Best recording of Wagner's Die Walküre
Erlend Viken
trombonist, I like the recordings to be emotional, yet powerfull.
To give at hint of my style: I like the Abbado/Wien recording of Lohengrin
(DG).
Please help. This is expensive music, so I don't want to buy a crappy
recording.
-Erlend Viken
samir ghiocel golescu
On Fri, 4 Dec 1998, Erlend Viken wrote:
> Does anyone know a good recording of Wagner's Die Walküre? Beeing a
> trombonist, I like the recordings to be emotional, yet powerfull.
>
> To give at hint of my style: I like the Abbado/Wien recording of Lohengrin
> (DG).
From the planned studio recording of the "Ring", Furtwangler recorded only
the Die Walkure (Vienna 1954). If you can stand with a mono (very good)
recording, try that, on EMI, not too expansive and extremely beautiful.
Don't confuse that with Furty's Italian recordings of the entire Ring,
very valuable for collectors but not for someone who wants to have "one"
Die Walkure.
Regards,
Samir Golescu
EMNagamine
as was typical of those days. Of course they play very stylishly
as well. As a bonus, Wagnerian singing that is at a high level
than you would hear today. From a brass players perspective this
would be the best if you're interested in a powerful brass sound.
As an alternative, the Levine/Met recording would be a great show
case of great american style brass playing.
Still if you want great singing and playing style you'd have to
go back to the mono recordings of say Walter and Furtwangler.
Erlend Viken wrote:
>
> Does anyone know a good recording of Wagner's Die Walküre? Beeing a
> trombonist, I like the recordings to be emotional, yet powerfull.
>
> To give at hint of my style: I like the Abbado/Wien recording of Lohengrin
> (DG).
>
> Please help. This is expensive music, so I don't want to buy a crappy
> recording.
>
> -Erlend Viken
--
Aloha and Mahalo,
Eric Nagamine
Curtis Croulet
Maybe he'll weigh in.
Tony Movshon
"Erlend Viken" <erle...@stud.ntnu.no> writes:
> Does anyone know a good recording of Wagner's Die Walkure?
For my money, the best stereo recording of Walkure is Nilsson,
Vickers, London, Brouwenstijn with Leinsdorf conducting, on
Decca/London. All 4 principals are excellent and at the height of
their vocal powers, Leinsdorf's conducting is good, well-paced, and
well-phrased, and the LSO play very well. The recording (made by
Decca's famous Kenneth Wilkinson) sounds excellent and you need not be
concerned about its vintage (1961).
All the other stereo Walkuren that I know have significant problems:
Karajan is good vocally but the conducting is too smooth for my taste
and Crespin is really no match for Nilsson as Brunnhilde; Solti has
wonderful orchestral playing and 3 good principals, but Hotter was a
couple of years past being able to meet the demands of Wotan; Levine
is well-conducted, -played and -recorded, but both Behrens and Lakes
are a notch or two less good than the best; Bohm is an exciting live
performance but his conducting lacks power and rhythmic precision.
Haitink and Boulez are nonstarters for casting reasons. I've surely
forgotten some others and not heard yet others.
Furtwangler's 1954 mono studio recording is the best available
recording of him in the Ring, and is wonderfully conducted; however,
the recording is acceptable for its age but no better than that, and I
do not think his cast is as good as Leinsdorf's.
Among the many historical recordings of Walkure and bits thereof, do
not miss Bruno Walter's EMI recording of Act I with Lehmann and
Melchior -- incomparable singing captured in surprisingly vivid sound
for its day (1935).
Tony Movshon mov...@nyu.edu
Center for Neural Science New York University
Simon Roberts
: "Erlend Viken" <erle...@stud.ntnu.no> writes:
: > Does anyone know a good recording of Wagner's Die Walkure?
: For my money, the best stereo recording of Walkure is Nilsson,
: Vickers, London, Brouwenstijn with Leinsdorf conducting, on
: Decca/London. All 4 principals are excellent and at the height of
: their vocal powers, Leinsdorf's conducting is good, well-paced, and
: well-phrased, and the LSO play very well. The recording (made by
: Decca's famous Kenneth Wilkinson) sounds excellent and you need not be
: concerned about its vintage (1961).
: All the other stereo Walkuren that I know have significant problems:
: Karajan is good vocally but the conducting is too smooth for my taste
: and Crespin is really no match for Nilsson as Brunnhilde;
Well, she may not be up to Nilsson for the war cry stuff, but in terms of
tonal beauty and ability to act with her voice, I think Crespin wins hands
down -- try her extended dialogue with Wotan in Act III.... I can't think
of another Bruennhilde who comes close from that point of view unless you
go pre-WWII.
[other stuff snipped that I agree with, except perhaps re Boehm, whose
conducting I like quite a lot here]
I guess historic performances are out of the running for purposes of this
thread, but I'm going to mention some anyway; first, my usual
encouragement for eveyone to get Mark Obert-Thorne's "Potted Ring" on
Pearl for a quality of Wagner singing that hasn't been heard since and
second, some live performances from the late 30s and early 40s on Walhall
and Myto where you can get many of the same singers in a complete "live"
performance but, with the exception of the Myto, in inferior sound.
Simon
Tony Movshon
si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) writes:
> Tony Movshon (to...@cns.nyu.edu) wrote:
> : All the other stereo Walkuren that I know have significant problems:
> : Karajan is good vocally but the conducting is too smooth for my taste
> : and Crespin is really no match for Nilsson as Brunnhilde;
>
> Well, she may not be up to Nilsson for the war cry stuff, but in terms of
> tonal beauty and ability to act with her voice, I think Crespin wins hands
> down -- try her extended dialogue with Wotan in Act III.... I can't think
> of another Bruennhilde who comes close from that point of view unless you
> go pre-WWII.
One more point about Karajan -- he does not discourage Vickers'
tendency to croon instead of singing out; Vickers was better for
Leinsdorf (and to be fair to HvK, Vickers crooned more as he got
older).
Solti comments (a bit ruefully) in his Memoirs about Vickers' refusal
to sing under him. Does anyone know more about Vickers' side of that
story?
Kolya
Tony Movshon wrote:
> One more point about Karajan -- he does not discourage Vickers'
> tendency to croon instead of singing out; Vickers was better for
> Leinsdorf (and to be fair to HvK, Vickers crooned more as he got
> older).
I know what you mean. A lot of JV's recorded work would be more compelling to
me if he would have "sung out" more often--there was obviously plenty of
vibrant, heroic tone, but the fussy dynamics and under-supported crooning (to my
ears anyway) heard in his otherwise admirable Otello, Florestan and Radames (all
recorded around the time of the Leinsdorf Walkure sessions-may be wrong on the
dates of the FIdelio...) do dampen enthusiasm a bit. So I agree that if it's
Vickers' Siegmund you're after, it's Leinsdorf that has the advantage--there's
more straightforward singing overall.
> Solti comments (a bit ruefully) in his Memoirs about Vickers' refusal
> to sing under him. Does anyone know more about Vickers' side of that
> story?
FWIW, I heard that the recording sessions for the complete Aida under Solti with
Vickers, Price, Gorr and Merrill caused a bit of friction between Vickers and
the maestro. Solti apparently insisted on *numerous* rehearsal in which the
principals were required to sing out in full voice; no "marking" was allowed. A
then-young Leontyne Price, in particular, was required to sing (full-voiced),
long passages of this extremely demanding role again and again and again during
the "rehearsal" period--a requirement Vickers found unreasonable and
irresponsible (I suppose in terms of good vocal health). Not sure whether it
went so far as a "I'll never work with him again" situation, but it's a
hypothesis anyway.
Alan
Sacqueboutier
>
> Don Patterson, a world-class trombonist, is a frequent contributor here.
> Maybe he'll weigh in.
Huh?
--
Don
)**********************************************(
)* Don Patterson *(
)* Asst. Principal Trombonist *(
)* "The President's Own" *(
)* United States Marine Band *(
)* don...@erols.com *(
)**********************************************(
http://www.marineband.hqmc.usmc.mil
)**********************************************(
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)**********************************************(
The views expressed are my own and in no way
reflect those of "The President's Own" United
States Marine Band or the United States Marine Corps.
Sacqueboutier
>
> Does anyone know a good recording of Wagner's Die Walküre? Beeing a
> trombonist, I like the recordings to be emotional, yet powerfull.
>
> To give at hint of my style: I like the Abbado/Wien recording of Lohengrin
> (DG).
>
> Please help. This is expensive music, so I don't want to buy a crappy
> recording.
>
> -Erlend Viken
If you are looking for a trombone section, the MET is pretty
hard to beat. Levine's conducting is on the slow side, and
the singers are an uneven lot, but the whole production does
have a lot dramatic impact and the roles are well played. The
orchestra is among the best in the world. You won't find
better tromboning in this opera than here.
But a better choice would probably be Solti/Vienna on
Decca-London. One of the best productions on disc, IMO.
A few weaknesses, though. This is the weak link in
Solti's cycle. James King's voice has always grated on
my nerves. His tone is so strained it sounds as though
he were a baritone trying to sing tenor, but not having
the pipes for it. The Brunhilde has tone that is bright
and harsh to my ears. But, the production as a whole is
dramatic. The orchestra is great and the brass playing
is powerful.
Paul Kintzele
>
> Does anyone know a good recording of Wagner's Die Walküre? Beeing a
> trombonist, I like the recordings to be emotional, yet powerfull.
No one has mentioned it, but I'll put in a good word for it:
Barenboim's digital recording made at Bayreuth a few years ago is quite
a potent account--the orchestra (and of course, the brass section) whip
up quite a frenzy at times, playing with all of the virtuosity of
Levine's Met orchestra, but with an additional degree of intensity, due
perhaps to the fact that Barenboim's is a recorded *performance* (i.e.,
a few odd stage noises, but no audience) as opposed to Levine's rather
lifeless studio recording, which, to me, never seems to be more than a
series of (generally) well-executed set pieces. (The live Met videos
are much better by comparison.) Barenboim also has an excellent team of
soloists--Tomlinson, Evans, Elming, and whoever sings Hunding (name
escapes me at the moment) all give very convincing performances.
So if you're looking for a recent recording, with a searing orchestral
contribution and a strong cast, Barenboim's is my recommendation.
Paul
ESH Tooter
Walkure on records that comes anywhere near it. Well, perhaps one, but it is
also inappropriate for this thread. Klemperer recorded Act I and the
conclusion of the opera. Soloists are clearly NOT first rate voices (possible
excpetion Bailey's Wotan). However, no recording I know makes this work quite
so psychological. Where Walter makes the the winds howl in the opening storm,
Klemperer's storm is all in the mind. Although the voices are not first rate
singers, there acting makes the whole work, and Klemperer finds so much in the
music.
I'll probably get flamed for this call. ;->
Alrod
>> Solti comments (a bit ruefully) in his Memoirs about Vickers' refusal
>> to sing under him. Does anyone know more about Vickers' side of that
>> story?
>
>FWIW, I heard that the recording sessions for the complete Aida under Solti with
>Vickers, Price, Gorr and Merrill caused a bit of friction between Vickers and
>the maestro. Solti apparently insisted on *numerous* rehearsal in which the
>principals were required to sing out in full voice; no "marking" was allowed. A
>then-young Leontyne Price, in particular, was required to sing (full-voiced),
>long passages of this extremely demanding role again and again and again during
>the "rehearsal" period--a requirement Vickers found unreasonable and
>irresponsible (I suppose in terms of good vocal health). Not sure whether it
>went so far as a "I'll never work with him again" situation, but it's a
>hypothesis anyway.
The short version of the story in circulation is that just before
recording the Triumphal Scene, Solti is said to have turned to the
soloists and said, "Sing as loudly as you like - I'll drown you out
anyway." At any rate, that's why Vickers recorded the Ring with
Karajan, and Colin Davis got to conduct his Peter Grimes at the Met.
Alrod
khows...@zdnetmail.com
to...@cns.nyu.edu (Tony Movshon) wrote:
> Solti comments (a bit ruefully) in his Memoirs about Vickers' refusal
> to sing under him. Does anyone know more about Vickers' side of that
> story?
I suffer from Fuzzy Memory Syndrome, but I recall Vickers saying on a CBC
radio interview that the disagreement started with the Aida they recorded.
In a nutshell, JV felt Solti was unmusical (may even have said something
about GS being too interested in the technical stuff, and not enough in his
singers and the music) and covered his singers too much.
--
K. Howson-Jan
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