Search - Richard [Classical] Wagner, Gabor Otvos, Arthur Korn :: Wagner: Die Feen

Orchestra del teatro di where? No competition for Sawallisch

Laon | moon-lit Surry Hills | 10/08/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Whoever thought that one day there'd be two competing, non-pirate, recordings of Wagner's first opera, _Die Feen_? It's an unjustly neglected opera, with a surprisingly good libretto for Wagner's first time out: a remarkably sophisticated effort with echoes of _Zauberflöte_ and pre-echoes of _Die Frau ohne Schatten_. And a score that reminds us that Wagner was a great melodist, who could have spent his career banging out tunes every bit as good as Donizetti's, if he'd had a mind to. (The immediate musical inspirations in this score may be Weber and Beethoven, but Donizetti and Bellini aren't far behind, especially in the big romantic arias for Wagner's lovers, and some supple and witty vocal writing for the second, buffo, couple.) But this recent recording, with Gabor Otvos conducting the Orchestra Del Teatro Comunale Di Cagliari, isn't really much competition for the superb earlier recording with Sawallisch conducting, and leading an infinitely better cast than Otvos' singing unknowns. There's nothing wrong with unknown singers, of course. The Naxos _Fleigende Holländer_ was also handled by obscure singers; the difference is that those singers more than rose to the occasion, making it clear that they deserve to be better known. But the obscurity of the singers in this recording of _Die Feen_ cast is unlikely to be lifted by this recording. The singing is adequate but never special, not in vocal beauty nor in characterisation. Nor does Otvos work any miracles with his barely fourth-rate orchestra. All in all this is the sort of recording that might reasonably have been released _before_ the Sawallisch set: to fill the gap in the catalogue with a library-reference recording. But it can't seriously set itself in competition with that set.This might be worth buying at a budget price, but at only a couple of dollars less than the Sawallisch set, it's not recommended. Cheers!Laon"