Hans Knappertsbusch (conductor)
The Opera Edition
rec. 1947-1962
ELOQUENCE 484 1800 [19 CDs: 1179]
I quote from the Presto website: “Eloquence is one of the most critically-acclaimed classical reissue series in the world today…[d]rawing on the vast catalogues of Decca, Philips, Deutsche Grammophon and ABC Classics…”. Here, the label has turned its attention to commemorating the unique talents of Hans Knappertsbusch.
This 19 CD box-set is a monument to the talent of an extraordinary conductor who was – and continues to be – held in high esteem by his colleagues and devotees. It contains a mixture of mono and stereo recordings: the three Wagner recital discs by Kirsten Flagstad, Birgit Nilsson and George London are all in stereo, as are two of the four complete operas here, Fidelio and the live, 1962 Parsifal. The earlier Parsifal, also live, and the 1950-51 studio-made Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, however, are in mono, as is the final recital disc featuring Maria Reining and Paul Schöffler in extracts from Der Rosenkavalier, Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger, made in 1947 and 1949 and with the exception of the final track, “Gut’n Abend, Meister” appearing for the first time on a Decca CD. I should, however, immediately point out that the mono Parsifal has recently been released in Ambient Stereo by Pristine and as I detail in my review, that remastering “is far superior to anything which has gone before” – including the original mono incarnation heard here.
Let me start with that famous recording. I have now twice reviewed it, first as part of my survey, and subsequently in the review linked above. It would therefore be otiose to reiterate my opinion and I refer you to those previous assessments; suffice it to say that while I recognise its many virtues, its drawbacks incline me to prefer the 1962 recording included here and also reviewed in that survey.
The Meistersinger from the early 50s came out very well in my survey of that work, despite its limited mono sound, and while it is not my very favourite recording it merits its place in the pantheon and Kna aficionados will certainly want to own it, not least for his wonderful conducting and Paul Schöffler’s warm Sachs. I refer you to the survey for more detail.
The final complete opera is Knappertsbusch’s stereo, studio recording of Fidelio with a mostly fine, but uneven, cast. Yet again, it featured prominently in my survey of Beethoven’s unique foray into the genre but its flaws disqualify it from being a top recommendation and occasionally Knappertsbusch’s conducting is uncharacteristically inert.
The other items here are all excerpts and recitals featuring the greatest Wagner singers of their day. Especially prominent is the contribution of Kirsten Flagstad in Act I of Die Walküre and a Wagner compilation headed by her Wesendonck Lieder which, in my survey of that song cycle, I deemed to be “by far the best of the six” recordings she left.
The fact that I felt obliged to include a Knappertsbusch recording – and sometimes more than one in the case of the Wagner operas – in every one of the four surveys mentioned above is a sure indication of the quality of his output. Despite – or maybe because of? - his famed contempt for rehearsal, he brought a special magic and freshness to the performances he conducted and sometimes even managed - better than his almost exact contemporary Furtwängler – to import that sense of occasion into the recording studio. As the excellent booklet notes by Peter Quantrill tell us, like Furtwängler, his relationship to his political masters was ambivalent: sometimes compliant, sometimes overtly opposed; he was once overheard declaring, “Hitler kann mich am Arsch lecken” (Hitler can like my arse) and he brought that same fierce independence to his style of music-making while yet being able to establish an almost psychic rapport with his players without speaking, merely through gestures.
The discs devoted to the three great Wagner singers are only around forty minutes each; be aware that in the case of the George London compilation, the same tracks were included in a separate, 2013 Eloquence issue but that ran to well over an hour as it was padded out with Solti’s “Entry of the gods into Valhalla” from the first instalment of his Ring, the 1958 Das Rheingold, and Amfortas’ “Wehvolles Erbe” from the complete 1962 Parsifal discussed above. London was in stellar voice in 1958, producing a sound of enormous volume and resonance with a steel core; Knappertsbusch knows exactly how to pace the music, letting it breathe with the singer just a little more slowly than most conductors to evoke a certain eery menace about the Dutchman’s lament but then giving Sachs real warmth and humanity - and London often sings with surprising delicacy. He would give what is in my opinion the greatest Wotan on record for Leinsdorf on the Decca Die Walküre three years later but it is already the majestic, finished article here. Leinsdorf finds more impetus whereas Knappertsbusch invests the music with ineffable grandeur and pathos. Wotan’s climactic warning to anyone daring to try to pierce the flames is magnificently sung and played – slowly, massively and tinged with a deep melancholy. Producer John Culshaw provides excellent stereo sound and balance.
Nilsson’s disc is devoted to excerpts from Tristan und Isolde – oddly set out, with the Liebestod preceding the Act I duet between Isolde and Brangäne – but first comes Knappertsbusch’s uniquely sensuous, erotic Prelude, reproducing the same kind of passionate yearning which infuses one of my favourite complete recordings, his 1950 account with Günther Treptow and Helena Braun (unfortunately not in this box-set, as it was a Bavarian Radio recording and as far as I know is available only on the Orfeo and Andromeda labels). Nilsson’s Isolde is a known quantity; her partnership with Knappertsbusch is like the melding of two great oceanic currents and her final pianissimo top note is dreamy. The duet – which seems too trivial a word for this extended excerpt of twenty-two minutes of high drama; certainly no “bleeding chunk” - is likewise replete with those touches for which Nilsson was renowned in the role, such as how plaintively she sings “Er sah mir in die Augen” as well as acing the laser top notes. Grace Hoffmann contributes the sturdy Brangäne for which she was famed.
I have already briefly discussed above the sixty-year-old Flagstad’s recital; listening again to the Wesendonck Lieder I am newly struck by the excellence of both the singing and the sound; the four arias from three Wagner operas are equally impressive – any wear or scratch in her tone are minimal. She sings with authority and feeling – the final phrases of Kundry’s aria, “Herzeleide starb” (Herzeleide died) are movingly delivered. Her voice is rather too grand and mature for the role of Sieglinde but again, the golden tone and flawless phrasing carry the day. Those characteristics are equally in evidence in the fourth CD here, devoted to a recording of Act 1 of Die Walküre. Flagstad was sixty-two and had only five more years to live and higher-flying passages test her; Swedish tenor Set Svanholm was by then rather past his best and too plaintive of timbre, without the heroic heft required, especially in the climax of the act, when he labours for volume and power and Flagstad shrieks, but both are such expert, experienced singers of solid technique that they are mostly convincing – especially when set against the backdrop of Knappertsbusch’s immaculate pacing and lovely playing from the VPO. Arnold van Mill was then Decca’s “house bass” – wholly dependable, dark, gravelly and imposing as Hunding. Sadly, though, this recording is hardly a classic compared with, say, Walter’s 1935 recording with Melchior, Lehmann and List.
The final disc contains the oldest recordings – transferred from very early 33⅓ rpm LPs. The sound is a little harsh and peaky but crystal-clear, with very forward voices. Maria Reining is charming in her most famous role, the Marschallin, sounding like a woman still young and fresher than in her complete recording for Erich Kleiber five years later. She is similarly attractive as Elisabeth in the Tannhäuser excerpts, the sweetness and flexibility of her voice suggesting her origins as a soubrette who then developed the heft to sing the big Strauss and lighter Wagner roles. There is a slight but noticeable further deterioration of sound when we switch to the earliest (1947) recording of Hans Sachs’ Fliedermonolog by Paul Schöffler, presumably made on 78s, which is here spliced into Reiner’s original recital as it immediately precedes the “Gut’n Abend, Meister” she recorded with Schöffler – but I really cannot see the logic of giving us those two tracks twice, “first as a single, continuous extract as would be heard in the opera, and then separately, as two [tracks]…because these extracts were recorded at different times.” Whatever; their singing and rapport are highly attractive.
The cardboard slipcases reproduce the original LP artwork and in addition the essay the booklet contains a dozen colour and black-and-white photographs and full cast and track listings.
Ralph Moore
Contents
CDs 1–2
BEETHOVEN
Fidelio
Jan Peerce, Sena Jurinac, Deszö Ernster
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
CD 3
WAGNER
Tristan und Isolde (excerpts)
Birgit Nilsson, Grace Hoffman
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 4
WAGNER
Die Walküre (Act I)
Kirsten Flagstad, Set Svanholm, Arnold van Mill
Wiener Philharmoniker
CDs 5–8
WAGNER
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Paul Schöffler, Hilde Gueden, Günther Treptow, Karl Dönch
Wiener Philharmoniker
CDs 9–12
WAGNER
Parsifal
Bayreuth, 1951
Wolfgang Windgassen, George London, Hermann Uhde, Martha Mödl
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
CDs 13–16
WAGNER
Parsifal
Bayreuth, 1962
Jess Thomas, George London, Gustav Neidlinger, Irene Dalis
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
CD 17
Kirsten Flagstad sings Wagner
Wesendonck Lieder
Lohengrin
Parsifal
Die Walküre
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 18
George London sings Wagner
Der fliegende Holländer
Die Meistersinger
Die Walküre
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 19
RICHARD STRAUSS
Der Rosenkavalier
WAGNER
Tannhäuser
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(excerpts)
Maria Reining, Paul Schöffler
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
