
Vienna State Opera Live, Vol. 9
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