Gotterdammerung: Dritte Szene: Starke Scheite Schichtet Mir Dort - Kristen Flagstad
Gotterdammerung: Dritte Szene: Mein Erbe Nun Nehm Ich Zu Eigen. - Kristen Flagstad
Gotterdammerung: Dritte Szene: Fliegt Heim, Ihr Raben! - Kristen Flagstad
Wilhelm Furtwangler's only live opera house recording of the complete Ring is indispensable for serious Wagnerians. (A 1953 broadcast concert series from Rome had an inferior orchestra and lesser singers.) This 1950 La S... more »cala Ring with the house band and chorus and a stellar cast of mostly German Wagnerians sports crude recorded sound, but the Music & Arts transfer is far superior to its previous incarnations. Furtwangler's conducting is incandescent. His command of structure is awesome; you sense the long, overarching lines of each of the operas even as you revel in telling details. The big moments have tremendous power, but also a nobility that often eludes Wagnerians. Time and again Furtwangler draws sounds from the orchestra and portrayals from his singers that reveal key passages in a new light, and he inspires his cast members to outdo themselves. Kirsten Flagstad, though a bit past her prime, is a magnificent Brunnhilde, with warmer timbre and more pointed phrasing than heard on her earlier recordings. Gunter Treptow is a fine Siegmund in Walkure; Set Svanholm and veteran Max Lorenz are compelling Siegfrieds. Ferdinand Frantz's Wotan and Josef Herrmann's Wanderer are excellent without effacing memories of Hans Hotter. This is a Ring that captures the white-hot intensity of a live opera house performance under a great conductor at his peak. --Dan Davis« less
Wilhelm Furtwangler's only live opera house recording of the complete Ring is indispensable for serious Wagnerians. (A 1953 broadcast concert series from Rome had an inferior orchestra and lesser singers.) This 1950 La Scala Ring with the house band and chorus and a stellar cast of mostly German Wagnerians sports crude recorded sound, but the Music & Arts transfer is far superior to its previous incarnations. Furtwangler's conducting is incandescent. His command of structure is awesome; you sense the long, overarching lines of each of the operas even as you revel in telling details. The big moments have tremendous power, but also a nobility that often eludes Wagnerians. Time and again Furtwangler draws sounds from the orchestra and portrayals from his singers that reveal key passages in a new light, and he inspires his cast members to outdo themselves. Kirsten Flagstad, though a bit past her prime, is a magnificent Brunnhilde, with warmer timbre and more pointed phrasing than heard on her earlier recordings. Gunter Treptow is a fine Siegmund in Walkure; Set Svanholm and veteran Max Lorenz are compelling Siegfrieds. Ferdinand Frantz's Wotan and Josef Herrmann's Wanderer are excellent without effacing memories of Hans Hotter. This is a Ring that captures the white-hot intensity of a live opera house performance under a great conductor at his peak. --Dan Davis
CD Reviews
Furtwangler/Wagner/Ring@La Scala/1950
KIM JONG BACK | 12/08/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This recording is really fantastic since there were Furtwangler and Kirsten Flagstadt. Though she has some problem in singing 'Hi-C', she is the one of the greatest Wagner singer. But the main problem of these CDs is the 'status of remastering'. So far as I listen, the quality and edition is slightly worse than the LPs and CDs published in Italy. This is the main reason of rating 4 stars."
War-seasoned singers shine forth!
10/02/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a remarkable historical document, catching several of the greatest Wagnerian singers from the 30's and 40's at the twilight of their careers. Treptow and Konetzni shine in the roles of Siegmund and Sieglinde of Die Walkure. (An earlier version of this great opera can be found with the same two singers from Vienna (1949) in a Myto release conducted by Rudolf Moralt.) Siegfried unveils Set Svanholm in the title role: he is in fine voice. Gotterdammerung is stunning, if only for the wonderful voice of Max Lorenz.Furtwangler's conducting is central to the set. The string portemento demanded by Furtwangler provides a fluidity to the unfolding of the dramatic events. Brass and horns a weak point: it is hard to pinpoint the problem -recording, orchestra, or conductor? I would guess the first.Flagstad (Brunnhilde) is wonderful throughout. Ferdinard Frantz creates a dark and brooding Wotan. All considered, a great achievement. If you like this set, be sure to check out Moralt's Ring on Myto. Moralt performed his Ring in the Theater an der Wien amongst the rubble of bombed Vienna (1948-50)and managed to assemble a fine cast of the best Viennese Wagnerians of the day. You will hear a style of singing that is no longer heard today, rich vibrato mixed with strict declamation."
Great Document of Legendary Wagnerians
J.G. | New York, New York USA | 08/28/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have no problems with the sound at all on considering that it is a live performance and there will always be extraneous noise during a live recording. I understand that the sound is very inconsistent at times, but I don't mind and I will tell you why. This is a very important document in the history of Wagnerian singing. I laugh at reviews that speak of the terrible audience that is recorded speaking throughout the recording--a knowledgeable listener will understand that this is the prompter, not the audience, being picked up by the microphone. This is another inevitable feature of recording a live performance.
I am a beginning Wagnerian singer myself, and these are only my opinions. All of the singers certainly seem to open up their souls in their roles in this set and I don't find that there is a lack of drama and passion, despite different levels of vocal quality. I am not hear to bad-mouth anyone, so I will dwell on the positive. FRANTZ is a god among Wagnerian Heldenbaritons--he possesses a god-like, deep, dark, and rick voice that makes me wish I could have been there to witness his portrayal. It is not hard to understand why he was Furtwangler's favorite Wotan. I agree with one reviewer that he may be the best recorded Wotan ever. In my opinion, he is worth the value of this set, along with the next singer. FLAGSTAD is instantly recognizable to any lover of the Ring cycle. Many tout her as the greatest Wagnerian Hochdramatische soprano ever and the greatest Brunnhilde. Only Helen Traubel, in my opinion, surpasses her in sonic quality and became the Met's reigning Wagnerian diva after Flagstad retreated to her home country to be with her family during the war. This is the only complete Wagner cycle of Flagstad extant I believe. I also bought this set for FURTWANGLER, a legendary conductor of Wagner. Many singers agree that he is one of few who really capture all of the requisite beauty as well as drama in Wagner. Varnay has stated in her biography that Furtwangler was the conductor that taught her the meaning a long-breathed phrase. It seemed that just when she thought that the phrase ended, Furtwangler commanded even more and it seemed his arms encompassed the orchestra in span. The conducting of this cycle is monumental. A good example of what Wagnerian drama can be is found during the last part of Die Walkure in the confrontation between Flagstad, Frantz and Furtwangler. I am certainly glad I encountered this set and it will be one of my prized Wagnerian recordings, others being a live Parsifal with London/Modl/Windgassen and Knappertsbusch conducting; another live Ring cycle with Varnay/Hotter and Krauss conducting; a live Der fliegende Hollander with London/Varnay conducted by Keilberth; a Tristan und Isolde with Modl/Vinay and the great Karajan conducting; and my most prized recording of Die Walkure with Traubel/Melchior, the unsurpassed Kipnis as Hunding, and the incredible Met debut of Varnay at 23(!) as Sieglinde, and conducted by Leinsdorf."
Arguably the best Ring.
Queen Margo | Arlington | 03/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Despite the imperfect sound, this Ring is the most satisfying of all. It features the best Siegmund ever -- Gunther Treptow -- (listen also to his Tristan) and, of course, a superb conductor. As no Ring is perfect throughout, it is good to have at least one other to compare. I prefer Clemens Krauss' "Siegfried" to Furtwangler's, for example. Krauss Ring is another great choice. It is in better sound than Furtwangler and enjoyable throughout (if you care for Astrid Varnay). But it is Furtwangler that I can listen to over and over again. The "benchmark" Solti and Karajan sets just do not transport me, perfect though they may be. In fact, I never understand why people recommend Solti's Ring for "beginners" or, as they say: "if you have only one Ring, this is the one to have." In my opinion, Solti can put beginners off Wagner. It's just too remote and lofty and it seems to drag on forever. Karajan is too precious."
A GOOD CAST FOR A MONUMENTAL RING
Stefano Tonelli | MILANO Italy | 05/11/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Luckily RAI, the Italian Radio, didn't use again these tapes for new broadcastings, so we have a complete Furtwängler live RING with a German cast. The sound is rather good (absolutely remarkable for the then RAI), but we don't have to forget that these recordings weren't made to be immortalized for records. RAI produced an another RING in 1953, with Furtwängler conducting RAI orchestra, but the result, in my opinion, is considerably inferior because of the unidiomatic playing of the orchestra and the cast, even if Brunnhilde is Martha Mödl, Wolfgang Windgassen is Siegmund, Ludwig Suthaus is Siegrfied (the Tristan of EMI 1952). At Teatro alla Scala Brunnhilde is the great Kirsten Flagstad, she supports and develops the vision of the conductor: an epic myth, an immense cosmic saga that Furtwängler sculptures in stone, like Phidias with Parthenon. Listen to the Death Announcement in Die Walküre: you'll hear the voices of Aeschylus and Sophocles; pay attention to the Waltraute Narrative (of an outstanding Elisabeth Höngen), in Die Götterdämmerung, and you'll feel the same atmosphere of Homerus. However, there are also three of the best heldentenor of the1940-50: Gunther Treptow, Set Svanholm and Max Lorenz. They are superlatives in their parts, especially Svanholm as young Siegfried. Max Lorenz, then aged 49, was ending his carreer, but his accent is still imperious, in spite of his timbre rather stiff (listen to the Götterdämmerung, first part of Act 3). I can't give 5 stars to this cycle, because of some elements of the cast: I'd rather prefer as Sieglinde (in my dreams!) Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek or even Regine Crespin than Hilde Konetzni (Lotte Lehmann is insuperable in this role) and I think only Hans Hotter would have been adeguate, not certainly Ferdinand Frantz. Finally I regret that the Woglinde and Gutrune (Sena Jurinac) and the Mime (Julius Patzak) of RAI RING had not sung at LA SCALA. This remains a fundamental performance that I recomend both to Wagner's and Furtwängler admirers."
Track Listings (18) - Disc #1