From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Wagner's Ring: Solti still unrivalled?
Date: 28 Jul 92 21:27:24 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: University of Delaware

In article <OHL.92Jul28214438@ips105.desy.de> ohl@ips105.desy.de (Thorsten Ohl) writes:

[the Boulez Walkeure:]
>Jon> Altmeyer and Hofmann are the best parts of this, as the Walsung
>Jon> twins (and Salminen as Hunding).  Gwyneth Jones is a fright.

>I have mixed feelings about Gwyneth Jones' performance in the
>Boulez/Chereau Ring.  Certainly Siegfried and the Goetterdaemmerung's
>finale are ``a fright'', but the rest is very interesting.  Sure, she
>doesn't sing beautifully, 

Rather important, no?  By "beautifully," I should explain, I don't mean
just "prettily," but "with a controlled command of expressive
resources."  This Dame Gwyneth lacked in these performances; she was
unable to maintain a beat (as gear-changing occupied so much of her
attention), except for the "beat" (wobble) in the tone itself.

>but some parts (`Todverkuendigung',
>Walkuere, 2. act) made a strong impression on me.  

I agree that she's a talented and magnetic lady, one who could probably
still hypnotize me into agreement in a live performance.  But if she
permits audio recordings to be issued, she has to be judged by the
results.

>And without doubt
>(at least for me), Boulez' conducting more than makes up for some
>problematic vocal performances.

I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that one element can "make up for"
another that's below minimum acceptable standards.  I would rather
phrase it this way:  Boulez conducts very interestingly and originally
(if not always to my ears totally convincingly -- Romantic rhetorical
stretching means nothing to him, and once in a while they seem essential
here), which makes this recording worth some attention by anyone devoted
to the work.  The record also contains, however, a great deal of 
unacceptable vocalism.

>/* Asbestos suit on :-) */
>Anybody who has SEEN the Boulez/Chereau Ring (unfortunately I've only
>seen it on TV), will anyway have a strong bias in favor of it!
>/* Asbestos suit off :-) */

I can agree to the extent that seeing this production explains its
success more convincingly than the audio recording does.  Everybody
really acts, and Jones and McIntyre deliver especially subtle,
convincing portrayals of complex and lengthy roles.  Bravo for them.
But I must also note that they've discarded a primary tool for bringing
the character to life: expressive molding of their vocal line.  They act
in spite of this rather than through it.  I consider this a loss.  But
they could certainly teach the people in the Levine video RING a thing
or two about acting.

A fourth video RING is on the way, by the way.  (The third is a
Sawallisch/Munich version, issued only in Europe as far as I know.)
This is the Kupfer/Barenboim Bayreuth production, taped this summer and
last after a 5-year run.  I saw it in its first year, and found it the
most human, touching rendition I've seen, though not without its own
idiosyncracies.  The cast includes Anne Evans, John Tomlinson, Siegfried
Jerusalem, Linda Finnie, Nadine Secunde, Waltraud Meier, Gunter von
Kannen, et al.

>Unfortunately, Caterina Ligendza has never been recorded as
>Bruennhilde.  I've heard her in Frankfurt, just before the sudden end
>of her career.  With Micheal Gielen conducting and William Cochran as
>Siegfried, it was a wonderfully SUNG (!= shouted) performance.

Good for her.  She could pull it together wonderfully well on occasion.
I treasure the TRISTAN issued by Legendary Recordings, Bayreuth 1976,
with her, Spas Wenkoff, and Yvonne Minton, conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

>Jon> Note that a new recorded RING is about to commence.  For
>Jon> Decca/London, with Dohnanyi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra
>Jon> [ ... ] The only casting I've heard announced is Robert Hale as
>Jon> Wotan; [ ... ]  Who could possibly sing the other roles????
>Jon> (Shall we have a casting game?)

>I think (!) that Gabriele Schnaut will sing the Bruennhilde.  She was
>the Ortrud in the most recent Tannhaeuser at Bayreuth.  

Ahem. Lohengrin?

>She got rave
>critics for that and they were justified (unfortunately I only heard
>the radio broedcasts ...).  I once heard her as Isolde here in Hamburg
>and that was also very good, though the performance suffered from a
>weak Tristan and a _bad_ conductor.

I found her Ortrud impressive when I saw it in 1988.  She sounded like a
good loud dramatic mezzo to me, though, not a soprano on a Bruennhilde
scale.  And certainly not one to be immortalized on disc.  I guess if
each label wants a digital RING, every loud soprano's gonna get her
chance.  :-)

Jon Alan Conrad
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical