This now more than
50-year-old recording has always been
held in high esteem by Wagnerians, at
least for the singing of several of
the leading characters. Keilberth’s
conducting has sometimes been castigated
for being too anonymous, too Kapellmeisterisch.
Having played the complete set twice
within a few days I have to say that
I don’t share that standpoint. He is
not the interventionist conductor, pulling
the music about to make it his personal
belonging; he is rather the humble servant
who makes everything function without
being observed. But from the very beginning
he has a firm grip about the music and
his gradual building up of the prelude,
growing imperceptibly from almost inaudibility
to that first cymbal clash at 7:06 is
indeed impressive, and throughout the
opera he is ever attentive to the needs
of the drama with flexible speeds and
powerful fortissimos. The Bayreuth Festival
Orchestra play well with fine string
tone, so important in this opera, and
incisive trumpets. The chorus, trained
by Wilhelm Pitz, are well in the picture
and there are few wobblers among them.
What is a problem is the actual sound
quality, and I don’t blame Mark Obert-Thorn’s
restoration work, which I have admired
and lauded in several reviews recently,
but what was on the original Decca tapes
and, in this case, LP-pressings. In
spite of the "Full Frequency Range
Recording", much advertised in
the 50s, it is a thin sound, especially
affecting the strings. The dynamic range
is also rather narrow, which becomes
obvious when comparing with more recent
recordings. Just a few years after this
recording Decca became the sonic leader
with the sensational Solti Ring cycle.
But as always with "historical"
recordings one adjusts to the limitations
and listens to the music, which after
all is the main reason for listening.
The opera was recorded
live during performances in the Festspielhaus.
According to a review of a Teldec release
of this same recording about ten years
ago, the recording date was July 23rd,
which was the first performance of this
Wolfgang Wagner production. According
to Malcolm Walker’s booklet notes the
rehearsal and the first performance
were recorded but also the last three
performances, so it seems that what
we hear on these discs is a conglomerate
of all these performances. Joining them
together has been skilfully done, for
I can’t detect any tape-joints and the
whole appears to have been recorded
as one piece. It should be noted, though,
that there are a good deal of stage
noises, most disturbing during the first
few minutes of the prelude, when there
is a lot of clumping about behind the
curtain. Otherwise there is a very realistic
fighting scene in act 1 between Telramund
and Lohengrin.
The solo singing is
on a very high level and several of
the singers must be counted to the most
important Wagner singers of the whole
post war era. It is indeed interesting
to find in the cast list two young singers
at the beginning of their careers here
taking the small roles of Noble 1 and
4: character tenor Gerhard Stolze and
bass Theo Adam, a great Wotan and Hans
Sachs for many years. Of the main singers
Hans Braun’s Herald is well in the picture
but not as characterful as some. Josef
Greindl is an authoritative Henry the
Fowler with his gravelly voice, but
he is a bit unsteady, something that
afflicted his singing in other recordings
too, although he was a wonderful Osmin
in Fricsay’s Die Entführung
and a towering Hunding in a recording
of act 1 from Die Walküre
with Windgassen as a fine Siegmund.
But the real great deep-voice performance
here is Hermann Uhde’s Telramund. It
is difficult to imagine a stronger performance.
He seems to have unlimited power and
stamina at his disposal and especially
the first scene of act 2 (CD1 tracks
12 and 13 and CD 2 track 1) is a hair-raising
thriller: he growls, he whispers, he
shouts and he colours his voice to perfection.
Not even Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in
the Kempe recording can compete. Uhde’s
identification with Telramund is so
total that it must have been a hell
for him to return to his normal self
after the performance and I can’t imagine
anyone can get so deep under the skin
of a character under studio conditions.
His Ortrud, Astrid
Varnay, is almost on a par with this
Telramund. Varnay was one of the greatest
dramatic singing actresses, competing
first with Martha Mödl and later
with Birgit Nilsson, whose voice of
shining steel outclassed all competition
during the late 50s and the 60s. But
Varnay was the greater actress and she
also had a voice of impressive quality,
more mezzo-ish than Nilsson’s, who could
sound girlish when she felt for that,
while Varnay always sounded like a grand
woman. This Ortrud is also hard to beat
for dramatic conviction. Singing heavy
roles from very early in her career
gradually made lasting impressions on
her voice and her wide vibrato can be
troublesome to some listeners. I am
usually disturbed by heavy vibratos
but in Varnay’s case it only adds to
the creditability of her interpretation:
she sounds evil. At the very opposite
pole is fair Elsa, here sung with steady
and beautiful tone by Eleanor Steber.
She has also the power to shine through
the orchestra and the ensemble at climaxes.
On the other hand there have been Elsas
on disc with more character, more inward,
more lovely. My ideal Elsa is Gundula
Janowitz on the Kubelik recording. Even
among recorded Lohengrins this recording’s
protagonist comes high on the list.
Wolfgang Windgassen sings with great
beauty of tone, he has the required
heroic ring to the voice, he has dignity.
Still he feels a bit uninvolved during
the first two acts, the voice not fully
controlled, but in the final act he
is magnificent. The bridal chamber scene
with Elsa is filled with untiring heroic
singing and In fernem Land is
noble and dignified. Sandor Konya in
Leinsdorf’s RCA recording may be even
better and Domingo in Solti’s recording
surpasses himself. Returning to that
version confirmed the impression I had
back in the 80s when it was new, that
it is the best ever Lohengrin on disc.
Kubelik’s on DG is also very good but
has a sub-standard Ortrud.
Considering the dated
sound this Keilberth recording can’t
be recommended as the only version in
a CD collection but it should be there
as a complement for the best evil pair
ever, Uhde and Varnay, and for a marvellous
third act by Windgassen. At the price
everyone can afford it.
Göran Forsling
Bayreuth Festival Chorus/Wilhelm Pitz 
