From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Subject: Re: Valkyrie recordings
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 14:54:43 GMT

In article <BzFCry.CvM@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> smitra@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Sami Mitra) writes:

>In article <1992Dec17.161834.11532@lloyd.Camex.COM> chrisi@lloyd.Camex.COM (Chris Ischay) writes:

>>I've been listening to Act I of Die Walkure incessantly (well, partly
>>cessantly, but a lot).  I love Jon Vickers Siegmund, which I find more
>>expressive than James King's and even (dare I say it?) Lauritz Melchior's.
>>I'd like to put Vickers' brain in Melchior's body, because sometimes I just
>>don't find him very artistic, though he's so incredibly capable.  I don't
>>know what the consensus was on Gary Lakes in the Met production, but I
>>wasn't unbearably moved.

>You may dare say it, and I rush to second you here. Jon Vickers, probably alone 
>among the latter day Wagnerian tenors, can be placed on the same footing as
>the great Melchior. 

I agree.  Vickers was an especially fine Siegmund at the time of the
Leinsdorf recording (he had become just a *little* bottom-heavy by the
time he recorded it for Karajan).  I especially admire his moments of
"eloquent simplicity," where without seeming to "do anything" with the
music he could break your heart.  His explanation of his Wehwalt name
("Nun weisst du, fragende Frau...") is one example, the Annunciation of
Death another.  At these moments I have no problem finding him superior
to Melchior (if we're going to compare-and-contrast on such an exalted
level).  But I wouldn't want to fault Melchior either, who sang the
stuff damn near perfectly, and with seemingly endless expressive
resources in the voice itself.

>I am not sure, from what you've mentioned above, if
>you're suggesting that Vickers is intelligent but somewhat lacking in
>heft(?). You've only got to listen to the last act of his Tristan with 
>Karajan to see that he had both: tremendous characterization and no one can
>fault his volume either, can one? 

This is one of those things that a recording can never quite capture.
His voice was just amazingly "present" wherever you sat in the theater.
It could get comical sometimes: I remember in the first scene of Grimes
he was being given his oath to swear, and some baritone intoned the
words "I swear by Almighty God..." and then you heard this tenor sound,
a full city block closer without even trying hard, going "I SWEAR BY
ALMIGHTY GOD."  Incredible.

>I haven't heard the Leinsdorf recording. I have heard the Vickers Siegmund
>in the Karajan/DG Walkure. He is, of course, the highlight of that recording,
>but that's another story. 

He is, I guess, but I would also praise most of the cast on that
recording.  Surprising choices, many of them, but it worked.

>I haven't heard the Levine Walkure cd in any organized fashion. Gary
>Lakes didn't impress me much in the video production...

I will say this for Gary Lakes.  Like Vickers, his voice carries in a
way you would never guess from recordings, audio or video.  I saw that
Walkuere performance live, and was floored by how this seemingly
middle-sized tenor voice was so much louder than anyone else's -- even
Jessye Norman's not-tiny soprano.

>>I am unbearably moved, however, by Regine Crespin, whose Sieglinde is to my
>>ears wonderfully womanly, if I can use the term without needing to duck the
>>PC police.  

I would prefer to use the word "personal," and thus avoid quibbles about
sex roles.  But I know what you mean.

>>Leinsdorf's Sieglinde I thought was kind of low octane.  I also
>>have a Leinsdorf live recording which captures Astrid Varnay's emergency
>>stage debut as Sieglinde, stepping in for an indisposed Lotte Lehmann.
>>Both of those artists are superb.  I'm sure Solti would have preferred
>>Lehmann over Crespin, but I think Crespin's characterization is wonderful.

>Lehmann's Sieglinde, thank god, is preserved wonderfully in the classic first
>act recording with Melchior and Walter. 

I have come late to admiration of Lehmann.  She used not to impress me
much for some reason -- perhaps because some enthusiast friends oversold
her.  I've seen the light now, thank goodness.  She was a wonderful
Sieglinde.  And so is Crespin (that gorgeous lower register of hers is
very useful in this role).

>Incidentally, any opinions about Studer's Sieglinde on the Haitink recording?

The only one to rival Lehmann and Crespin in its personal, live,
involved quality.  Line after line comes out as if she'd just thought of
it.  All the more impressive an achievement because it's not the easiest
fit for her voice -- Studer is a high lyric soprano with coloratura
facility, and Sieglinde is about as low-lying a soprano part as there
is.

>BTW, who is Leinsdorf's Sieglinde?

Gre Browenstijn.

By the way, I have to mention my favorite Frickas.  #1 is Veasey, for
Karajan (I was surprised how well she stacked up, till I compared),
directly tied with Yvonne Minton for Janowski.

Jon Alan Conrad
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical