From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Subject: Re: Wagner's Ring: Solti still unrivalled?
Keywords: wagner ring solti
Organization: University of Delaware
Distribution: rec
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 18:01:29 GMT

Please excuse brutal curtailment of Topi Ylinen's excellent discussion.
I do it not out of disrespect but because there are just a few points on
which I wanted to add comment.

In article <6208@kielouta.fi> f1toyl@uta.fi (Topi Ylinen) writes:

>And the usual claims that "there is not a single weak link
>in Solti's cast" 

Actually, I've never heard this claim made.  There ARE weak links in his
cast.  But they're few, and usually not in major roles, and not outright
disasters, so they matter relatively little.

>1.DAS RHEINGOLD

>I find it hard to believe that Culshaw's production (Solti) was recorded even
>before 1960: at times it sounds almost better than the rest of the Ring. And I
>quite agree that the cast of singers could hardly be bettered. I cannot find
>anything worth complaining in the Decca Rhinegold - even if the age of the
>recording can be clearly detected. 

Actually I do not find George London's Wotan memorable (Morris, for
Levine, surpasses him), nor Jean Madeira's Erda.  And I think Kirsten
Flagstad's Fricka (she was already ill with the cancer that killed) her
has been overpraised by those aware of her historic stature.  But this
is still a very fine production.

>certainly do not like Haitink's Alberich - to me he appears to be more speaking
>than singing and yet he is one of the integral characters of Das Rheingold.

The idea of casting an "ex-Wotan" as Alberich is interesting since there
are indeed symbolic links between the characters.  But in reality,
you're right: Theo Adam just plain cannot sing the notes.

>Herbert von Karajan's Das Rheingold seems to be, curiously enough, the best in
>his whole cycle. 

I too was surprised by how much I liked his Rheingold, and this despite
faulty casting of 2 major roles.  But it really "sings."

>His cast of singers has never been this good - possibly only
>G|tterd{mmerung coming even close. 

Well, here I disagree.  Walkuere is to me the most successfully cast,
and the last 2 pretty inadequate.

>Stolze's Loge is a very interesting 
>characterization which cannot be rivalled in its own category. 

As a "character" Loge, yes, I guess so.  But I sure get tired of the
nasal whiny sound.  This was supposed to be the "lyrical" Ring!
And Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau just won't do as Wotan -- the music strains
his voice to the snapping point.  Here is where Thomas Stewart (HvK's
Wotan in the remainder) could really have shone.  But Jo Veasey's Fricka
is marvelous, and Zoltan Kelemen's Alberich a successfully different
reading.

>An interesting detail, as pointed out by one critic, is
>Solti's use of ADULTS screaming in the Nibelheim scene which does sound much
>more striking the children's screams in Solti's set.

Did you mean Karajan's use of adults?  This sentence contradicts itself.

>2.DIE WALK^RE

>Not even Solti's Die Walk~re is perfect. Most who are familiar with the subject
>know what I am going to complain about: Hans Hotter's Wotan. Hans Hotter, who
>is said to be more a bass than a bass-baritone singer, has definitely 
>difficulties at times. 

Most importantly, he was a veteran singer, near the end of his career;
and vocal steadiness had never been among his trademarks even when he
was 20 years younger.

>One other thing - a modern day listener is probably used to much faster tempi
>than Solti's. 

This is not my impression.  Levine, Goodall, and Barenboim take the Ring
much slower than Solti does.

>style. On the other hand, Solti's orchestra, strictly with original instruments
>never lacks any dramaticism, even if the tempo is slow. 

Was that a joke about "original instruments"?  It's true that in Vienna
they still use old-style horns and trumpets (i.e., 19th century).

>Von Karajan's Die Walk~re is not an excellent version. It, along with his Sieg-
>fried are the weak links of his whole cycle. His orchestral playing may be 
>intense and powerful at the opening of Act III, but the final scene sounds too
>rude and rough. It lacks the appropriate "magical" feeling. Von Karajan's cast
>of singers begins to show some symptoms of decrease in quality. 

This was in fact the first of his cycle to be recorded.  And, the awful
Valkyries aside, I think the most successful cast.

>His Br~nnhilde,
>for example, has at times major difficulties with high notes. 

I'd call them "minor" difficulties.  I still love Regine Crespin's
Bruennhilde.  Vickers, Stewart, Veasey, and Janowitz are might fine too.

>Bernhard von Haitink's Die Walk~re 

His name is Bernard Haitink.

>is much more convincing than his Das Rhein-
>gold. His Siegmund and Br~nnhilde are both very skilled and well characterized
>and sound pleasing to that modern day listener 

Cheryl Studer's Sieglinde is lovely and lively -- one of the best.  But
Reiner Goldberg sounds downright amateurish as Siegmund.  One phrase
will be fine, the next toneless.

>- not to mention the real star,
>James Morris, whom I consider the best of all Wotans. 

I agree, and in this opera he does equally good performances for Levine
and Haitink (in the other 2, Levine gets the best out of him).

>Haitink's tempi are quite
>good and the major orchestral passages are very agreeable, spiced with digital
>sound effects and digital recording technique. But there are some disappointing
>spots in the less passages: one very disturbing is when Br~nnhilde sings "Auf
>dein gebot..." (near the end of Act III) and either his basstrumpet or trombone
>misplays a note. One other thing is that - I do not know the truth - but 
>Haitink's version seems to be played with standard instruments, not original
>ones. 

I don't know what you mean.  (Maybe that earlier sentence WASN'T a
joke?)  All recordings of the Ring use the same scoring.  Of course, not
all orchestras sound the same.

>James Levine's version is, as far as orchestral playing is concerned, a very 
>good one. Unfortunately, Br~nnhilde and especially Siegmund of his cast are not
>quite up to par. 

True, though they still surpass Haitink's pair.

>Otherwise, a very competitive version, performed with original
>instruments 

Again.  What do you mean by this?

>I just a few hours ago borrowed the Eurodisc version from a local library and
>have not got enough time to listen more than acts I and II yet. It seems to 
>take after their Rheingold: nothing to complain about, but nothing really
>spectacular either. I find even Theo Adam's Wotan more agreeable than Hotter's.

Adam does all right.  For me, the stars of this recording are Jessye
Norman, Kurt Moll (who both rerecorded their roles for Levine), and
especially Siegfried Jerusalem and Yvonne Minton, as perhaps my favorite
Siegmund and Fricka.  Jeannine Altmeyer's German is the worst on any
German-language opera recording I've ever heard.  Since she's made her
career in Germany, I find this inexcusable.

>3. SIEGFRIED

>Janowski seems to lack dramatic tension - and biting brass power. Maybe he did
>not have "original" instruments either? 

Yikes.  There is no original-instrument question with Wagner.  There IS
a reduced orchestration (merely 3 of each woodwind rather than 4), not
by Wagner, which smaller theaters use.  I can assure you that none of
the recordings use this.  I find Janowski's Dresden State Orchestra
compellingly beautiful, equal to the other 3 Great Orchestras that have
recorded the cycle (Vienna, Berlin, Met).

>I think Matti Salminen
>as Fafner sounds more dragonlike and menacing than B|hme (Solti),
> but Janowski's Siegfried and Br~nnhilde cannot even dream of ever beating 
>Windgassen and Nilsson of Decca! 

Well, certainly not Altmeyer (though this Bruennhilde stretches her
resources less than the others, and she comes through decently).  But
Rene Kollo gives the performance of his life and comes very close to the
Windgassen standard here, with a more solid rhythmic sense (why DO so
many Wagnerian tenors like to jump beats?).  With Peter Schreier as
Mime, this is probably the strongest PAIRING of tenors on any Siegfried
recording (I can't stand Gerhard Stolze in the role).

>Of the Wanderers (Wotan), each of these three has a good interpretation. Even
>Hotter sounds much more acceptable than in Die Walk~re. 

It's a lower-lying part, and was recorded 3 years earlier.

>Of the woodbirds, I 
>must say that Karajan's woodbird sounds a bit breathy - because of the 
>recording technique, I guess.

It's a tough part.  Only Furtwangler's Rita Streich sounds really good
doing it.

>4. G\TTERD[MMERUNG

I'll simply throw in my agreement about Solti's.  One of the great
achievements in recorded opera; not least because it is so successfully
cast.

>I have not heard any of B|hm's live Ring cycle. 

You haven't missed much.  Nilsson and Windgassen are as they are for
Solti (very good), Adam as he was much later for Janowski (dry but
intelligent).  Little in the rest of the cast is memorable, and Boehm's
conducting is quite run of the mill.

>I have heard Pierre Boulez' 
>Die Walk~re which was quite ok, but not so outstanding that it should deserve
>mentioning separately. 

Altmeyer and Hofmann are the best parts of this, as the Walsung twins
(and Salminen as Hunding).  Gwyneth Jones is a fright.

>If one wants a complete Ring, Solti's Decca Ring is (especially at its low 
>price) as a whole above the rest. Only recording technique is a factor which
>may yet cause its displacement. 

Not to my ears.  I find it more successfully recorded than many more
recent ones.

Note that a new recorded RING is about to commence.  For Decca/London,
with Dohnanyi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra (they're going to do it
in concert, one a year, then record).  The only casting I've heard
announced is Robert Hale as Wotan; most people I talked to at Bayreuth
consider Hale their favorite of all Wotans.  Who could possibly sing the
other roles????  (Shall we have a casting game?)  The two recent
recordings have about exhausted the available pool.  I'll certainly
stick Nadine Secunde in as Sieglinde, Freia, and 3rd Norn, and Domingo
is welcome to Siegmund.  But what of Bruennhilde (Anne Evans?????), and
more drastically, Siegfried?


Jon Alan Conrad
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical