Poul Elming began his
career as a baritone at the Danish National
Opera in Aarhus. From 1984 he was at
the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, where
he has been one of the mainstays ever
since. In 1989 he changed to tenor,
making his debut in that capacity as
Parsifal. From then on he has been increasingly
sought after in the big houses around
the world. He sang at Bayreuth for twelve
consecutive years and his Siegmund is
immortalized on both CD and DVD in the
Barenboim/Harry Kupfer production. This
is, as far as I know, his first solo
disc.
Appropriately enough
two of his signature roles (Siegmund
and Parsifal) occupy the greatest part
of the generous disc-space, but it is
also good to have him in what can be
regarded as a character role as Loge,
especially since he is now taking on
pure character parts at the Royal Opera.
This autumn he will be singing Benoit
in La Bohème. His blonde
voice – a lyrical timbre with heroic
ring – is well suited to this multifaceted
character: sly, oily and scheming. It
is a vivid interpretation with excellent
enunciation, detailed and beautiful.
His Siegmund has certain
similarities with Set Svanholm, another
Nordic baritone turned dramatic tenor
and who as such had a world career in
the 1940s and 1950s. He had the blonde
tone, the youthful timbre and steely
top notes, but where Svanholm impressed
with his invincible brilliance, Elming
is more restrained, even though he has
the power for Siegmund’s cries Wälse!
Wälse! Wo ist dein Schwert?.
They are marginally more strained than
with Barenboim but still spine-chilling.
What makes him stand out is the lyrical
quality, the care about nuance – and
he certainly sings very beautifully.
Winterstürme is also mainly
sung as a "love in spring-time"
song, lyrically, warmly and with an
unaffected naturalness, free from histrionics
and shouting.
The rest of the disc
is occupied by four excerpts from Parsifal,
even though the track-list gives the
impression that it’s more. In fact tracks
5 to 10 comprise the almost 40-minute-long
duet between Parsifal and Kundry in
act 2, wisely enough fitted here with
a number of cue points. Before that
we get a well-shaped reading of the
prelude to act one, beautifully played
under the experienced Wagnerian Wolf-Dieter
Hauschild, who in the vocal excerpts
is sensitive to the singers’ needs.
The long duet opens with a lyrically
restrained Parsifal and then we meet
Nina Pavlovski’s well sung and well
acted Kundry. She sings a nuanced Ich
sah das Kind (tr. 6), sometimes
shrill at forte but tonally well-balanced.
Her big scene (tr. 9) is a splendid
example of acting with the voice. As
the intensity grows during the course
of the long duet, so does also Elming’s
voice which adopts more than a hint
of the baritone he once was.
To round off the disc
we get two passages from act 3. First
the meeting between Parsifal and Gurnemanz,
well characterized by Sten Byriel, who
also is briefly heard as Titurel in
act 2. Then comes Parsifal’s Nur
eine Waffe taugt and here he is
again youthful and lyrical – a beautiful
end to this very attractive disc which
thanks to one long unbroken scene is
something more than the common assemblage
of ‘bleeding chunks’.
There are only a few
tenors around in this repertoire with
these vocal qualities and this ability
to bring out the nuances in Wagner’s
music. We have to be grateful when a
singer of this calibre gets a disc of
his own. Danacord, Poul Elming and all
involved have to be congratulated on
the result!
Göran Forsling
for details
Poul Elming (tenor) 
