This
recording of Tristan has never had very good press, the
most serious criticism being directed against Solti’s conducting.
Never one to think in long lines and carefully judging tempo
relations he often worked for the thrill of the moment – and
very often with stupendous results. Here, though, at the beginning
of his long-standing collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic
he wasn’t very happy with the orchestra - or the orchestra with
him - as some reports have it. Tristan und Isolde of
all works, although having its thrilling moments, is the epitome
of an epic, seamlessly moving forward and needing careful architecture
and fine nuances. It could be argued that the conducting is
less damaging on a highlights disc. The orchestral prelude is
well played and almost restrained, on the fast side but not
unduly so. Compare Bernstein who takes almost unbelievably 14:02
as against Solti’s 10:36 and still manages to keep the intensity
boiling!. There is a short snippet from act one; from act two
we have the full second half of the love duet from O sink
hernieder, around 25 minutes of continuous music, and then
the scene with Tristan and Marke. From the third act we have
the concluding 16 minutes. What is more disturbing than the
possible lack of an overall view - and Tristan can survive
all kinds of treatment, vide the Bernstein recording
which I made Recording of the Month a year ago - is the balance
between stage and orchestra and the obviously joint view from
Solti and John Culshaw that this is orchestral music with some
supportive voices. Birgit Nilsson recalls one of the recording
sessions:
“He
(Solti) revelled in climax and couldn’t get the orchestra to
be strong enough. Once at a rehearsal he repeated the same section
over and over again. Resnik and I were sitting on stage waiting
for our turn. Finally the orchestral volume became almost unbearable
and at the sixth climax we decided to fall down from our chairs
as struck by lightning. We attracted great attention lying there
like two dead fish, and of course we had the laughing orchestra
on our side. Somewhat reluctantly Solti joined in the mirth.
After this outburst the rehearsal could continue under more
relaxed conditions.”
For
the finished recording Solti obviously didn’t waive his demands
for deafening climaxes and manages to swamp his singers far
too often, with the exception of Birgit Nilsson of course, whose
laser beam shines through whenever needed. To enjoy her soft
singing one still needs to turn up the volume several steps
and when Solti then lets loose one has to run for cover. I wonder
if there would have been scope for remixing the original tapes
to rectify the balance. This was however what conductor and
producer wanted, and it’s a pity since we miss a lot of good
singing. Birgit Nilsson in one of her signature parts is the
central character here and she is as good as Solti allows her
to be. She re-recorded the part live at Bayreuth six years later
under Karl Böhm for DG and with a generally finer supporting
cast – and more natural balance but it is good to have this
first essay too. Fritz Uhl has a basically fine voice and he
sings with both healthy Heldentenor tone and lyrical beauty.
Regina Resnik’s Brangäne also suffers from the balance and her
Einsam wachend solo within the love duet (tr. 4) is further
weakened through her voice being even more distanced. Not that
it is a great loss since she sings it rather shakily. Tom Krause
in one of his earliest recordings is an eager and excellent
Kurwenal, the little we hear of him. Ernst Kozub as Melot displays
a voice of Tristan dimensions, more baritonal and indeed larger
than Uhl’s.
The
most pleasant surprise is Arnold van Mill’s Marke. He is warm
voiced, dignified and sad. Even though he can’t compete with
singers like Moll, Sotin and Talvela for vocal greatness he
gives a moving picture of conflicting feelings. He sings better
than I have heard him in other recordings. Together with Birgit
Nilsson’s Liebestod Marke’s long solo (tr. 7) is the
high-spot on this disc.
As
bonus tracks we get two snippets from the rehearsals but they
are frustratingly short and don’t add much to the value of the
disc. At budget price this is still worth investing in, if one
can accept the balance problems. Texts are not included but
we get a track-related synopsis and also Barry Millington’s
introductory notes on the opera, included with the 2002 reissue
of the complete set.
Göran Forsling
BUY NOW
Buywell
Just Classical
Birgit Nilsson (soprano)
– Isolde; Fritz Uhl (tenor) – Tristan; Regina Resnik (mezzo-soprano) –
Brangäne; Tom Krause (baritone) – Kurwenal; Arnold van Mill (bass) – King
Marke); Ernst Kozub (tenor) – Melot; Peter Klein (tenor) – A Shepherd;
Theodor Kirschbichler (bass) – A Steersman
