Customer Reviews

Wagner: Götterdämmerung

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

 

 

This is a live recording of Wilhelm Furtwaengler conducting at La Scala in the early 1950s. The house band is not up to the standards of Bayreuth or Berlin but serves well enough.

With one exception, the cast is serviceable -- and probably better than anything likely to be assembled today. The Siegfried, Max Lorenz, is adequate (no small praise) but not especially memorable. The exception, of course, is the great Kirsten Flagstad, who here sings wonderfully well.

The sound of the 1950s live mono recording is is about what you might expect. If mere reproduction is the most important thing for you, go elsewhere. If a brilliant conductor and a unique artist in one of her signature roles interests you, give this a try.

Furtwaengler and Flagstad = five stars.

I came to this recording with certain expectations, and none of them were met. (1) SOUND QUALITY: Given that this is an Opera D'Oro release of a live performance, I expected the sound quality to be less than optimal. (Some of their recordings are OK sound-wise, such as their "Don Carlo" from the Vienna State Opera.) But the sound here is mediocre at best, and in some places (like the first several seconds of the prelude), it is just plain awful. The sound quality of the 1951 Bayreuth "Parsifal" is better than this. I think I heard the prompter a few times, but I'm not sure. Plus the audience noise can be quite distracting at times; at least a couple of people in attendance had really nasty coughs. (2) SINGING: I love Ludwig Weber's Gurnemanz on the aforementioned "Parsifal," but I'm not sure he has the kind of bite necessary for Hagen. I had never heard Max Lorenz before, but his Siegfried is lazy and sloppy. Alois Pernerstorfer makes an interesting Alberich; he sounds more like a lyric baritone than the kind of sinister voice one would expect in this role, like Hermann Uhde or Ekkehard Wlaschiha. (3) ORCHESTRAL PLAYING: The playing is pretty sloppy, too, and this is not just a function of the sound quality. In La Scala's defense, the Bayreuth orchestra a year later didn't sound any better. (4) CONDUCTING: I don't quite get the fuss about Furtwängler being the greatest Wagner conductor ever. There's certainly no evidence of that in this recording. (Furtwängler fans, don't flame me. I'm not interested.) BOTTOM LINE: If you're only going to get one recording of this opera, spend three times as much and get the Levine, Karajan, Barenboim, or Solti. This is for historical interest only.