When I say that this is an uneven and unequal disc, I mean no
disrespect to its object, the eminent Gustav Neidlinger, who
indeed sings with such authority, command, and convincing assurance.
Rather it relates to the selection of tracks, which brings with
it both novelty and a small problem. It’s neither Mozart
nor Neidlinger’s fault that Ho capito, Signor si!
lasts only 100 seconds or that the sum total of the composer’s
music here, in stopwatch timings, amounts to eight minutes.
The sole example of his Verdi lasts three minutes, which means
that there are large extracts from Wagner and from Strauss’s
Rosenkavalier. I suppose the earlier tracks should be
seen in terms of the bass-baritone’s stylistic versatility
and his ability to lighten or soften his tone and weight of
voice. The Wagner chunks represent, in this context, the apotheosis
of his art. But it is notable how well and sensitively he does
lighten the voice for the two arias from La Finta Giardiniera.
Though the recording is rather dead - it was recorded for Period
in 1950 - the voice is thankfully well captured, and one can
admire the sense of characterisation he distils in these two
brief extracts. There is a greater sense of ‘spread’
in the recording, live in Hamburg in the Don Giovanni
aria conducted by Leopold Ludwig. The Verdi comes from similarly
live circumstances a year later in Hamburg, though here the
conductor is the expert Schmidt-Isserstedt.
It was Max Lorenz who encouraged the already 39 year old year
Neidlinger to chance his arm with the baritone repertory, as
he’d been singing small bass roles up to that point. His
fourteen years at the Hamburg Staatsoper were followed by 27
years in Stuttgart and, perhaps his greatest impression, twenty
seasons at Bayreuth. His retirement in 1977 ended a 46 year
career, and he died in 1991 at the age of 81. The quality of
his voice, the powerful impression he made theatrically, can
be best experienced in the Wagner extracts. The Die Walküre
extract is from an Electrola LP, whilst the Meistersinger,
with Rudolf Schock, was recorded by the same company in 1956.
The other three long extracts are from Bayreuth from 1953 and
1957. With elite colleagues and conductors these extensive examples
of his musicianship - the Siegfried with Hotter and Greindl
for example lasts nearly eighteen minutes - offer plenty of
richly musical reward but also lead one to wonder why he never
became as well known as he clearly deserved. Fortunately the
live performances supplement his uneven studio legacy. This
particular disc’s perhaps necessarily uneven pleasures
provide a measure of justice.
Jonathan Woolf
Track listing & performance details
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
La Finta Giardiniera - forza di martelli. Sung in German as
'Der Hammer formt das Eisen' K196 (1775) [3:08]
Tonstudio orchester Stuttgart/Rolf Reinhardt, rec 1950
La Finta Giardiniera - on un vezzo all'Italiana. Sung in German
as 'In der welschen Art und Weise' K196 (1775) [3:04]
Tonstudio orchester Stuttgart/Rolf Reinhardt, rec. 1950
Don Giovanni - Ho capito, signor sì! K527 (1787) [1:39]
Sinfonieorchester des Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg/Leopold
Ludwig, rec.1951
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901):
La Forza del Destino (1862) - Holà, Holà, Holà!
Sung in German as 'Ho! Ho! Heissajuchheia!' [3:16]
Sinfonieorchester des Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg/Hans
Schmidt-Isserstedt, rec. 1952
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868) - Was euch zum Leide
Richt, und Schnur [2:30]
With Rudolf Schock
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Rudolf Kempe, rec. 1956
Das Rheingold (1869) - Da, Vetter, sitze du fest! [14:38]
with Erich Witte (Loge), Hans Hotter (Wotan)
Orchestra of the Bayreuth Feestspiele/Clemens Krauss, rec. 1953
Siegfried (1876) - In Wald und Nacht [17:38]
with Hans Hotter (Wanderer), Josef Greindl (Fafner)
Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festspiele/Clemens Krauss, rec. 1953
Götterdämmerung (1876) - Schläfst du, Hagen,
mein Sohn? [8:19]
with Josef Greindl (Hagen)
Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festspiele/Hans Knappertsbusch, rec.
1957
Die Walküre (1850) - Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches
Kind! [13:50]
Orchestra of the German State Opera, Berlin/Wilhelm Schüchter,
rec. 1958
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Der Rosenkavalier (1911) - Da lieg ich [10:37]
with Sieglinde Wagner (Oktavian)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Wilhelm Schüchter, rec. 1955
Gustav Neidlinger (bass-baritone) with accompanists as above
rec. 1950-57
