Richard WAGNER (1813 – 1883)
Götterdämmerung
Lance Ryan (tenor) – Siegfried; Johannes Martin Kränzle (baritone) – Gunther;
Jochem Schmeckenbecher (baritone) – Alberich; Gregory Frank (bass) – Hagen;
Susan Bullock (soprano) – Brünnhilde; Anja Fidelia Ulrich (soprano) – Gutrune;
Claudia Mahnke (mezzo) – Waltraute/2. Norn; Meredith Arwady (contralto) –
1. Norn; Angel Blue (soprano) – 3. Norn; Britta Stallmeister (soprano) – Woglinde;
Jenny Carlstedt (mezzo) – Wellgunde; Katharina Magiera (contralto) – Flosshilde
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Chor und Herren des Extrachores der
Oper Frankfurt/Sebastian Weigle
rec. live, Frankfurt Opera, January-February 2012
Libretto with English translation enclosed.
OEHMS CLASSICS OC 938 [4 CDs: 60:03 + 59:22 + 68:13 + 79:09]
My colleague Gavin Dixon welcomed the first instalment in this Frankfurt Ring
cycle with great enthusiasm (see review),
proclaiming it Recording of the Month. I have yet to hear it but
have listened to the following three days of the Ring with somewhat
mixed feelings. Sebastian Weigle’s conducting has been the real glory of the
cycle. Time and again he has drawn superb playing from his orchestra to match
even Solti’s VPO and Janowski’s Dresden forces. The prelude to Götterdämmerung
has the right solemn weight. In the interlude before Zu neuen Taten
there is a visionary glow in the strings and rarely has Siegfried’s Rhine
Journey been so jubilant. That Siegfried’s death scene lacks the nobility
of Solti, Barenboim or Haitink is not the conductor’s fault. Weigle instead
finds exactly the right tone in the restrained funeral march – a restraint
that grows to an earth-shaking climax that holds the listener spellbound.
He also brings the cycle to a likewise spellbinding conclusion with a glorious
depiction of the flooding Rhine.It’s as memorable as any of the more than
one dozen other versions I have.
I wish the singing had been on the same exalted level but alas – there are
shortcomings, some more serious than others. The three Norns are expressive.
That’s the overriding impression of the whole cycle – it’s great theatre.
Meredith Arwady, who was Erda in Siegfried, has a rather prominent
vibrato and Claudia Mahnke isn’t free from that either. She also sings Waltraute.
Her narration is good: she has dramatic glow and insight and characterizes
well. Angel Blue, the young American soprano, has a splendid dramatic soprano
voice, a little weak in the lowest register but she will no doubt advance
to more important roles before long. The three Rhine maidens are also a shaky
bunch – or rather, their vibratos don’t match particularly well when they
sing together, which they do most of the time.
On the credit side we must mention the Gibichungen, who are the glories of
this set. Gunther, Johannes Martin Kränzle, is strong and dark-voiced and
excellently expressive. Maybe he is too strong and determined for this basically
weak character, but it’s a pleasure to hear him. His sister, Gutrune, is sung
with steady, beautiful, lyric-dramatic soprano voice by Anja Fidelia Ulrich.
I only wish her part had been bigger. Gregory Frank, whom I heard as an impressive
Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos in Helsinki just a few weeks ago,
is a formidable Hagen, singing and spitting out his evil with pitch-black
malevolence. The scene with Hagen and Gunther (CD 1 tr. 11-12) is stunning.
Alberich’s short appearance in act II is well characterized too but Jochen
Schmeckenbecher’s low notes are weak and he is also rather wobbly.
Having saved the two central characters for last may indicate that I’m less
than impressed, which unfortunately is true. Susan Bullock’s Brünnhilde is
uneven and far too often her tone is squally. In all honesty she must be credited
for her excellent diction and her deeply involved reading. In general her
vibrato is held in check better than in the previous operas. The immolation
scene, so gloriously sung by Birgit Nilsson, Kirsten Flagstad and Lisa Gasteen
in various recordings, is admirably conceived. I only wish her voice had been
in a shape to better express her intentions. In my review of Die Walküre
I wrote: ‘... her powerful voice conveys both warmth and dignity. Anyone who
can, so to speak, listen through the shrillness and wobbles will
find a deeply human Brünnhilde.’
Unfortunately Lance Ryan’s singing is even more ugly than it was in Siegfried.
He has power but the voice is afflicted by an incipient bleating beat. When
he is disguised as Gunther he manages to apply a really nasty tone but the
wobbling reveals his true identity to the listener. Even so he has his good
moments. At the end of the fourth scene of Act II (CD 3 tr. 14) there is actually
some golden tenor tone, and in the death scene he scales down to a pianissimo
on Brünnhild’ bietet mir – Gruß! (CD 4 tr. 13). There are therefore
some grains of gold, but far too few.
In spite of Sebastian Weigle’s conducting, generally excellent recording and
some memorable solo singing I cannot endorse this Götterdämmerung
or the complete cycle for that matter. This is not a library version or even
a starting point for the beginner. Solti or Böhm (both on Decca) – with many
of the leading singers in common – or Janowski’s (RCA) middle-of-the-road
set (and the first digital Ring) are safer bets. The more recent Bayreuth
set under Barenboim (Warner) and the Adelaide set under Asher Fisch (Melba)
also have much going for them. Haitink (EMI) would be a top contender but
is ruled out by the terribly wobbly Eva Marton’s Brünnhilde.
Göran Forsling
I cannot endorse this Götterdämmerung. Not a library version nor
even a starting point for the beginner.
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