BaL 13.06.15 - Monteverdi: Il Ritorno d'Ulisse

[Flosshilde]

I thought that was the cut you probably meant. I think it's John Culshaw in 'Ring resounding' (I can't check now as I can't lay my hands on it) who points out how dramatically important this scene is, with Gutrune on her own, voicing her fears, giving a quiet pause between the death of Siegfried & Hagen's noisy entrance.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Actually I should have said 1965. Gotterdammerung Act 3, from the end of Siegfried's Funeral March to the entry of Hagen - apparently Wieland Wagner's idea.

But if a critic who rejected the Böhm set from a BaL choice because of this (one) cut, would you then describe her decision as "dogma"? Isn't it reasonable for her to recommend a recording that includes everything the composer wrote as "the one"? What "respect" is being shown to the composer if a reviewer basically says "Well, there's this here piece, which has some good Music in it, but the composer was such a numpty that it's better if you buy this recording which misses out some of what he wrote and puts the scenes in a different order"?

How can giving greater respect to the composer than to the performer be described as "dogmatic"?