Search - Richard [Classical] Wagner, Bruno Walter, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Wagner: Die Walküre (Act 1; Act 2, Scenes 3 & 5)

BEWARE: cut to fit on a single disc

j in boston | 04/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 5 stars are for the performance.



Before buying this release you should note the following:



Although it states on the front cover "The complete recordings made in Vienna in June 1935" the following notice appears on the last page of the booklet:



"...to accomodate all these famous recordings on one CD, it was necessary to make two cuts in the orchestral music that precedes and follows the third scene of Act 2. The interlude between scenes 2 and 3 has been cut by 1'19", and Scene 3 starts at the moment in the score when Siegmund and Sieglinde, fleeing from Hunding, appear on the mountain-top, where Siegmund urges his sister to rest. The scene ends at the point where Sieglinde, terrified by thoughts of what Hunding's hounds might do to Siegmund, faints into the arms of her brother and sinks unconscious into his lap. Part of the postlude to this scene(47") and the whole of the prelude to Scene 4 (2'07") have been cut."



It's really quite dishonest of EMI to state on the front cover that this is the complete recording when, clearly, it is not. Had I known it was abridged I would not have purchased it. there are other versions in circulation. Being a huge fan of Bruno Walter and of Wagner's Ring I have long wanted to add this recording to my collection. Now that I have finally done so I find my enjoyment of it considerably dampened by the feeling that I was duped.



UPDATE:

I went to the EMI website and sent them a message about this. Within an hour I received the following e-mail in reply:



"Dear Mr._______



I have passed your comments on to those who look after this series and they agree that the description is inaccurate. There was a late change and this wasn't reflected in the packaging for which we apologize - this will be corrected in the future.



Regards



Ray""

Incomplete...

Ryan Kouroukis | Toronto, Ontario Canada | 10/01/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although this is a very special historical disc, Act 2 is incomplete.



EMI definetly boasts superior sound and liner notes than the Naxos but still the Naxos contains the complete Act 2, not only that but the EMI contains text translation, where the Naxos doesn't.



So it's a toss up. I actually will stay with the previous old single disc release of ACT 1 complete on EMI (in fantastic sound actually!) and keep my Naxos right behind it.



I actually wonder why EMI have cuts on in Act 2 when the NAXOS re-issue is COMPLETE!"