Customer Reviews

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

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3 star:		(1)
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In the history of recordings the first studio account of Die Meistersinger was conducted b Hans Knappertsbusch in Vienna. It took a full year, between 1950 and 1951, because the Hans Sachs, Paul Schoeffler, fell ill during the initial sessions, leading to a long hiatus. Decca went ahead and released Act 2 of the opera; the complete recording appeared in 1952. Meanwhile, at the reopening of Bayreuth in 1951, Decca's arch rival EMI made their own Meistersigner based on five live performances and a rehearsal. If you search Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, you can now get up-to-date remasterings done by Mark Obert-Thorn of both recordings on the Naxos Historical line. So how do these two Meistersingers stand up after six decades?

Knappertsbusch 1950-51: My three-star rating gives away that this isn't a favorite set. Perhaps because he was working from a collector's vinyl pressings instead of masters, or because he had to tame some shrill highs, Obert-Thorn has achieved a muffled sonority that casts a pall over the playing of the Vienna Phil. (this is the famous Decca "full frequency range sound"?) Things improve with the voices, which are closer and clearer. Kna himself is fairly lively and always genial. He knows the score and approaches it in a relaxed, affectionate manner. So do his singers, and therefore this stands as a traditional account, looking backward rather than forward. Everyone is so twinkling and comfortable that the drama falls through the cracks. But one good thing is that Kna doesn't lapse into slow motion except occasionally, as in the opening church chorale in Act 1 and the Dance of the Apprentices in Act III -- it could be the Dance of the Retireees.

Among the leads, all were stars from the Vienna State Opera or stars in the making. Hilde Gueden's Eva is charming and fresh, matched by Anton Dermota's David, which is probably the most congenial on disc. Too bad that his voice sounds better and at times bigger than Gunther Treptow's plain, sturdy Walther. Treptow does a good-enough job; he doesn't bawl or force his high notes. But there's no charisma and barely any legato. His throaty timbre has little bloom, either. As for Sachs, Schoeffler was a beloved singer, but he's so suave and smooth that I barely sensed a person, much less one torn by conflict or unrequited love (a more modern angle on Sachs's interest in Eva). All the other roles are sung with assurance. Overall this Meistersinger is at its best reminding us of a bygone tradition, so one can't blame it for seeming at times like a daguerreotype.

Karajan 1951: By comparison, the Bayreuth Festival was doing everything it could to put the past behind it, along with all associations between itself and the Nazi era. Musically, Karajan was also dusting off the classics, and his conducting feels alive and forward-moving. He finds far more drama in the score than Kna. The Bayreuth orchestra plays in that same vibrant spirit, and EMI's engineers avoid making the orchestra sound buried under the stage. Still, the sound is edgy and shatters in loud passages. There's lots of stage noise, including the tramping of the guilds in Act III as they enter. (I haven't yet heard Obert-Thorn's remastering, which no doubt brings considerable improvements.)

On balance the cast is as good as the one for Decca; no surprise, since Bayreuth is the crowning jewel of German opera. Otto Edelmann, who sings Pogner for Kna, is more robust and authoritative than Schoeffler as Sachs. Gerhard Unger's David can stand honorable comparison to Dermota. But then we have a huge up and down. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is unsurpassed as Eva, bringing out every facet of the character in thrilling voice -- she's radiant. But Hans Hopf is the worst of Walthers, bawling his way through the Prize Song so miserably that you want to give the palm to Beckmesser. His soft singing is tolerable, though hardly beautiful, but his vocal acting is nil. Hopf has always been the black sheep of this famous recording. A lot depends on whether you can even tolerate him. I waver on the cusp.

In the end, if Knappertsbusch had applied more energy and his cast more vitality in their portrayals, they could have surpassed the Karajan recording, but they don't. Meeting at the crossroads, Karajan's forward-looking performance fits our tastes today, while Kna's remains a souvenir of a bygone era.