Great Opera Recordings - Wagner: Siegfried

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Album Details: Great Opera Recordings - Wagner: Siegfried

		Release Date: 08/17/2004 Label: Naxos Historical Catalog #: 8110091-92 Spars Code: n/a Composer: Richard Wagner Performer: Lauritz Melchior, Friedrich Schorr, Heinrich Tessmer Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Number of Discs: 2 Recorded in: Mono Length: 2 Hours 32 Mins.

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This two-CD set presents two and one half hours of Wagner's Siegfried: about 30 minutes are cut from the first act, about 50 from the second, and about 15 from the last. This leaves us with 150 minutes of music, sung and conducted by some of the most illustrious Wagnerians of the late '20s and early '30s. The Siegfried is Lauritz Melchior, possibly the finest Siegfried ever, certainly undisputed on discs from the '20s to the late '40s. His combination of power, authority, musicality, fearlessness, natural phrasing, sharp diction, and, well, sheer voice, is staggering: the early exchanges with Mime (an excellent, non-clownish Heinrich Tessmer) and the Forging Song precisely capture the character's rambunctiousness; the moments in the forest in Act 2 are filled with wonder; his arrogance up against the Wanderer (of the smooth Rudolf Bockelmann) in Act 3 leads into his moments of discovery atop the mountain--by turns forceful, sensitive, and poetic; and his spectacular duet with his aunt/bride Brünnhilde is unsurpassed in passion and security. Brünnhilde is the remarkable Florence Easton, a soprano who had the widest of repertoires (she sang Santuzza and Gilda as well as Brünnhilde and Isolde) and who, while not possessing the broadest of Wagnerian sounds, nonetheless retains utter clarity from top to bottom, has a real trill, and sings with confidence and poise. As to the other singers, Maria Olszewska is a dark-hued, solid, solemn Erda with Emil Schipper's acceptable Wanderer; a much finer Wanderer is Friedrich Schorr in Act 1. Eduard Habich sings Fafner and Alberich unimpressively, Nora Gruhn is an okay Woodbird, and the Mime of Albert Reiss in the Forging Song sequence is nothing special. Albert Coates' conducting is thrilling; Robert Heger's is more even-tempered, and all three orchestras impress. The sound, fixed up by Ward Marston, is as good as we could ask for given the dates of the recordings. All true Wagnerians should hear this. --Robert Levine


Individual Track Details:

1.	Siegfried: Act 1 Prelude by Richard Wagner
	Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 3 Minutes 55 Secs. Language: German


2.	Siegfried: Zwangvolle Plage! Müh' ohne Zweck! by Richard Wagner
	Performer: Lauritz Melchior (Tenor), Friedrich Schorr (Bass Baritone), Heinrich Tessmer (Tenor) Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 3 Minutes 37 Secs. Language: German


3.	Siegfried: Hoiho! Hoiho! Hau ein! Hau ein! by Richard Wagner
	Performer: Friedrich Schorr (Bass Baritone), Lauritz Melchior (Tenor), Heinrich Tessmer (Tenor) Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 8 Minutes 0 Secs. Language: German


4.	Siegfried: Act 3 Prelude by Richard Wagner
	Performer: Lauritz Melchior (Tenor), Friedrich Schorr (Bass Baritone), Heinrich Tessmer (Tenor) Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 8 Minutes 0 Secs. Language: German


5.	Siegfried: Soll ich der kunde glauben by Richard Wagner
	Performer: Friedrich Schorr (Bass Baritone), Heinrich Tessmer (Tenor), Lauritz Melchior (Tenor) Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 4 Minutes 2 Secs. Language: German


6.	Siegfried: Heil dir, weiser Schmied! by Richard Wagner
	Performer: Friedrich Schorr (Bass Baritone), Lauritz Melchior (Tenor), Heinrich Tessmer (Tenor) Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 8 Minutes 19 Secs. Language: German


7.	Siegfried: Excerpt(s) by Richard Wagner
	Performer: Friedrich Schorr (Bass Baritone), Heinrich Tessmer (Tenor), Lauritz Melchior (Tenor) Conductor: Robert Heger Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Period: Romantic Written: 1871; Germany	Date of Recording: 05/1931 Venue: London, England Length: 4 Minutes 24 Secs. Language: German

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