Opera On 3 - Götterdämmerung

[Ein Heldenleben]

Just a short post to recommend tonight’s performance. Act Two just over and it’s absolutely tremendous...

[David-G]

Seconded! I was at the concert. It was absolutely tremendous.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Lucky you. That was consistently one of the best sung Götterdamerungs I have ever heard ...

[DracoM]

WHAT?
Good Grief - sorry but I just had turn it off! I mean - that Brunhilde, her vibrato............crikey.
Chorus and orch in v.decent form, but.......well...........

[jonfan]

Agree. Great playing but strange tempo choices at times. Not a natural Wagner conductor IMHO.

[DracoM]

IMO, out of his depth.

[jonfan]

IMO, out of his depth.

There wasn’t much insight from Davis in his interview with James Naughtie, his main concern was that it was too long.

[Conchis]

The days when I could listen to a complete Gotterdammerung on the radio are long gone.

But, in 2019, you have a choice: you can liisten to a compromised current performance with principals who are, at best, adequate, or you can pull your Solti/Karajan/Bohm/Furtwangler set off the shelves and listen to people who could do it.

I will say: I’ve seen Christine Goerke twice (both times as Elektra) and she is a singer who needs to be experienced in totality. A bit like Gwyneth Jones, perhaps.

Wagner is not Davis’ comfort zone. It’s too long? Well, it shall to the barber’s, with his beard.

[Master Jacques]

I will say: I’ve seen Christine Goerke twice (both times as Elektra) and she is a singer who needs to be experienced in totality. A bit like Gwyneth Jones, perhaps.

Well put. She doesn't sound well in front of your average microphone, or in your average front room, but in the hall ... wow! And those old sets had some pretty ropey performances too - although he did his best, I can't listen to Wolfgang Windgassen these days without considerable distress, even in the Böhm Tristan with Nilsson. His musicality is as suspect as his singing.

[DracoM]

Rene Kollo in Solti's Parsifal was a wonderful revelation for me and inspired casting.

[Conchis]

Well put. She doesn't sound well in front of your average microphone, or in your average front room, but in the hall ... wow! And those old sets had some pretty ropey performances too - although he did his best, I can't listen to Wolfgang Windgassen these days without considerable distress, even in the Böhm Tristan with Nilsson. His musicality is as suspect as his singing.

A very good point about Windgassen, though I long for the days when he was the Wagnerian tenor we had to ‘put up with.’

To be fair, he is excellent in the Knappertsbusch Parsifal and he sounds very fresh in the Solti Gotterdammerung. But in the Tristan and Tannhauser he recorded near the end of his career, he sounds....well, tired might be the kindest word.

There has only ever been one tenor who could sing the Heldentenor repertory properly and that, of course, was Melchior who retired long before the era of complete recordings. Apparently, he wasn’t much of an actor, though: and he always sounded a bit too ‘cheerful’ -fine for (most of) Siegfried but a bit of a drawback in the likes of Tristan.

[Master Jacques]

I had forgotten the 1954 Knappertsbusch Parsifal, where his singing is good, though he is still a little inclined to "rush his fences" even there. That's one of the reasons I usually fancy the 1962 Knappertsbusch more, for Jess Thomas's less communicative but sweeter-sounding assumption.

There's one, more recent tenor who shouldn't be forgotten. He sang nearly all the great, Wagnerian Heldentenor roles, I think with the exception of Tannhäuser. And he recorded several of them. His acting was heartfelt if basic, his singing reliably impressive: and his name was Alberto Remedios, of course!

[Conchis]

I had forgotten the 1954 Knappertsbusch Parsifal, where his singing is good, though he is still a little inclined to "rush his fences" even there. That's one of the reasons I usually fancy the 1962 Knappertsbusch more, for Jess Thomas's less communicative but sweeter-sounding assumption.

There's one, more recent tenor who shouldn't be forgotten. He sang nearly all the great, Wagnerian Heldentenor roles, I think with the exception of Tannhäuser. And he recorded several of them. His acting was heartfelt if basic, his singing reliably impressive: and his name was Alberto Remedios, of course!

Ah....I was sure you were building up to Jon Vickers, there (who was a fabulous Siegmund, Tristan and Parsifal and I should have included him with Melchior).

I have an aversion to Wagner in English (and also, I’m afraid, to Reginald Goodall) so I can’t appreciate Remedios as much as I might. I’ve read that an international career escaped him because he coudln’t be bothered to improve his German pronunciation!

[Pulcinella]

Would a friendly host please correct the title of this thread?
Or do I ask this via the Pedants' Paradise thread?

[gradus]

I'd add Domingo as Siegmund to the list of good modern Wagner tenors. I'm aware of his problems with German but the voice could cope with the role. Imv and best of all modern-ish voices and mentioned above was the mighty Vickers, once heard never forgotten.