Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - opera in three acts (1868)
Hans Sachs - Gerald Finley (bass-baritone)
Walther - Marco Jentzsch (tenor)
Eva - Anna Gabler (soprano)
Madgalena - Michaela Selinger (mezzo)
David - Topi Lehtipuu (tenor)
Pogner - Alastair Miles (bass)
Beckmesser - Johannes Martin Kränzle (baritone)
The Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski
rec. live, Glyndebourne, May-June 2011
GLYNDEBOURNE GFOCD021-11 [4 CDs: 277:20]
I found it a fascinating experience to listen to this set, not so much
because of the quality of the performance, but because I had already experienced
the same production on DVD (Opus
Arte OA1085D). My chief focus was not so much the quality of the performance
as on the quality of the sound. Glyndebourne record a vast number of their
performances in both audio and video format, and they have been releasing
many of the CDs on their own label; other labels, principally Opus Arte,
have been given the job of releasing the DVDs. One is never a carbon copy
of the other, however: the producers master the sound for a stereo CD
in an entirely different way to that for a surround-sound DVD or Blu-ray,
and they tend to use different performances, too. The DVD is taken principally
from one performance - presumably the one that was broadcast live on the
Guardian website in summer 2011, though the DVD notes are not specific
about this: you will notice that the CD is even less so. This CD set ranges
from, I assume, a different set of performances across a wider range of
dates.
Sound-wise you can definitely notice the difference. The engineers have
taken off the centre-focus that I found remarkable on the DVD, and there
is a much more “natural” placing of everyone involved. The
orchestra sound is particularly good, making the most of the unique Glyndebourne
acoustic. Things are at their very best in the Act 1 prelude, full of
rich good humour whose fullness is accentuated by the lavish, rounded
sound. Likewise, the Act 3 prelude seems to glow when the horns enter
with the Wach auf theme - said horns are equally excellent in Sachs’
Fliedermonolog. The richness of the string intonation is made even
finer without having the stage business to occupy the eye, though Jurowski’s
tempo did feel somewhat slower than I noticed with the DVD. The chorus
are also great, with a Wach auf that is fit to raise the roof.
The riot sounds rather foggy, but then, on what recording does it not?
The absence of a visual dimension means that you base your whole assessment
on what you hear, and this brings benefits and gains. The singers, first
of all, continue to sound great. The CD confirmed for me that Finley’s
Sachs was no fluke, but a truly great performance of the role. He brings
an air of wounded nobility, appropriately falling just short of tragic
grandeur, with a youthful hue to the voice that makes it clear that this
Sachs is far from over the hill. Likewise, Topi Lehtipuu’s David
is really top notch, bristling with youthful energy and full of lyrical
vigour. Alastair Miles also makes a fantastic Pogner, his address in Act
1 sounding deeply moving as it moves towards an overflow of patriotic
and familial pride. The greatest performance of all, though, is revealed
to be Johannes Martin Kränzle’s Beckmesser. Stripped of McVicar’s
production - though perhaps subconsciously helped by my memory of it -
he sounds like one of the very finest Beckmessers I have heard. The voice
has a nasty edge to it, insidious as he inveigles himself into Pogner’s
(and Eva’s) good books, and wounded during the fiasco of the final
scene. He is always musical, however; full of lyrical beauty and surging
with creativity and life in a way that is both impressive and very moving.
The young lovers don’t come across quite so well. Anna Gabler sounds
fairly anonymous as Eva, and her top notes are compromised, namely at
the end of her Act 2 dialogue with Sachs, and in the climactic O Sachs,
mein Freund! Marco Jentzsch did not impress me on the DVD, and nor
does he do so here. There is a raw, sandpapery quality to his voice that
does not fit well with the role of the young wooer, and at times he seems
downright over-parted, most damagingly in the Trial Song, where he sounds
under strain at an alarmingly early point in the evening. The Prize Song
is better - and better than it was on the DVD - the result of judicious
editing, I wonder? - but he can’t stand up to his rivals.
There are other losses too. The frequent bumping around on stage, especially
in the opera’s first and final scenes, reminded me just how much
extra-musical action there is in the production, and a lot of it - cheering,
and so on - is pretty unwelcome on CD. Similarly, the Masters are insufficiently
distinguished from one another so that their scene in the Song School
unfolds with monotonous vocal character which doesn’t appeal.
So, while this set contains lots of good things, on balance I’d
prefer to see the production, not necessarily because McVicar’s
staging was particularly full of revelations, but because I want to see
Finley’s interaction with Kränzle and enjoy watching his developing
expression in the third act as he lets go of Eva and reconciles himself
to his future. Yes, this comes through in the voice, but it’s even
richer on screen. Furthermore, there is so much excellent competition
for Meistersinger on CD that I doubt this set would appeal to many
who weren’t already interested in the Glyndebourne production. This
is despite the beautiful packaging in a hard-back book with production
photos, the text, English translation and John Allison’s contextual
note (in English only) about Wagner on the Sussex Downs. This won’t
make me reach for this issue over Solti (in Chicago), Karajan (in Dresden)
or Sawallisch (in Munich). However, I’ll go back to it for the benefits
of having Finley and Kränzle together, and to dream about what other
Wagnerian treats might lie in Glyndebourne’s future.
Simon Thompson
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