Customer Reviews

Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg

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The whole of Die Meistersinger, of course, is itself a master-song - all 4-5 hours of it, depending who's conducting. It fulfils the rules that Sachs sets out for Walther to compose his prize-song to. The first two acts are the stollen, imitations though not necessarily copies of each other. Both start with the Nuremburg community - at worship and at play - before focusing in on individuals. Both end with a trial-song that leads to total chaos and pandemonium. The third act is the abgesang, the after-song, related to the first two parts but different from them as a child is from its parents. And, as Sachs says of Walther's effort, 'Now that what I call an abgesang!'.

What has all that to do with choosing a recording of Wagner's most human and lovable opera? Well, Meistersinger, like all the Meister's mature operas, depends on pacing, on a conductor's ability to see the piece over long paragraphs of a whole act or even a whole opera. Pacing is not the same as tempo, though it does have to do with the relationships of different tempi to each other, sometimes over long periods of time. It is to do with the weighting of climaxes and the approaches to them. It is to do with the winding up and the releasing of tension. It is to do with the ebb and flow of the music, not the fast and slow of it. It is, I suspect, something that is instinctive to a great Wagnerian conductor - either you've got it or you haven't. Goodall, at consistently slow tempi, had it in Spades. On record, so did Kempe (for many years the yardstick recording). And so most assuredly does Kubelik on this issue which languished, unissued for contractual reasons, on the shelves for far too long.

Kubelik consistently gets it right - from the quiet ruminations of the Fliedermonolog to the apparent chaos of the Act 2 riot (actually a fugue with ground-bass!), from the frustrations and humanity of the Wahnmonolog to the perfectly placed knockout punch of Eva's 'O Sachs, mein Freund' to the sublime catharsis of the Quintet. It is, as I keep saying, a rare intuitive sense of pacing that puts all these elements in precisely the right places and relationships within the overall picture. The orchestra, while not absolutely in the top-flight, follow a conductor they knew well through everything with some glorious tone, especially from the woodwind who are so important in this opera.

The singers, too, may not look the ideal ensemble on paper, but they prove themselves probably the most consistent cast of any Meistersinger. While I might be forced to give the crown for best performance on disc as Eva to Lisa della Casa, the most beautifully sung Eva prize goes to Janowitz - wonderful rich, creamy tone, particularly in the top-line of the Quintet. Thomas Hemsley (sadly underrepresented on disc) was recommended as Beckmesser to Wolfgang Wagner at Bayreuth by Klemperer, no less. Having seen his wonderfully detailed fussy, tetchy, pedantic Stadtschreiber there, I may be prejudiced, but listening to this performance without the visual side one is delighted to hear the part actually sung so well and not barked. Beckmesser really is a Mastersinger singing his best in his trial song, however awful the words and the scansion. Sandor Konya was an on-off singer - when he was good he was very, very good...etc. And here he is very good indeed - this is one of his best performances on disc. But the great (agreeable) surprise among the cast is Thomas Stewart. It's not a voice I would have thought of for Sachs - a bit too tight, a bit too gritty compared to the fully rounded tones of a Hotter or a Schorr. And maybe it isn't the ideal voice. But he does gives a quite wonderful performance, fully encompassing all the many facets of the character: resignation, anger, irony, authority, humility before his adoring public, poetry, philosophy, above all, humanity, they're all here, sung of the text with a consistently beautiful sense of musical line. The rest of the cast - masters, apprentices, a refreshingly youthful Lene from Fassbaender, nightwatchman, cobblers, tailors, bakers and all - live up to these high standards.

I'm amazed by Tristan. I stand in awe of the Ring. I respect Parsifal. But I love Die Meistersinger. I love it for its human scale, for its rich picture of humanity with all its strengths and weaknesses, all its passions and foibles. And, of all the recordings of this miraculous piece, this is the one I have come to love most

No Meistersinger has a cast to equal this! Konya and Janowitz possess voices of sheer beauty. Along with the other principals, the quintet becomes the masterpiece of musical ensembles. Stewart is more serious than other Hans Sachs to be sure but none have his security of tone. He suffers from too many Wotan's and Dutchman's but he's wonderful nevertheless. Then again this is a kind of serious comedy. [At least Eva doesn't jump off a cliff or Hans Sachs doesn't ride off on a horse into a volly of flames.] Fassbaender and Unger are a delight. I have not heard their equal on disc.

Too bad it took a quarter of a century for the recording to appear. What its opposition ultlimately produced was a short coming and a real dissappointment. At least this monumental performance at Kubelik's helm was worth the wait and no other can touch it. Well almost, Solti's with van Dam is pretty good too. Too bad Kubelik's was so long delayed, it is a jewel in the crown of his career. Even though Wagner is not to everyone's taste - their loss - this is a desert island recording for sure. The recording on both releases deserves better packaging however.

This is a precious recording--beautifully and reverently interpreted by musicians with lots of experience recording sacred music. If someone were to transcribe the score of MEISTERSINGER for organ and give a concert performance in a cathedral, I'd want it to sound just like this. Gundula Janowitz' caresses the role of Eva with her liquid-crystal voice and the quintet is the best Wagner ensemble-singing I've ever heard.

The problem is there isn't much FUN in this recording. If this is your first recording, you'll have lots left to learn about the personalities of some of the characters. I get no sense of Hans Sachs' sense of humor from Thomas Stewart. Gerhardt Unger as David is acrobatic but not endearing. Beckmesser doesn't sound scared. The lesser Masters miss every opportunity to display individuality.

So get this recording for your collection. But be sure to get one of Knappertsbusch's live performances at Bayreuth as well. (My personal favorite is the Bayreuth 1960 performance with Wolfgang Windgassen as Walther and ultra-bass Josef Greindl as Hans Sachs.) --Theodore Shulman