KEMPE ROSENKAVALIER
Richard Loeb
with Kempe and Dresden forces originally issued on Urania in 1950. The
recording has some serious faults but also a definite liveliness (probably
die to Urania's minimum take policy), a really charming Octavian in Tiana
Lemnitz and a very funny Ochs in Kurt Bohme. The Marschallin Margarete
Baumer was a wonderful singer in the 30s but pretty wobbly here. I recall
speaking with Ward Botsford by phone - he produced many of the Urania sets.
He said that Baumer was picked for this and some other Urania material
because her husband was some kind of official who had a lot of clout -
though he said she was a very sweet woman. He also told me that Bernd
Aldenhoff was one of the stupidest people he ever met (!). He also
corrected the rumor that Urania had recorded an entire Ring under
Konwitschny - the rumor started when Urania issued a very odd LP with Wagner
excerpts such as "Siegfried's ascent to the mountain" - but there was no
complete Ring recorded. Richard
Edward A. Cowan
one ad for it in the monthly music section of _Saturday Review of
Literature_. One could search this out in a library, I guess, likely
in some issue from around 1950 or so. The announcement stated that the
series of recordings would commence with _Götterdämmerung_. In any
case, such a recording would have been merely a huge stop-gap measure
until the completion of the Solti _Ring_ sets. I doubt that the
vocalism of Bäumer or Aldenhoff could have stood the test of that much
time! --E.A.C.
Richard Loeb
news:212cc1a7-6dcd-4582...@e23g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
About the alleged Urania _Ring_ recording: I do recall seeing at least
one ad for it in the monthly music section of _Saturday Review of
Literature_. One could search this out in a library, I guess, likely
in some issue from around 1950 or so. The announcement stated that the
series of recordings would commence with _Götterdämmerung_. In any
case, such a recording would have been merely a huge stop-gap measure
until the completion of the Solti _Ring_ sets. I doubt that the
vocalism of Bäumer or Aldenhoff could have stood the test of that much
time! --E.A.C.
Oh that brings back memories - there were some awfully interesting record
reviews in Sat. Review. I think I recall that as well but it never got off
the ground according to Botsford - but I keep going back to that strange
Konwitschny LP - perhaps it consists of some tests that were done before the
project was scrapped. Richard
Edward A. Cowan
(Acanta 40.23.039) that came in a three-way gatefold album. There are
annotations in German and English, but there is no libretto and, other
than listing nine singers, the complete cast is not given. (Yes, I
know that the remaining supporting roles are hardly worth mentioning,
but it would serve a documentary interest to have the full list.) The
original Urania LP set ( URLP 201) was on four LP's. The stated cast
is as follows:
Marschallin - Margarete Bäumer
Baron Ochs - Kurt Böhme
Octavian - Tiana Lemnitz
Faninal - Hans Löbel
Sophie - Ursula Richter
Marianne - Angela Kolniak
Valzacchi - Franz Sautter
Annina - Emilie Walther-Sacks
A Singer - Karl Heinz Thomann
Ensemble und Chor der Dresdner Staatsoper
Staatskapelle Dresden, cond. Rudolf Kempe
SFAIK, this is the only recording of this opera cond. Rudolf Kempe.
Also on Urania was a Kempe recording of Weber's _Der Freischütz_
(Urania URLP-403, three LP's), a set that was marred by the bawling of
tenor Bernd Aldenhoff. I have this on Vox Opera Box 149, three LP's,
also containing a recording of Weber's _Abu Hassan_, not cond. Kempe.
And, finally, there was Kempe's first complete recording of _Die
Meistersinger_, also from Dresden, mainly notable for the Eva of Tiana
Lemnitz, but also for the disgraceful singing of Aldenhoff as Walther
von Stoltzing. (URLP-206, six LP's)
These were the recordings from which I learned about this fine
conductor. To be sure, he went on to make a great many other
recordings in western Europe, but he did return to Dresden to record
the orchestral works of Richard Strauss.
There is a photo-biography of Kempe: _Rudolf Kempe: Pictures of a
Life_, compiled and written by Cordula Kempe-Oettinger, preface by
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. London: Springwood Books, 1977. ISBN 0 9059
4706 1. The volume also contains a Kempe discography. --E.A.C.
There was slightly later Urania set of Wagner's _Lohengrin_ (Urania
URLP-225, four LP's), likewise cond. Kempe, but recorded in Munich.
On Mar 12, 6:58 am, "Richard Loeb" <loeb...@comcast.net> wrote:
Richard Loeb
Yes the Kempe Freischutz and Meistersinger were both transferred to Vox
Opera Boxes in the early 60s which is where I got to know them. The
Lohengrin and Rosenkavalier were not but the Lohengrin has been transferred
to a few CD labels - this is the first CD issue of the Rosenkavalier
however. Lemnitz is frayed but charming in both the Meistersinger and the
Rosenkavalier - the Meistersinger is terrifically conducted by Kempe and
Ferdinand Frantz is a vocally tremendous Sachs. But both sets have major
liabilities - Aldenhoff's pitchless bleating in the Meistersinger and
Baumers tremolo in the Rosenkavalier. Richard