Our Summer BAL No 30: Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder

[Petrushka]

Just heard a rather poor rendering of the Wesendonck Lieder at the Proms and investigation of my CD shelves yields only a BBC Music Mag CD from 1994 and a live Haitink performance on the Radio Recordings set. There appears to be a gap that needs filling!

What's on the recommended list?

[DublinJimbo]

What's on the recommended list?

Well worth investigating is Jonas Kaufmann's recent recording with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper conducted by Donald Runnicles.

[Petrushka]

Well worth investigating is Jonas Kaufmann's recent recording with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper conducted by Donald Runnicles.

Usually sung by a female voice but thanks for reminding me of this disc. Looks very interesting.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I don't have many versions either and presumably have your BBC MM somewhere. Otherwise I think it's only birthday girl J Baker on LP and historic 78rpm versions in a cheapo 10-CD Wagner box. I'm not rushing to add more - it's a work I don't love that much and hear often enough on R3 really.

[Roehre]

The Mottl or the Henze orchestrations?

[johnb]

I first got to know the songs through the Christa Ludwig/Klemperer LP but it is many decades since I last heard it, or any other recording.

[Bryn]

I am entirely happy to stick with the rather good Anne Evans BBCMM CD.

[Flosshilde]

The Mottl or the Henze orchestrations?

Or Wagner's original piano version - is there a recording?


After a search it would seem not. There is this - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...7229254&sr=8-2 - which either dispenses with the vocal part, or transcribes it & merges it with the accompaniment.

According to Wikipedia Wagner ... produced a fully orchestrated version of "Träume", to be performed by chamber orchestra beneath Mathilde's window on the occasion of her birthday, 23 December 1857. The cycle as a whole was first performed in public near Mainz on 30 July 1862 under the title Five Songs for a Female Voice [doesn't specify if this was in the version for piano].

The orchestration of the whole cycle was completed for large orchestra by Felix Mottl, the Wagner conductor. In 1972 the Italian composer Vieri Tosatti entirely re-orchestrated the cycle. In 1976 the German composer Hans Werner Henze produced a chamber version for the whole cycle. Each of the players has a separate part, with some very unusual wind registration. In 2013 the French composer Alain Bonardi released a new version for voice, piano, clarinet and cello, including instrumental interludes with oriental resonant percussions.

[Flosshilde]

Well worth investigating is Jonas Kaufmann's recent recording with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper conducted by Donald Runnicles.

See this "Why Shouldn't Men Sing Romantic Drivel, Too?" - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/ar...anted=all&_r=0 - for comments on male singers singing songs conventionally sung by women.

[Richard Tarleton]

I am entirely happy to stick with the rather good Anne Evans BBCMM CD.

A warm, seductive performance by a great Wagnerian, and at a Prom - everything last night's lamentable rendition wasn't, with a fine Immolation Scene thrown in (this was soon after her Isolde for WNO and round about the time of her Brunnhilde in the Richard Jones Ring)

[Sir Velo]

The incomparable shooting star that was Cheryl Studer, accompanied by the Staatskapelle Dresdener under the baton of Sinopoli, on a DG mid 90s CD when her voice was all silky luxuriance. Yummy.

[Pabmusic]

The Janet Baker recording (EMI) was almost Adrian Boult's last - only the Elgar violin concerto (Ida Haendel) and the Parry LPs followed.

[Alison]

I feel happy with the two versions owned by Petrushka and would put in a word for the Susan Bullock version with piano. No strain in the voice here and superbly accompanied by Malcolm Martineau, himself a favoured performer. Nicely coupled with songs by Prokofiev, Britten, Quilter, Strauss and Rorem to make a fine recital in superior sound.

[Roehre]

I am entirely happy to stick with the rather good Anne Evans BBCMM CD.

for the Mottl I concur.
for the Henze I go for Jard van Nes with Richard Hickox accompanying, on a CD with a (the premiere?) recording of Träume in Wagner's orchestration and arrangement for solo-violin and orchestra (Chandos).

I am afraid Baker's German pronunciation is not idiomatic/idiosyncratic enough for my taste, though really beautifully sung and recorded.

[hedgehog]

I'm a fan of Waltraud Meier, though I guess it is an entirely operatic approach.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mahler-Kindertotenlieder-Wagner-Wesendonck-Lieder-Lieder/dp/B004RQO0EU/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1377245128&sr=1-4&keywords=wesendonck+lieder