Customer Reviews

Scenes From Operas

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At full or medium price I would rate this album only 4 stars. At only 60:13, the playing time is not very generous. The sleeve notes only offer brief commentaries on the operas and translations of the German texts in English and French. There is no information at all on any of the performers. The recording is not as detailed and sumptuous as some of its finest rivals. There is no concert ending to the Almachtige Jungfrau aria from Tannhauser. Given there is a fine performance of Dich, teure Halle, I think it would have been preferable to include a selection from a different opera.

The orchestral playing is generally of high quality. In Brunnhilde's Immolation the brass phrase with mild roughness, not unlike the sound of the Reginald Goodall CD with the Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra. I think it is effective.

Klaus Tennstedt conducts with some restraint in the Tristan Act I Prelude; I found at the very beginning and ending of this piece the orchestra was almost inaudible. I thought the CD had stopped playing. Some may also argue that this reading lacks some passion and power, and the climax does not have the force that it should. The Liebestod and the rest of the program are played with greater sonority. Perhaps it was the conductor's intention to create the impression of having power in reserve during the Prelude, then releasing it later. Generally the tempi are moderate, not too fast or slow.

The glory of this CD is the singing of Jessye Norman. In the Liebestod she produces tones reminiscent of Kirsten Flagstad. In the climax at Welt-Atems, she does not get swamped, but matches the volume of the orchestra, on the same note. Her warmth, power, diction and accuracy are admirable. The selections from Tannhauser, apart from the abrupt cut-off on the aforementioned Act III aria, Der fliegende Hollander and Gotterdammerung are also successful. The distinctive fullness and richness of her voice is readily apparent.

Admirers of Jessye Norman should try to hear this CD. I believe this is her only recording of Brunnhilde's Immolation, and taking into account the excellent support she receives from Tennstedt and the LPO, it could be a first choice for many regardless of price. I would rank it as one of the very best I have yet heard. I cannot compare this Liebestod to the Karajan performance in Vienna, but it should not dissapoint anyone. In spite of some reservations, this CD is warmly recommended.

I have been listening to a lot of Wagner recently and revisiting discs on my shelves I haven't heard for a while; this is one of them. Recorded in 1987 when Jessye Norman was at her vocal peak, this compilation has been carefully selected by her - and presumably Tennstedt - to display the finest qualities of her voice: first, her unusual colouring and range which makes her essentially a soprano falcon - a dramatic soprano with a top C but the darker colouring and tonal centre of a mezzo; secondly, her legato and majestic control of the long-breathed phrase; thirdly, her ability to soar above a big orchestra.

As pure singing, this is an impressive achievement, yet she also manages to characterise more effectively than has sometimes been the case, especially in the dreamy melancholy of Senta's aria and the telling word-pointing of her noble Brünnhilde. The only slight disappointment is in a rather literal "Liebestod", magnificently sung but exterior compared with her recording for Karajan - though perhaps that has more to do with her conductor's pacing.

Indeed, my reservations begin and end with Tennstedt's conducting. I am a great admirer of his Mahler but the combination of slow-burn and excitement he exerts over Mahler's large-scale works doesn't seem to operate here. He seems to be aiming for intensity and detail but the result is too often closer to Barenboim's turgid approach than I would like to acknowledge; nobody except Reggie Goodall takes so long over the Immolation but Tennstedt sounds simply slack compared with Goodall's monolithic majesty. Similarly, the "Tristan und Isolde" Prelude simply drags; the first big unison pizzicato chord at 1' 44" plonks out tamely rather than tearing at our heart strings as it does with Karajan, Böhm, Pappano and even Knappertsbusch; then rather than rolling waves of mounting passion at 6'46" we drift in a very torpid current. The central items are much better paced but I don't think Tennstedt's ideas about either "Tristan" or "Götterdämmerung" really serve the drama well. Fortunately, Normans' singing is the main show.