The most essential LOHENGRIN!(转发)
As a lot of my reviews "run on", I will try to keep this short. (There are notations, also, at the end of this review.)
It would be 1953 before "Lohengrin" would be produced again at Bayreuth after it's last performance there in 1937 under Heinz Tietjen with Marcel Wittrisch (Lohengrin), Maria Muller (Elsa), Ludwig Hoffmann (Heinrich, Jaro Prohaska (Telramund) and Margarete Klose, (Otrud).
Joseph Keilberth was chosen to conduct the new production designed by Wolfgang Wagner, with Wilhelm Pitz chorus master. The singers were Wolfgang Windgassen (Lohengrin), Eleanor Steber (Elsa), Josef Greindl (Heinrich), Hermann Uhde (Telramund), and Astrid Varnay (Otrud).
Looking at this list of performers will, I assume, let you know what you should expect for a "performance"; and I am most certain that you will not be disappointed!
Of course, we're listening to early 1950's monophonic sound, so you must make an exception for that. What you will hear is:
*The Young Windgassen, in his first performance at Bayreuth, still in youthful fresh voice, singing as you've probably never heard him before.
*The most beautiful, innocent, and truly heartfelt Elsa perhaps ever committed to "tape"...perhaps the next best ones would be Rysanek's, Grummer's and that of Anja Silja. Steber's performance truly is the most beautiful, perfectly imagined Elsa I have ever heard, bar none.
*Greindl's beautifully rich and gravelly-voiced Heinrich is just perfect--exactly as you would imagine this king to sound.
*Hermann Uhde's commandingly sung Telramund is simply one of the strongest performances of the role I have ever experienced.
*Astrid Varnay! Well, the best way to describe her is the most evil Otrud that there ever was! She simply is a knockout and a perfect match for Uhde's Telramund!
*All the lesser roles are first class, also.
This recording truly represents the best Wagnerian singers the world had to offer after the War, and this first "Lohengrin", in the hands of Wolfgang Wagner, Wilhelm Pitz, and Joseph Keilberth was a long talked-about piece for years after, and truthfully, still is.
Keilberth steps up to the podium, and there is NO doubt that he has complete mastery of the orchestra, and Wagner's score. His conducting here is not a "Keilberth" event (like von Karajan's, for instance), but an honest, true reading of Wagner's score, as written, and Maestro Keilberth "stands back" to let that shine through. Here we have, even in the dated 1950's sound, a true, carefully and honestly rendered, account of Wagner's magnificent score. Backing this all up, of course, is Wilhelm Pitz's as always wonderful command of the chorus.
While there are other recordings that must come first, this recording simply is an absolute necessity in your collection...this recording "wills" you to listen to it again and again! Trust me! ~operabruin
(Other recordings that Cannot be neglected are:
*Sawalisch, Bayreuth, 1962, Thomas, Silja, Crass, Vinay, Varnay
*Cluytens, Bayreuth, 1958, Konya, Rysanek, Engen, Blanc, Varnay
*Solti, Vienna Philharmonic, Domingo, Norman, Sotin, Nimsgern, Randova
*Kubelik, Bavarian Radio Symphony, King, Janowitz, Ridderbusch, Stewart, Jones
*von Matacic, Bayreuth, 1959, Konya, Grummer, Crass, Blanc, Gorr
**Leinsdorf, Boston Symphony, Konya, Amara, Hines, Dooley, Gorr
**Barenboim, Berlin State Opera, Seiffert, Magee, Pape, Struckmann, Polaski
**Both these recordings, while severely flawed, must be considered, as they are the only two that contain the complete "Grail Narrative"...removing the second stanza was an unfortunate "cut" sanctioned by Wagner. It truly deserves to be re-instated into the work.
