WAGNER, Richard (1813-1883)
Wagner's music indications deserves a foreword: His passion
was the stage, he wrote all the librettos to his Operas, Bayreuth
was designed by him to not allow the audience to see the orchestra,
but his drama would never existed without his music. His medieval
dramas and German mythology plays are huge and not for all tastes,
including mine, but the excerpts, Overtures and Preludes from his
Operas are among the best music ever composed.
Der fliegende Hollander (1843) ( The Flying Dutchman )
Le Vaisseau Fantome (1860) - Opera
London, Rysanek, Liebl, Tozzi, Lewis, Elias,
Dorati, Royal Opera 2 CDs Decca or London 417319
Bailey, Martin, Kollo, Talvela, Krenn, Jones, (see text)
Solti, Chicago Sym. 2 CDs Decca or London 414551
This is a masterwork without a single dull moment. From
the stormy Overture, through splendid arias and choruses, to the
redemption apotheosis, everything is a beauty. This apotheosis that
closes the Opera and also the Overture, introduced by the harp
notes, was added by Wagner in 1860 for a production in France, and
is adopted by both conductors in my list.
Dorati's recording was made in 1960 by producer Richard
Mohr and engineer Lewis Layton, released by RCA in 1961 as LSC-
6156, but is now part of Decca catalogue. The first Opera recording
in Dorati's career, it is a great artistic and engineering
achievement. Karl Liebl is the best Erik I ever heard. A must in
any good collection.
Solti's recording has an oddity that makes it more a
selected comparison than a choice. He and producer Ray Minshull,
inspired by the lack of a decent hall in Chicago, decided to ignore
Wagner's stage indications to the point of making the chorus sing
the Dutchman Crew parts and the Norwegian Sailors parts from the
same direction, same distance and with the same intonation, thus
transforming the Opera into an Oratorio. The Orchestra playing is
superb, Solti's conducting is excellent, the singing has great
moments, but what follows the Overture has little and sometimes no
atmosphere.
The curse upon Chicago Symphony is much stronger than the
one upon the Dutchman was. Musicians and engineers wander like
ghosts between the Orchestra Hall and the Medinah Temple to make
recordings, since late Sixties, fighting against acoustic
deficiencies and lack of space, longing for an aristocratic soul
with a big budget to put an end to all that suffering.
Overtures, Preludes and excerpts ( Flying Dutchman,
Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde, Meistersinger,
The Ring, Parsifal )
Solti, Chicago Sym. (Flying Dutchman:Ov., London 430448
Tannhauser:Ov.,Tristan:Prel.+Lieb.,Meistersinger:Prel.I)
Dorati, London Sym. (Tannhauser:Ov.and Ven., Mercury 434342
Lohengrin:Prels.,Tristan:P.+L.,Meister.:Prel.I, etc.)
Bohm, Vienna Phil. (Flying Dutchman:Ov., DG 413733
Lohengrin:Prels.,Tristan:Prel.+Liebestod)
Sinopoli, New York Phil. (Flying Dutchman:Ov., DG 419169
Lohengrin:Prels.,Meistersinger:Prel.I, Siegfried-Idyll)
Handley, Royal Phil. (Flying Dutchman:Ov., Tring TRP008
Tannhauser:Ov.,Lohengrin:Prel.III,Valkyries:Ride, etc.)
Solti, Vienna Phil. ( Music from The Ring: London 410137
Siegfried's Funeral March, Ride, Magic Fire, etc.)
Mehta, Vienna Phil. ( Lohengrin:Prels., (LP) London CS 6529
Meister.:Prel.I,Parsifal:Prel., + Liszt:Les Preludes)
As above, the 1860 version of the Flying Dutchman Overture
is the only one played here. Solti's recording comes from the
complete set already commented, coupled with equally great
performances of other works.
The Overture to Tannhauser received its first performance
in Dresden in 1845 and is among his most beautiful and imposing
music. In 1861, to include a ballet for a production in Paris, he
removed the return of Pilgrims' hymn at the end to add the
Venusberg music, and the result is a blunder. In my list, only
Dorati plays the Paris version, but he compensates this bad choice
with the best performance of the next piece ever recorded.
The Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin is, in my opinion, the
best music of Wagner. A musical portrait of ecstasy, this Prelude
alone is enough to qualify Wagner as a genius. Dorati and London
Symphony brought to life the delicacy and strength of this music
and their performance was perpetuated in a razor sharp recording
made by producer Wilma Cozart and engineer Robert Fine. Mehta comes
close but is not available in CD up to now. Sinopoli's performance
is also very good but DG crew failed in their job - it is included
here because of the Prelude to Act III. DG gave first class sound
to Bohm but his performance is not exciting.
The Prelude to Act III is a festive introduction to the
wedding ceremony that opens this Act. It is a short piece that
allows an orchestra to show all the glory of its brass, and Vienna
Philharmonic is second to none in this section. In the Opera it
leads to the wedding march, but for concert performance some
conductors created endings, being the most famous the one used by
Sinopoli, and a variation of these closing bars is used by Handley.
Bohm and Mehta simply cuts the score and Dorati plays few bars of
the march.
The orchestral part of the Liebestod scene from Tristan und
Isolde is often played in concert preceded by the Prelude to Act I.
It is a minimalist view of this huge Opera sanctioned by Wagner.
Bohm and Vienna Philharmonic achieved the best results in these
works and were helped by good engineering. Solti comes close, and
Dorati seems careless in Liebestod.
The Mastersingers was the only comedy among Wagner's Operas
and the light mood of the work can be heard from the opening bars
of its Prelude to Act I. Solti conducted the most bright and best
recorded performance of this work.
Solti is also the only one I recommend for the Siegfried's
Funeral March and other excerpts from The Ring. This digital
recording is of demonstration quality and Solti's performances of
Wagner requires no further comments.
The Prelude to Parsifal is hard to find in CD and Mehta
recording deserves to be released.
Tristan und Isolde - Opera (1865)
Vickers, Dernesch, Ludwig, Berry, Ridderbusch, others,
Karajan, Berlin Phil. 4 CDs EMI CMS 769319
This Opera is not as easy as The Flying Dutchman, but its
great moments more than compensate for the few dull.
Vickers made the role of Tristan his property in the stereo
era. Listening to this recording is an experience that is only
second to seeing and hearing him on stage. I had the privilege of
attending a performance of Vickers as Tristan in Brazil and that
was the operatic experience of a lifetime. The microphones does not
do full justice to him as the stage does.
Karajan, his orchestra and the other singers are in a great
moment, and the EMI recording by Wolfgang Gulich is excellent.
© Copyright 1999 Amilcar Schiappe Pereira End of section W