More Wagner questions
Posted by: Todd A on 05 December 2002
This time about just two operas: Der Fliegende Hollander amd Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
After hearing both the overture and the spinning chorus from the Dutchman on the radio, I decided to give a listen. I figured it's short (for Wagner) and can't be too bad. And I liked it. Once again I was limited to the Solti recording which got panned something fierce earlier this year in Gramophone. (Labeled the worst available, along with Karajan.) I actually didn't mind the performance, with the two pieces I had recently heard coming up pretty good, though the spinning chorus for Solti was slower than what I heard. (It might have been from the new Barenboim release.) The part of the Dutchman struck me as weak, with the singing growing deathly boring during some of the longer passages. All told, this is clearly not Wagner's finest and definitely shows less mastery than later operas. So, which recordings are better? I don't always agree with the venerable British mag on these things, so help is needed. Is Klemerer really the way to go here?
On an entirely different plane of achievement is Meistersinger. Indeed, after hearing eight complete Wagner operas, I now rank this with Lohengrin as my favorite. It's delightful, something I don't really associate with Wagner. The music is splendid and the story, while hokey, isn't as grandiose or silly as so many of his other works, like, say, The Ring. I heard the mid-70s recording under Jochum with Fischer-Dieskau, Domingo, and Christa Ludwig, and a bunch of singers I've never heard of. I enjoyed it immensely. So much so that I ordered a close-out (!) of the Sawallisch set. What others are there worth exploring. I will definitely be adding a number of versions of this work to my collection.
After hearing both the overture and the spinning chorus from the Dutchman on the radio, I decided to give a listen. I figured it's short (for Wagner) and can't be too bad. And I liked it. Once again I was limited to the Solti recording which got panned something fierce earlier this year in Gramophone. (Labeled the worst available, along with Karajan.) I actually didn't mind the performance, with the two pieces I had recently heard coming up pretty good, though the spinning chorus for Solti was slower than what I heard. (It might have been from the new Barenboim release.) The part of the Dutchman struck me as weak, with the singing growing deathly boring during some of the longer passages. All told, this is clearly not Wagner's finest and definitely shows less mastery than later operas. So, which recordings are better? I don't always agree with the venerable British mag on these things, so help is needed. Is Klemerer really the way to go here?
On an entirely different plane of achievement is Meistersinger. Indeed, after hearing eight complete Wagner operas, I now rank this with Lohengrin as my favorite. It's delightful, something I don't really associate with Wagner. The music is splendid and the story, while hokey, isn't as grandiose or silly as so many of his other works, like, say, The Ring. I heard the mid-70s recording under Jochum with Fischer-Dieskau, Domingo, and Christa Ludwig, and a bunch of singers I've never heard of. I enjoyed it immensely. So much so that I ordered a close-out (!) of the Sawallisch set. What others are there worth exploring. I will definitely be adding a number of versions of this work to my collection.
Meistersinger is definitely one of Wagner's greatest works. I've been hoping that Haitink and John Tomlinson would be captured on CD to match the wonderful performances that we've had at the ROH in the last few years.
In the meantime, I'll stick with the Kempe recording.
BTW, shame on you Todd for calling the story of the Ring, silly
I'm sure you would reconsider if you saw it in the theatre.
David
In the meantime, I'll stick with the Kempe recording.
BTW, shame on you Todd for calling the story of the Ring, silly
I'm sure you would reconsider if you saw it in the theatre.David