I wasn’t much looking
forward to reviewing this disc. My last experience of Walhall
was an outrageous Giulio Cesare from Pompeii, by some comfortable distance the worst recording that I’ve ever heard,
let alone reviewed; so unlistenable that I called for it to
be withdrawn. This Hans Heiling is from the same early
post-War vintage and boasts the same kind of rhetoric; First
Time on CD – Superb Sound. The lack of attribution and notes,
synopses and libretti always grates with the stable of German
labels amongst whom Walhall is one. The cheapness of their product
needs to be balanced against concern for the consumer, informed
or otherwise. And I still harbour grave reservations about some
of the product being issued in this way – so caveat emptor.
That
said, my fears as to sound proved misplaced. It’s pretty much
vintage 1950 German radio broadcast quality and that means very
fine indeed. Better still the rarity value gives it cachet;
Hans Heiling may be less well known than Der Vampyr
but the consistency and imagination of the orchestration and
the melody lines are hardly inferior. In fact they are arguably
stronger across the length of the respective works. If we accept
Marschner as the pivotal German operatic composer between Weber
and Wagner – not such a contentious proposition – then it is
in our interest to pay him the attention he deserves. In terms
of romantic engagement and lyrical attraction his themes are
often memorable and never less than competently engaging, and
his story lines resonate with the Gothic and the romantic stirrings
of forest and the supernatural (Hans Heiling is just such a
supernatural apparition who plays jokes on mortals in time honoured
fashion). Marschner took care with his librettist, Eduard Devrient,
who fashioned a convincing scenario. For this radio production
certain concessions were necessary. A speaker, Eduard Marks,
outlines the plot. There are fourteen of these plot summaries
and whilst we are familiar with them from radio broadcasts in
our time they tend to come today as summaries before the Acts
begin. Here you may well find the number of them distracting
and you may want to programme your CD accordingly.
The
cast is not a particularly stellar one in international terms
but it shows the strength in depth of German operatic houses
of the time. Alexander Welitsch proves a witty Hans complete
with some avuncular spread and strong dramatic profile. Helene
Werth excels in her First Act duet (in the section marked O
blieb bei mir). As Anna Margot Guilleaume impresses as
well though the slightly deadening studio acoustic exacerbates
her rather insistent vibrato. The Chorus proves hearty, not
too large, but effective. One can savour Marschner’s string
writing in such as the warmth of the Second Act scene for Gertrude
Wo nur Ännchen bleibt? as one can equally from the solemn
writing Marschner employs with such theatrical precision and
impact. The Third Act orchestral march seems to presage Humperdinck;
in fact Marschner’s influence on subsequent operatic developments
has been consistently undervalued. Coupled with this (abridged)
1950 radio production is a slightly earlier 1948 broadcast from
Stuttgart of a scene for Anna in Act II –
in muddier sound but a suitable pendant.
Caution
is still necessary for all the reasons I noted above but as
a souvenir of this intelligent 1950 production there are many
rewards to be garnered.
Jonathan
Woolf
Hans Heiling – Alexander Welitsch (bass)
