This
issue concludes for me the Stuttgart Ring, having reviewed
the DVD version of Das Rheingold and CDs of the remaining
three parts. My impression was that they gradually improved
with Siegfried (review)
- certainly recommendable, especially at budget price, a weak
Wanderer notwithstanding. I was eagerly awaiting Götterdämmerung.
Unfortunately, despite some good things, it doesn’t live up
to expectations.
A
constant joy with the earlier parts has been the conducting
by Lothar Zagrosek. Here he is more uneven. He opens with a
well shaped prelude to the prologue and the dawn interlude is
excellent, as is the Rhine Journey. Elsewhere he seems to lose
momentum and the drama in many places feels sluggish. The whole
performance becomes long-winded and the Funeral march is almost
perversely slow.
He
isn’t helped by some less than first-class singing. As a matter
of fact almost none of the soloists is wholly free from a disfiguring
vibrato, some more prominent than others. It ranges from a well
sung Gutrune (Eva-Maria Westbroek) and her youthful sounding
and eager brother Gunther (Argentinean Hernan Iturralde) to
a wobbly, throaty and shrill Brünnhilde (Luana DeVol). Of course
opera is not only beautiful singing. It is also theatre and
in seeing a live performance good acting to a degree can redeem
less than accomplished singing. However when reviewing a sound-only
recording one can only evaluate what one hears. Here there are
just too many unfocused voices and too much unsteady singing.
To
start with the three Norns – the first voices we hear – they
are all more or less wobbly. The three Rhinemaidens, who appear
at the beginning of the last act, on the other hand, sound good.
Since they mainly sing in unison this is if anything due to
the fact that their vibratos are well matched. Tichina Vaughn
is a deeply worried Waltraute but is also over-vibrant. On the
male side the two veterans, Franz-Josef Kapellmann as Alberich
and Roland Bracht as his son Hagen, are among the best reasons
to hear this set. Both singers had been active for around thirty
years when this recording was made and it is obvious that such
a long time in heavy repertoire has taken its toll – they are
not as sonorous as they once were. However they do sing with
steady tone and Bracht in particular is greatly impressive in
his malice. His is a reading that can stand with the best.
Siegfried
is the Dutch tenor Albert Bonnema and his is initially not a
Heldentenor at all. He is more of a character tenor – a Mime
maybe – who sounds uncomfortable and sorely strained. Helle
Wehr, heilige Waffe (CD3 tr. 10) should be heroic and glorious
but he sounds only frightened and strained. A true Siegfried
is an operatic Harley-Davidson but here we are treated to an
EU-moped. He manages to tune up the engine for the last act
but still has to resort to some shouting. As for Luana DeVol’s
Brünnhilde there are several positive things to say. She is
a true actor, as I pointed out in my not too positive review
of her Turandot DVD some time ago. She has insight, dramatic
conviction, an expressive way with words and in the immolation
scene (CD4 tr. 12-14) she sings beautifully. Her pianissimo
singing is touching but her fortes are shaky.
Recorded
live this set suffers from the usual external noises and variable
sound levels due to the soloists’ movements on stage. Otherwise
it is well on a level with the other operas in this cycle and
the orchestra is certainly first class. As usual we have to
be content with a rather detailed synopsis but the German libretto
can be downloaded. There are two more Götterdämmerungs
in the pipeline: Hartmut Haenchen’s Amsterdam version on Etcetera
is already in my review pile and Asher Fisch’s Adelaide version
on Melba should be due before long. They will be worth waiting
for but neither is as inexpensive as this Naxos recording.
Göran
Forsling
Albert Bonnema (tenor) – Siegfried; Hernan Iturralde (baritone)
– Gunther; Franz-Josef Kappellmann (bass-baritone) – Alberich; Roland
Bracht (bass) – Hagen; Luana DeVol (soprano) – Brünnhilde; Eva-Maria
Westbroek (soprano) – Gutrune; Tichina Vaughn (mezzo) – Waltraute;
Janet Collins (contralto) – First Norn; Lani Poulson (mezzo) – Second
Norn; Sue Patchell (soprano) – Third Norn; Helga Rós Indridadóttir
(soprano) – Woglinde; Sarah Castle (mezzo) – Wellgunde; Janet Collins
(contralto) – Flosshilde; Staatsopernchor Stuttgart, Staatsorchester
Stuttgart/Lothar Zagrosek
