Wagner Das Rheingold
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 415 150-2GH4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 3, 'Siegfried' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Catherine Gayer, Woodbird, Soprano Gerhard Stolze, Mime, Tenor Helga Dernesch, Brünnhilde, Soprano Herbert von Karajan, Conductor Jess Thomas, Siegfried, Tenor Karl Ridderbusch, Fafner, Bass Oralia Dominguez, Erda, Contralto (Female alto) Richard Wagner, Composer Thomas Stewart, Wanderer, Baritone Zoltan Kélémen, Alberich, Baritone |
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 415 145-2GH4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 2, '(Die) Walküre' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Barbro Ericson, Siegrune, Mezzo soprano Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Carlotta Ordassy, Ortlinde, Soprano Cvetka Ahlin, Grimgerde, Mezzo soprano Daniza Mastilovic, Helmwige, Soprano Gundula Janowitz, Sieglinde, Soprano Helga Jenckel, Rossweiße, Mezzo soprano Herbert von Karajan, Conductor Ingrid Steger, Waltraute, Mezzo soprano Jon Vickers, Siegmund, Tenor Josephine Veasey, Fricka, Mezzo soprano Lilo Brockhaus, Schwertleite, Contralto (Female alto) Liselotte Rebmann, Gerhilde, Soprano Martti Talvela, Hunding, Bass Régine Crespin, Brünnhilde, Soprano Richard Wagner, Composer Thomas Stewart, Wotan, Baritone |
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 415 141-2GH3
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 1, '(Das) Rheingold' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Anna Reynolds, Flosshilde, Mezzo soprano Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wotan, Baritone Donald Grobe, Froh, Tenor Edda Moser, Wellgunde, Soprano Erwin Wohlfahrt, Mime, Tenor Gerhard Stolze, Loge, Tenor Helen Donath, Woglinde, Soprano Herbert von Karajan, Conductor Josephine Veasey, Fricka, Mezzo soprano Karl Ridderbusch, Fafner, Bass Martti Talvela, Fasolt, Bass Oralia Dominguez, Erda, Contralto (Female alto) Richard Wagner, Composer Robert Kerns, Donner, Tenor Simone Mangelsdorff, Freia, Soprano Zoltan Kélémen, Alberich, Baritone |
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 415 155-2GH4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 4, 'Götterdämmerung' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Anna Reynolds, Flosshilde, Mezzo soprano Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Catarina Ligendza, Third Norn, Soprano Christa Ludwig, Second Norn, Mezzo soprano Christa Ludwig, Waltraute, Mezzo soprano Christa Ludwig, Waltraute, Soprano Christa Ludwig, Second Norn, Soprano Christa Ludwig, Waltraute, Soprano Christa Ludwig, Second Norn, Soprano Edda Moser, Wellgunde, Soprano Gundula Janowitz, Gutrune, Soprano Helga Dernesch, Brünnhilde, Soprano Helge Brilioth, Siegfried, Tenor Herbert von Karajan, Conductor Karl Ridderbusch, Hagen, Bass Lilli Chookasian, First Norn, Contralto (Female alto) Liselotte Rebmann, Woglinde, Soprano Richard Wagner, Composer Thomas Stewart, Gunther, Baritone Zoltan Kélémen, Alberich, Baritone |
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
Opera
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 137
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 412 475-2PH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Ring des Nibelungen: Part 1, '(Das) Rheingold' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Anja Silja, Freia, Soprano Annelies Burmeister, Fricka, Mezzo soprano Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Dorothea Siebert, Woglinde, Soprano Erwin Wohlfahrt, Mime, Tenor Gerd Nienstedt, Donner, Baritone Gustav Neidlinger, Alberich, Bass Helga Dernesch, Wellgunde, Soprano Hermin Esser, Froh, Tenor Karl Böhm, Conductor Kurt Böhme, Fafner, Bass Martti Talvela, Fasolt, Bass Richard Wagner, Composer Ruth Hesse, Flosshilde, Mezzo soprano Theo Adam, Wotan, Baritone Vera Soukupová, Erda, Contralto (Female alto) Wolfgang Windgassen, Loge, Tenor |
Author: Alan Blyth
I shall be forgiven if I say that I feel a little like the man at a wine-tasting who, when he reaches the last bottle, finds himself somewhat confused and a shade uncertain what he thought about the earlier ones. Now that we have three complete Ring cylces available on CD (Janowski/Eurodisc, Solti/Decca and Karajan/DG) and a fourth (Bohm/Philips) three-quarters to completion, it isn't always possible to bear in mind every detail of all four sets, and certainly impossible to make an absolute decision on which is best. Those who followed my recommendation and opted for Janowski need not, by any means, feel that they were wrong not to have waited; in some vocal matters, it is deficient, but the interpretation remains remarkably consistent and consistently cast, which cannot be said of either Karajan or Solti.
That is one matter of fact, not of opinion. Another is that, on this Karajan, the voices are far more forwardly placed than on the Solti. As near as fact as makes no difference, I would venture to suggest, is the superior recording quality of the DC throughout. This surprised me. The sound, on CD is more detailed, more open than on the Decca (I will return to the Philips later), so that the simply superb playing of the BPO can be heard in its fully glory. Another fact, not opinion, is the substantially slower speeds adopted by Karajan, often (opinion this time!) to the detriment of the various operas' shapes. Last fact: Karajan, like Solti (unlike Bohm and Janowski), changes interpreters of roles through the cycle, but—in the case of Karajan—this is more serious.
Solti has two Wotans, one Brunnhilde and Siegfried; Karajan, for reasons obvious at the time of recording, changes singers in all three roles.
For all his vowed aim at a chamber-music texture, Karajan never skimps climaxes: quite the contrary, as you can easily test in the Valkyrie Ride, the close of Das Rheingold, or the awakening of Brunnhilde. As both Alec robertson and Desmond Shawe-Taylor in their original comments in this magazine agreed (though they disagreed about other matters), Solti's whole interpretation tends to be more historionic and energetic, Karajan's the more reflective; it is also to my mind more refined and, at times, more ecstatic than Solti's, and that is only emphasized on CD, where one is time and again ravished by sound alone. But, if we take as an example the conversation between Brunnhilde and Wotan in Act 3 of Die Walkure, both conductors, and the singers, sound less involved and so less communicative than their Bohm counterparts, and it is the acoustic on the Bohm set, as I have already commented in these columns, that both gains most by the digital re-processing and by its natural, theatre balance.
Of course, Brunnhilde and Wotan are two of the most important characters in The Ring. As Crespin points out in her autobiography (available only in France), when she was approached by Michel Glotz (DG's producer) she thought sieglinde was to be her role, as it is for Solti. She enjoyed working with Karajan on Brunnhilde, in recording and the theatre, but knew all to well that this was a once-only performance. In the dialogue just mentioned she is at her most persuasive, a young warrior-maid as Karajan intended, and certain phrases have never been so touchingly inflected; the soft entreaty to her father is gentler than any I can recall. She cannot match Nilsson's heroic utterance and, for Bohm, her radiant and detailed interpretation. Nor is Dernesch, in the last two operas, Nilsson's peer. This is, again, a youthful goddess, but fallible vocally at times, where Nilsson is infallible; but there is much womanly inflection to admire in Dernesch's often noble portrayal.
Fischer-Dieskau's highly intelligent Das Rheingold Wotan is occasionally barked when Wagner forces him beyond his natural capabilities. Otherwise his account of the part is as musical and intelligent as one would expect it to be. Altogether, Karajan's Das Rheingold is a delight. A superb trio of Rhinemaidens starts it glowingly (Anna Reynolds the best Flosshilde I have ever heard). Kelemen is almost Neidlinger's equal as Alberich (Solti). Stolze's Loge is a noteworthy creation, but its verbal mannerisms are even more apparent on CD. Talvela is the best of all Fasolts, so warm of expression, so commanding of voice.
He changes to menance as Hunding in Die Walkure. Veasey, in the both works, is a nagging, fluent Fricka, few better. Janowitz's Sieglinde is lovely to hear, but cool, no match for Vickers's intense but over-articulated Siegmund: Act 1 never sounds the overwhelming, urgent matter it is with Bohm and on Furtwangler's various LP versions. Act 2 brings us Thomas Stewart's fatherly, firmly-sung Wotan, an interpretation I have been pleased to re-evaluate to its advantage (but his Wanderer, less secure, is no match for Decca's Hotter in authority). Adam (Bohm), with a deeper understanding of the text, exerts greater authority.
On the whole, Karajan's Die Walkure is still, for me, 'undercooked', for all its aural splendour on CD. Siegfried is more powerfully imagined but, as I have suggested, its casting is faulty. Thomas, for all his occasional moments of youthful exuberance not found in Windgassen's mature reading (Solti and Bohm), hasn't the experience to convey a rounded characterization. Dominguez, whose voice is recessed deliberately, sounds suitably otherwordly.
With Gotterdammerung, Karajan's Ring reaches the stature one looks for—but so do his rivals. The recording is again electrifying, with much sense of the theatre. Though vocally still not a match for Nilsson, Dernesch makes a noble, appealing Brunnhilde, a reminder of what should have been a great career as a Hochdramatische. Her ''Welchen Unholds List'' in Act 2 shows her and Karajan's interior way with the music. Brilioth gains in assurance and communication as the work progresses; again great promise remained unfulfilled. But both artists have suitable memorials here. Riddderbusch is much softer grained as Hagen than Frick (Solti), a world-weary, subtle half-dwarf, rather than Frick's more melodramatic, black reading. Greindl (Bohm) is preferable to either. Claire Watson (Solti) is a more pointed, sensuous Gutrune than Janowitz, Fischer-Dieskau (Solti) a more nervous Gunther than the more conventionally vacillating Stewart. Ludwig's highly-charged Waltraute fits in with both the Karajan and Solti interpretations. Good Norns on both sets, better Rhinemaindens with Karajan.
Throughout all the Karajan set, one is consistently aware of the lyrical beauty of the whole work, just how much unsurpassed orchestration, and subtle transformations there are in the score. It is a version, on CD, that needs to be heard for almost the ultimate in orchestral playing. Yet Karajan remains always thoughtful to his singers, as did the DG engineers; the balance between voices and orchestra is unfailingly right throughout, as it is not on the Decca, so you could say that this is the most truthful of all The Ring CD sets, even more so than on LP.
But, just as I was being seduced by the latest CD siren, along came Bohm's most recent instalment to remind me once again that it is impossible in the studio, even the acoustically splendid church in which Karajan recorded his Ring, wholly to conjure up a theatre ambience, so arrestingly caught once again in this Rheingold as in the other instalments of the Philips Ring. As JW averred in his first review of the Bohm set in its LP form (September 1973), ''special recording devices'' do not ''necessarily ensure the greatest drama in a recorded performance'', and the naturalness of the Bayreuth sound once again impresses; so does the immediacy of the performance.
On this occasion, I have to admit that Bohm sometimes presses forward too hard, particularly so in the opening scene, and later when Fasolt is speaking of the golden apples, but by and large his incandescent approach fires the stage of great things. Neidlinger, who appears with Solti, and Talvela, Karajan's Fasolt, are even more vital here, both giving readings unsurpassed on record: Neidlinger's curse is chilling. In the past, I may have underrated Windgassen's Loge; it seems to me now full of interpretative insight without Stolze's exaggerations, and his few alterations to the text matter little. Adam, once over some initial wobbling, is as authoritative as ever; his tone is more grainy but also more even than Fischer-Dieskau's. Burmeister is more than adequate as Fricka. The lesser gods are excellent, Silja's Freia more urgent in her appeals to her brothers than those on any other version. Where Karajan has the best Flosshilde, Bohm benefits from the warmest Wellgunde in the young Dernesch. Wohlfahrt, as for Karajan, is a subtle Mime, and in Bohm's cycle, he will be heard again in Siegfired.
The Nibelungs' hammerings aren't so overwhelming as on either the Decca or DG set, but much more arresting on CD than they were on LP, and the same applies to other effects. Occasional changes in perspective and stage noises only add, for me, to the illusion of attending the theatre at Bayreuth. The experience is perhaps not so all-enveloping as with the Karajan, but it is certainly as engrossing as any other. It won't have escaped the notice of the economy-minded that Philips have managed to transfer the recording on to two CDs. Those who have been gradually collecting the Bohm Ring needn't hesitate. Newcomers need not feel it is inferior to Solti and Karajan, and as part of a consistent performance of the cyle, the casts remain uniform. On to Siegfried.'
That is one matter of fact, not of opinion. Another is that, on this Karajan, the voices are far more forwardly placed than on the Solti. As near as fact as makes no difference, I would venture to suggest, is the superior recording quality of the DC throughout. This surprised me. The sound, on CD is more detailed, more open than on the Decca (I will return to the Philips later), so that the simply superb playing of the BPO can be heard in its fully glory. Another fact, not opinion, is the substantially slower speeds adopted by Karajan, often (opinion this time!) to the detriment of the various operas' shapes. Last fact: Karajan, like Solti (unlike Bohm and Janowski), changes interpreters of roles through the cycle, but—in the case of Karajan—this is more serious.
Solti has two Wotans, one Brunnhilde and Siegfried; Karajan, for reasons obvious at the time of recording, changes singers in all three roles.
For all his vowed aim at a chamber-music texture, Karajan never skimps climaxes: quite the contrary, as you can easily test in the Valkyrie Ride, the close of
Of course, Brunnhilde and Wotan are two of the most important characters in The Ring. As Crespin points out in her autobiography (available only in France), when she was approached by Michel Glotz (DG's producer) she thought sieglinde was to be her role, as it is for Solti. She enjoyed working with Karajan on Brunnhilde, in recording and the theatre, but knew all to well that this was a once-only performance. In the dialogue just mentioned she is at her most persuasive, a young warrior-maid as Karajan intended, and certain phrases have never been so touchingly inflected; the soft entreaty to her father is gentler than any I can recall. She cannot match Nilsson's heroic utterance and, for Bohm, her radiant and detailed interpretation. Nor is Dernesch, in the last two operas, Nilsson's peer. This is, again, a youthful goddess, but fallible vocally at times, where Nilsson is infallible; but there is much womanly inflection to admire in Dernesch's often noble portrayal.
Fischer-Dieskau's highly intelligent Das Rheingold Wotan is occasionally barked when Wagner forces him beyond his natural capabilities. Otherwise his account of the part is as musical and intelligent as one would expect it to be. Altogether, Karajan's Das Rheingold is a delight. A superb trio of Rhinemaidens starts it glowingly (Anna Reynolds the best Flosshilde I have ever heard). Kelemen is almost Neidlinger's equal as Alberich (Solti). Stolze's Loge is a noteworthy creation, but its verbal mannerisms are even more apparent on CD. Talvela is the best of all Fasolts, so warm of expression, so commanding of voice.
He changes to menance as Hunding in Die Walkure. Veasey, in the both works, is a nagging, fluent Fricka, few better. Janowitz's Sieglinde is lovely to hear, but cool, no match for Vickers's intense but over-articulated Siegmund: Act 1 never sounds the overwhelming, urgent matter it is with Bohm and on Furtwangler's various LP versions. Act 2 brings us Thomas Stewart's fatherly, firmly-sung Wotan, an interpretation I have been pleased to re-evaluate to its advantage (but his Wanderer, less secure, is no match for Decca's Hotter in authority). Adam (Bohm), with a deeper understanding of the text, exerts greater authority.
On the whole, Karajan's Die Walkure is still, for me, 'undercooked', for all its aural splendour on CD. Siegfried is more powerfully imagined but, as I have suggested, its casting is faulty. Thomas, for all his occasional moments of youthful exuberance not found in Windgassen's mature reading (Solti and Bohm), hasn't the experience to convey a rounded characterization. Dominguez, whose voice is recessed deliberately, sounds suitably otherwordly.
With Gotterdammerung, Karajan's Ring reaches the stature one looks for—but so do his rivals. The recording is again electrifying, with much sense of the theatre. Though vocally still not a match for Nilsson, Dernesch makes a noble, appealing Brunnhilde, a reminder of what should have been a great career as a Hochdramatische. Her ''Welchen Unholds List'' in Act 2 shows her and Karajan's interior way with the music. Brilioth gains in assurance and communication as the work progresses; again great promise remained unfulfilled. But both artists have suitable memorials here. Riddderbusch is much softer grained as Hagen than Frick (Solti), a world-weary, subtle half-dwarf, rather than Frick's more melodramatic, black reading. Greindl (Bohm) is preferable to either. Claire Watson (Solti) is a more pointed, sensuous Gutrune than Janowitz, Fischer-Dieskau (Solti) a more nervous Gunther than the more conventionally vacillating Stewart. Ludwig's highly-charged Waltraute fits in with both the Karajan and Solti interpretations. Good Norns on both sets, better Rhinemaindens with Karajan.
Throughout all the Karajan set, one is consistently aware of the lyrical beauty of the whole work, just how much unsurpassed orchestration, and subtle transformations there are in the score. It is a version, on CD, that needs to be heard for almost the ultimate in orchestral playing. Yet Karajan remains always thoughtful to his singers, as did the DG engineers; the balance between voices and orchestra is unfailingly right throughout, as it is not on the Decca, so you could say that this is the most truthful of all The Ring CD sets, even more so than on LP.
But, just as I was being seduced by the latest CD siren, along came Bohm's most recent instalment to remind me once again that it is impossible in the studio, even the acoustically splendid church in which Karajan recorded his Ring, wholly to conjure up a theatre ambience, so arrestingly caught once again in this Rheingold as in the other instalments of the Philips Ring. As JW averred in his first review of the Bohm set in its LP form (September 1973), ''special recording devices'' do not ''necessarily ensure the greatest drama in a recorded performance'', and the naturalness of the Bayreuth sound once again impresses; so does the immediacy of the performance.
On this occasion, I have to admit that Bohm sometimes presses forward too hard, particularly so in the opening scene, and later when Fasolt is speaking of the golden apples, but by and large his incandescent approach fires the stage of great things. Neidlinger, who appears with Solti, and Talvela, Karajan's Fasolt, are even more vital here, both giving readings unsurpassed on record: Neidlinger's curse is chilling. In the past, I may have underrated Windgassen's Loge; it seems to me now full of interpretative insight without Stolze's exaggerations, and his few alterations to the text matter little. Adam, once over some initial wobbling, is as authoritative as ever; his tone is more grainy but also more even than Fischer-Dieskau's. Burmeister is more than adequate as Fricka. The lesser gods are excellent, Silja's Freia more urgent in her appeals to her brothers than those on any other version. Where Karajan has the best Flosshilde, Bohm benefits from the warmest Wellgunde in the young Dernesch. Wohlfahrt, as for Karajan, is a subtle Mime, and in Bohm's cycle, he will be heard again in Siegfired.
The Nibelungs' hammerings aren't so overwhelming as on either the Decca or DG set, but much more arresting on CD than they were on LP, and the same applies to other effects. Occasional changes in perspective and stage noises only add, for me, to the illusion of attending the theatre at Bayreuth. The experience is perhaps not so all-enveloping as with the Karajan, but it is certainly as engrossing as any other. It won't have escaped the notice of the economy-minded that Philips have managed to transfer the recording on to two CDs. Those who have been gradually collecting the Bohm Ring needn't hesitate. Newcomers need not feel it is inferior to Solti and Karajan, and as part of a consistent performance of the cyle, the casts remain uniform. On to Siegfried.'
Wagner Siegfried
Wagner Die Walküre
Wagner Das Rheingold
Wagner Götterdämmerung
Wagner Das Rheingold
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