Wagner: Gotterdammerung (August 4, 1951) ~ Knappertsbusch [Box set, Import, Original recording remastered]

Richard Wagner (Composer), Hans Knappertsbusch (Conductor), Bayreuth Festival Orchestra & Chorus (Orchestra), Astrid Varnay (Performer), Bernd Aldenhoff (Performer), Elisabeth Höngen (Performer), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Performer), Hanna Ludwig (Performer), Heinrich Pflanzl (Performer), Hermann Uhde (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Astrid Varnay, Bernd Aldenhoff, Elisabeth Höngen, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Hanna Ludwig, et al.
• Orchestra: Bayreuth Festival Orchestra & Chorus
• Conductor: Hans Knappertsbusch
• Composer: Richard Wagner
• Audio CD (September 7, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Testament UK
• ASIN: B00001NTLL
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,950 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Prologue: Prld - Orchester Der Festspiele Bayreuth/Hans Knappetsbusch

2. Prologue: Welch Licht Leuchtet Dort? - Orchester Der Festspiele Bayreuth/Hans Knappetsbusch

3. Prologue: Dammert Der Ta? - Martha Modl

4. Prologue: Dawn/Tagesgrauen/Lever Du Jour - Orchester Der Festspiele Bayreuth/Hans Knappetsbusch

5. Prologue: Zu Neuen Taten, Teurer Helde - Astrid Varnay

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Act One, Scene Two: Gunther, Wie Heibt Deine Schweter? - Bernd Aldenhoff/Hermann Uhde

2. Act One, Scene Two: Bluhenden Lebens - Bernd Aldenhoff/Hermann Uhde

3. Act One, Scene Two: Was Nahmst Du Am Eide Nicht Teil? - Bernd Aldenhoff/Ludwig Weber/Hermann Uhde/Martha Modl

4. Act One, Scene Two: Hier Sitz Ich Zur Wacht - Ludwig Weber

5. Act One, Scene Three: Altgewohntes Gerausch - Astid Varnay/Elisabeth Hongen

See all 10 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Act Two: Prld - Orchester Der Festspiele Bayreuth/Hans Knappetsbusch

2. Act Two, Scene One: Schlafst Du, Hagen, Mein Sohn? - Heinrich Pflanzl/Ludwig Weber

3. Act Two, Scene Two Hoiho, Hagen! - Bernd Aldenhoff/Hermann Uhde/Marha Modl

4. Act Two, Scene Three: Hoiho! Hoihohoho! - Ludwig Weber/Chor Der Festpiele Bayreuth/Wihelm Pitz

5. Act Two, Scene Three: Rustet Euch Wohl - Ludwig Weber/Chor Der Festpiele Bayreuth/Wihelm Pitz

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Act Three, Scene One: Siegfried! - Hertha Ludwig/Hanna Ludwig/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Bernd Aldenhoff

2. Act Three, Scene One: Ein Goldner Ring Ragt Dir Am finger! - Hertha Ludwig/Hanna Ludwig/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Bernd Aldenhoff

3. Act Three, Scene One: Behalt Ihn, Held - Hertha Ludwig/Hanna Ludwig/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Bernd Aldenhoff

4. Act Three, Scene One: Weialala Leia - Hertha Ludwig/Hanna Ludwig/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Bernd Aldenhoff

5. Act Three, Scene Two: Hoiho! - Ludwig Weber/Chor Der Festpiele Bayreuth/Bernd Aldenhoff

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's still easy to imagine the anticipation that must have attended the Bayreuth Festival in 1951 when it reopened for the first time since the war. This was the epoch-making summer when Wieland Wagner began to unveil a bold rethinking of his grandfather's canon--and to distance his art from the ideological trappings of the Third Reich--through increasingly austere and abstract productions. One member of the recording teams on hand (rivals EMI and Decca) was John Culshaw, who would later become famous as the mastermind producer behind the first and still most-popular studio recording of the Ring. Despite problems with the rest of the cycle, Culshaw managed to register its epic concluding work to his satisfaction. Yet that legendary Götterdämmerung sat in the archives for almost half a century due to contractual complications. This release at last makes its glories available.

Conductor Hans Knappertsbusch--a master of the grand old tradition who is above all prized for his incomparable accounts of Parsifal--presides over a majestically scaled performance right from the doom-colored opening chord. Its cumulative power builds like a juggernaut. Though Knappertsbusch's famously weighty pacing makes this probably the slowest Götterdämmerung on record, the tempi rarely feel distended but rather enable Wagner's densely webbed, late-style ripeness to reverberate with its full emotional resonance. Knappertsbusch also knows how to keep a particular dramatic moment taut without losing his command of the larger context, as in the confrontation between Brünnhilde and Waltraute or Act II's vengeance trio. And in the funeral march you won't hear Soltian muscle but a profoundly resigned summation far subtler in its impact.

The relatively young cast features some of Bayreuth's finest postwar artists, several making their festival debut during the 1951 reopening. Astrid Varnay proves her claim as Flagstad's successor, imbuing Brünnhilde's transfiguring love and subsequent betrayal with a presence that is completely gripping from the beginning to the cycle's cataclysmic end. Variety of color endows Bernd Aldenhoff's Siegfried with more dimensions than most interpreters; he can be sweet-voiced or imperious, rising to glory in the Act I duet and summoning a blustery bravado in his scene with the Rhinemaidens. Marth Mödl's angsty, dark-hued tone gives Gutrune an intensity far beyond the usual passive dimwit, while Hermann Uhde portrays her brother--despite his straining upper range--as a complex tangle of ambition and self-doubt. An integral part of this tremendously tight-knit ensemble is Ludwig Weber's intimidating Hagen. He gives the villain a truly Iago-like scope, brooding in the malignancy of his monologues and striking a chord of sheer terror in the scene of Siegfried's murder. In short, this set belongs in the collection of anyone interested in the performance of Wagner--or of great musical drama, period. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful and Important Document, January 27, 2000

By 

"dbm1257" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: Gotterdammerung (August 4, 1951) ~ Knappertsbusch (Audio CD)

I actually wanted to rate this 4.5 stars. This recording is worth the money for anyone who wants to hear a first-class, "live" performance of the last of Wagner's "Ring" operas. It is of special value to listeners who know and love Wagner's "Ring" cycle and the recordings of Wieland Wagner's first production of the cycle that was performed at Bayreuth during the '50's. There are a number of issues of radio broadcasts, and thanks to them we can know and study the performances of Astrid Varnay (my favorite Brünnhilde), Hans Knappertsbusch, and quite a few others. The problem is that the sound quality of these tapes ranges from okay to awful.

What sets this recording apart from the radio tapes is that it was a commercial recording, recorded by Decca at the 1951 festival. The world at large has known about this recording since the publication of John Culshaw's book, "Ring Resounding," in the late '60's. Now that I have heard it for myself, I must say that it is one of the most exciting and satisfying performances that I know of this glorious opera.

For those who know the recording of "Parsifal" recorded by Decca at the same festival (and last issued on CD by Teldec), I find the sound of the orchestra in "Götterdämmerung" to be quite a bit more beautiful than in "Parsifal." This recording seems to capture more of the resonance and warmth of the sound of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, and it is quite exciting. For me, the primary value of this recording is the way it documents the Bayreuth orchestra and what Hans Knappertsbusch could achieve with it on a good night.

Many of the cast members' interpretations are known to us from the radio tapes, and it is wonderful to have them in high(er) fidelity. The only member of the principals that I found truly disappointing was Bernd Aldenhoff as Siegfried. His sound is strident, with a wide vibrato that at times seriously obscures the pitch. However, he is significantly less inaccurate and irritating than he was in "Siegfried" from the 1957 festival.

I wish to note especially Ludwig Weber as Hagen and Elisabeth Höngen as Waltraute, two top-class performances that I know otherwise only from Furtwängler's cycle from La Scala, 1950, a recording which does not flatter the singers. The excellence of these two singers' performances is fully revealed in this recording and deserves to be enjoyed and studied.

As often happens with a piece this complicated, things go wrong in this live performance. However, I found those problems to be minor, and the virtues of this performance definitely outweight its faults. For someone who has never heard the piece, this recording is a good choice for a "first exposure."

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This set is expensive., January 9, 2004

By 

"dijeet2shankar" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: Gotterdammerung (August 4, 1951) ~ Knappertsbusch (Audio CD)

So I read all the reviews. Gramophone magazine gives it the highest marks - 3 "stars". Every review I read raved about it. So I plunged in. Result?

It really is that great. It was worth my every penny. One of the most expensive sets I've ever bought. Yet one of the most valuable sets in my collection. Astrid Varnay is beyond belief as Brunnhilde. And good old Knappertsbusch always brings out the music like no one else.

What a memorable find!! Thank you Testament for the superb remastering!! Thank you Culshaw for preserving this performance for posterity.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Birgit Nilsson's Missing Half, December 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Wagner: Gotterdammerung (August 4, 1951) ~ Knappertsbusch (Audio CD)

Legendary soprano Birgit Nilsson had always been criticized for being too cold. While I don't totally agree with that popular view, I do admit that Nilsson's voice has some limitations. Nilsson herself admitted that she had a rather "wooden" kind of voice. Powerful yes but lacking somewhat in warmth. One of the distinguishinh features of Nilsson's voice is her extraordinarily powerful top notes which no one could ever equal.

Astrid Varnay, on the other hand, had a very warm womanly voice. Exactly what Nilsson lacked. But Varnay lacked Nilsson's powerful top notes, and Nilsson's heroic warlike voice which is very appropriate for the warrior cry "Hoyotoho!" in Die Walkure. This legendary recording gives us an opportunity to study Varnay's artistry at her best. The world had known about this recording since Culshaw published his book "Resounding Ring" in 1967. But it was only almost 50 years from 1951 before this recording was finally available to the public. I can say it is a fabulous performance. Bayreuth was just opening after WW2 and everyone wanted to do their best. In those days before the commercialization of opera, opera singers worked very very hard. No multi-million dollar sleek marketing campaigns. Just pure hard work and first class artistry.

Don't miss it.