Selected comparisons:-
Götterdämmerung
Böhm/Bayreuth FO, rec. live 1967 (Philips 4460572)
Keilberth/Bayreuth FO, rec. live 28 July 1955 (Testament SBT41393)
Keilberth/Bayreuth FO, rec. live 14 August 1955 (Testament SBT41433)
Knappertsbusch/Bayreuth FO , rec. live 1951 (Testament SBT4175)
Barenboim/Bayreuth FO, rec. live 1992 (Teldec 4509941942)
Ring
Krauss/Bayreuth FO, rec. live 1953 (Opera D’Oro ODO 1500)
Immolation scene
Flagstad/Furtwängler/PO, rec. live 1950 (Testament SBT1410)
Traubel/Toscanini/NBCSO, rec. live 1940 (Guild Historical GHCD2242-43)
Final scenes
Goodall/Sadler’s Wells, rec. studio 1972 (Chandos CHAN6593)
Respect where it is due. Hallé musicians radiate talent and dedication
in achieving such luminous, transparent playing. Imagine the hours
of section and full rehearsals for the saturated colours and singing
lines in this epic live
Götterdämmerung! Strings in the
opening sunrise shimmer and flow into life-filled playing, opening
naturally into Brünnhilde’s waking lines, delivered as if arms
are stretching outwards and sleepy-dust wiped from eyes. Basses,
timpani and tubas deliver splendid, rich weight. For Siegfried’s
Rhine journey trumpets cap orchestral waves with colour, never
strident as the Bayreuth upper brass could sound for Keilberth.
And let’s hope engineer Steve Portnoi gets lots more work on the
basis of this recorded sound. Balances give the Hallé glorious
depth, a sense of ‘air’ and hall, with voices clear and slightly
forward, as Wagner intended. A quibble is that the magnificent
massed choirs in Act II sound like a heavenly halo of voices from
above rather than singers who are alongside the principals on
a stage.
When my editor said there were five CDs and there was an MP3 version
I assumed the MP3 files were on the 5
th CD. But no,
as with the original EMI issue of Reginald Goodall’s
Götterdämmerung,
Elder’s brave and refined recording is spread over a whopping
five disc set, but this could have been squeezed onto 4, if Act
III was split and some of the applause cut out. The MP3 edition
is bought separately on a single CD. Expansive timings, careful
layering of orchestral voices and even the recording’s live English
origins will for many evoke the ghost of ‘Reggie’. But Goodall’s
leisurely tempi could be inflexible, as if the hand-brake were
left on. Here Sir Mark Elder is closer on the scale to Hans Knappertsbusch,
allowing the music to breathe in long overarching lines whilst
being more prepared to energise the drama when required.
Closer to Knappertsbusch but, for me, often not close enough.
It’s not a trite question of the stopwatch. The opening of Elder’s
Funeral March, for example, is expansive with broad uplift and
is thrillingly exciting. Isolated long-spun instrumental lines
in the Norns scene and as Gutrune waits for Siegfried in Act III
dig deeply into
Götterdämmerung’s dark psychology. Yet
Knappertsbusch scores better in two key ways. First Kna consistently
generates more steam, mostly through bolder rhythmic attack. Compare
the searing energy Knappertsbusch and Astrid Varnay generate at
the end of the Duet or that terrifying scene where Brünnhilde
thinks she sees Siegfried approaching through the magic fire,
even if Kna does not have Elder’s engineering or Hallé brass section.
Elder’s Act II final scene is magnificent but oddly self-conscious,
even prim, with little sense of a trap sprung, and characters
increasingly sucked into a dark downward vortex. And then there’s
a question of timbre. There is a lingering refinement about the
careful balances, of the edges being rounded out, particularly
in timpani attacks, and the palette cushioned. Perhaps there is
a
Parsifal clamouring to get out? Knappertsbusch makes
greater use of that Germanic ‘crashing sound’ and bolder primary
colours to raise dramatic temperatures.
Happily the singing is mostly superlative and, thank goodness,
no-one lets the side down. Attila Jun’s Hagen is arguably the
standout performance as he brings welcome grit to drama. This
bass is a deep well of malevolence, darkly shimmering, with extraordinary
presence, if not always ideally steady. Gustafson’s Gutrune is
also superbly acted, strongly sung with just the right touch of
hysteria and, finally, pathos. Swedish tenor Lars Cleveman is
a lyrical, long-breathed Siegfried, strong and powerful. Windgassen’s
heldentenor fades with greater presence in Siegfried’s final lines.
Not for the first time I wondered if acting is easier under the
conversational lyricism of Böhm and Krauss. Susan Bickley’s mezzo
is clear and beautiful, lacking the dark weight, that ominous
doom that Elisabeth Höngen (Knappertsbusch 1951) and Maria von
Ilosvay (Keilberth 1955) bring to Waltraute’s warning. Bickley’s
voice is also not as large as Katarina Dalayman’s rounded and
womanly Brünnhilde. Notice also a husky, aerated edge to Dalayman’s
chest sound which is quite sexy! If only Dalayman did not push
into so many top notes, ruining the long lines she is obviously
aiming for. Compare Brünnhilde’s Act III entrance with Rita Hunter
who stands and delivers radiant streams of sound that really soar.
Anyone who has endured the Levine or Haitink sets will be relieved
that Dalayman’s Brünnhilde not only boasts rich colours but is
blessedly steady.
All is revealed in the Immolation scene. The violins play their
opening figurations up-tempo and with clear rhythmic precision.
The tempo broadens towards the first crescendo at “des hehresten
Helden verzehrt”, which goes for surprisingly little here. Perhaps
Elder and Dalayman were keeping their powder dry for “Vollbringt
Brunnhildes Winsch”, which certainly is magnificent, brass and
timps thundering. The Gibichungs are more likely to obey the command
of Rita Hunter or Birgit Nilsson here and Dalayman is best in
the central section, with ruminative colours, regretting the Gods’
demise. As Brünnhilde summons Loge to Valhalla the drama builds
in huge waves of sound which Dalayman undermines by pushing up
into notes. Martha Modl also betrayed effort here, and it can
work dramatically as Brünnhilde makes one last great stand, but
Dalayman’s impressive acting does not go as far as Modl’s portrayal
of intense human tragedy. But has anyone? Instrumental lines are
kept admirably transparent as Valhalla collapses although the
force of Furtwängler’s increasingly frenzied rhythmic attacks
or Toscanini’s sheer violence are sorely missed. As the Rhein
overflows internal balances are stunning, the trumpets cap rather
than blast and the timpani fills out the sound-stage. The transcendent
glow of the final bars, like so much in this set, are a testament
to the Hallé. The orchestra must feel very proud.
The Hallé booklet note contains a cast list, track-listing and
synopsis whilst a PDF of the libretto in German and English, in
large readable type, can be downloaded from a file on CD5. There
is no essay, no cast biographies, and, disappointingly, no essay
on what was obviously a great concert event in Manchester. The
roars of approval at the end of each Act are clear evidence of
this. I struggled to find a sonic difference between the CD and
MP3 versions and recommend the MP3 as a super-bargain buy. Audiophiles
with superior sound systems and finely tuned sensibilities may
claim they can hear one.
Reactions to Elder’s recording will depend on your view of
Götterdämmerung.
Is this a monumental opera or does it tend more towards the cut
and thrust predominant in the Italian operas Wagner ostensibly
scorned, but mirrored within
Götterdämmerung’s (sub)plot
complexities? (see Peter Conrad
A song of love and death (1987)).
Forced to choose I’d stick with Knappertsbusch (1951 Testament)
as the best all-round set, supplemented with the Immolation scenes
by Furtwängler, Toscanini and Goodall listed above. You must also
hear Modl sing Brünnhilde for Keilberth. Elder’s new recording
is certainly the best ‘expansive’ DDD Götterdämmerung but for
raw drama and all-round singing Barenboim’s set is closer to the
edge.
David Harbin
see also review by
Brian Wilson
Hallé Choir; BBC Symphony Chorus; London Symphony Chorus; The Royal
Opera Chorus 
