BaL 20.06.15 - Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

[BBMmk2]

This is quite possibly the opera I'd save if all the rest had to be obliterated from history.
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I be amogst those too, Cali! Quite possibly my favourite Wagner opera! I have on DVD, James Levine. So this be interesting who comes up trumps here.

[silvestrione]

This is quite possibly the opera I'd save if all the rest had to be obliterated from history.
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Yes I'd add my name to those endorsing that...except that in my mind it's bracketed with Tristan und Isolde, as a kind of balancing of the key elements of Wagner's psyche, and both so wonderful in their different ways. And I do find the reference to the one in the other, in Hans Sachs's words, intensely moving.

But it's a bit soon to be doing it again? Six years? How many operas have they done in that time? How many operas are there that should be in a 'library'?

[Petrushka]

No one has mentioned Kempe yet. What a pity it is that this wasn't recorded in stereo though rumours of a stereo version in existence have surfaced over the years.

I have a larger number of recordings on the shelves than I'd thought: Karajan (1951 & 1970), Knappertsbusch, Kempe, Solti, Kubelik and Abendroth. In addition, I have Karl Böhm's 1938 Dresden recording of Act 3 which is superb.

I learnt the opera via the Karajan 1970 recording and that would still be my first choice.

[Nick Armstrong]

No one has mentioned Kempe yet.

I have Karajan, Kempe, Kubelik - and Jochum.

It has a very special directness and life to it, I think - typical of the conductor

[Barbirollians]

Kempe is the only conductor who does not make it seem as long as it is - IMO

[slarty]

the Kempe would be an easy first choice if it was in stereo. The Karajan is very good indeed and the Kubelik also.
I have never understood the fascination for Solti, especially as I saw him conduct it at CG in 1969, always the man for the purple passages with the trait of rushing over the other scenes. No feeling of warmth or humanity from him.
his casts are good but he is the drawback.
Keilberth conducts this very well also but the negative is Wiener as Sachs.
my own favourite performance is from the 1960 Bayreuth Festival with Greindl as Sachs and conducted by Knappertsbusch.

[BBMmk2]

It has a very special directness and life to it, I think - typical of the conductor

I have the James Levine DVD of this. Not got round to watch it yet!

[ARBurton]

No mention of Jochum`s 1949 Munich performance (Myto - IMHO preferable to the DG set) or Toscanini at Salzburg in 1937?

[BBMmk2]

Tempi Nicholas, Tempi, not Termpo. Plural! :)

I am actually listening live to this, for a change! :)

[Bert Coules]

I was sorry that the live Bayreuth version under Varviso didn't merit even a passing mention. The singing is certainly variable, but the theatrical atmosphere is wonderfully captured: in that regard it's second only to the Goodall which is my own clear favourite.

There used to be a live Toscanini LP set from Salzburg in (I think) 1937: I remember breakneck speeds and incredibly muddy sound but also high excitement and lyricism to spare. I wish that was still around.

I thought the item was a decent stab at a very difficult task. I would have liked less emphasis on the individual singers and a little more reference to casts as a whole - reactions to Fischer-Dieskau's rather small-scale meticulously detailed Sachs and Domingo's big-voiced Walther are surely going to be affected by the fact that they're on the same recording, for example - and poor David, Pogner and Magdalene didn't get so much as a look in.

One curiosity was Baragwanath's description of the guild choruses in act three as being sung by apprentices: they're certainly not, as his own ears should surely have told him.

[ARBurton]

I was sorry that the live Bayreuth version under Varviso didn't merit even a passing mention. The singing is certainly variable, but the theatrical atmosphere is wonderfully captured: in that regard it's second only to the Goodall which is my own clear favourite.

There used to be a live Toscanini LP set: I remember breakneck speeds and incredibly muddy sound but also high excitement and lyricism to spare. I wish that was still around.

The River People list a copy of the Andante cd reissue, but at about £150!! You can find it on the Quadromania set on a certain well-known auction site for about 3% of that price however, although I haven`t heard this transer. My first copy was on Melodram which was, frankly, unlistenable. The Andante is better but the source material doesn`t help!

[Bert Coules]

Thanks for that. If my memory of the Toscanini is even halfway correct I certainly wouldn't pay £150 for it, but I'll look at alternative sources.

Edited to add:

Found and ordered, at £4.42 with free postage! Thanks again.

[BBMmk2]

Strange though it may seem, Nicholas didn't mention any DVD recordings, did he?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Strange though it may seem, Nicholas didn't mention any DVD recordings, did he?

Yes - Jurowski, Thielemann and Levine were mentioned (probably at the time when you were typing your correction to a mistake he didn't make, Bbm).

[BBMmk2]

Cheers Ferney! :)

I have, as mentioned earlier, the Levine DVD but I do rather like opera, as a complete audio experience, as opposed to a visual one.