Customer Reviews

Hansel & Gretel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This recording is my very favorite interpretation of the opera. Solti brings out the brilliant playfulness in the score. Lucia Popp is a girlsih, lovely Gretel. She plays the part with an innocent vulnerability, never resorting to overly cute soubrette mannerisms. Brigitte Fassbaender is a charming Hansel with her rich, bright mezzo soprano voice. Edita Gruberova makes a lovely, pearly voiced dew fairy. The seldom recorded Norma Burrowes is an equally beautiful Sandman. If you are having trouble deciding which "Hansel und Gretel" to get, you cannot go wrong with this recording. The price is also very reasonable and it comes with a full libretto with German/English translation.

This is a good recording, and I'm impressed with some of the talent here, especially Lucia Popp. However, I believe that Lucia Popp's voice, although extremely beautiful(in fact, I hate to put down any recording she does, but she just isn't the most appropriate choice for this role), is more like a woman's voice than a girl's. It's not sweet enough throughout her entire range. What I mean by this is that even though I adore her voice for some of the duets, it just doesn't quite cut it for the recitative and the dialogue. For girlish roles you need light lyric sopranos like Kathleen Battle or Helen Donath. There is no doubt though that Fassbaender's mezzo is very good in the role of Haensel, and that the other character's roles are well filled. But when it comes to the role of the witch, none could be any better than Christa Ludwig's on the RCA Opera Treasury series.

If you want an all-star cast of Anna Moffo as a playful Haensel, Helen Donath as a very girlish, naïve Gretel, German Lieder expert Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Peter, the father, mezzo-soprano Charlotte Berthold as the mother, and especially Christa Ludwig's raved interpretation of the witch, look for the RCA re-release of an old favorite, Opera Treasury: Haensel & Gretel. This recording is excellent, from the beautifully sung duets between Donath and Moffo, to the frightening "Hocus Pocus" from Ludwig's mesmerizing witch, everything comes together perfectly. This recording outshines all the others. You just can't dismiss the all-star cast... Even Lucia Popp and Arleen Augér in the teeny cameo roles of the Dew Fairy and Sandman, respectively is mind boggling. They do an outstanding job.... It's an absolute steal, and one of the best birthday presents I've received in a long while. P.S. Just check out the sound samples between the two recordings and you'll see that I'm not wrong at all.

This is an enjoyable recording, mainly for the good sound and the big-sized playing of the Vienna Philharmonic. Solti takes an expansive (yes, Wagnerian) view of the piece, and does not treat it like a children's opera. Neither do the singers. Lucia Popp makes no attempt to sound like a young girl, and Briggite Fassbainder sounds more like an Octavian than a Hansel. The witch is an artist I don't know. She does the role in the old crone manner. That's fine, but after hearing Christa Ludwig or Marijanna Lipvosek in the role, one realizes how much a mezzo in their prime can bring to this portrayal, rather than an aging soprano.

I would rate this recording behind the (for me) first choice Tate on EMI, which has excellent sonics, a perfect cast, and a performance that sounds right in every way. I also think the RCA w/Moffo, Donath and Ludwig is superior although the sonics are a bit bright for such a glowing score.