Customer Reviews

Wagner: Gotterdammerung (August 4, 1951) ~ Knappertsbusch

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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."

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.

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.

Since I bought this performance I have bought many other live recordings of this opera from around this era. The 1955 Kna performance from Munich, the '52 performance with Keilberth and Lorenz are among the better ones. But I always fall back to this one recorded in 1951 at the first Bayreuth festival after the second world war. The freshness of the performance, the magnificent conducting by Knappertsbusch are the main reasons.
This is a performance that gets better with each hearing. A statement I cannot make about any stereo set. I have come to think that Windgassen is not an ideal Siegfried. He is OK as the younger Siegfried, but in Gotterdammerung he seems more miscast every time I hear it, whether it is the 1953(Krauss and Keilberth), '56(Kna), '67(Bohm) or Solti's performance. He doesn't have the necessary weight that I feel it requires. Bernd Aldenhoff, who sings Siegfried here is something totally different. He may seem to be unsteady when first heard, but he gets better and better every time I hear him. His understanding of the role and the glorious sounds he makes us believe that he is a fearless hero who can do anything. When he is stabbed in the third act he is so touching that we feel with him as he dies from the fatal blow.

Then there is the magnificently exciting Astrid Varnay as Brunnhilde. She is the supreme Brunnhilde from the post war era. In all aspects of the role she outshines all competiton. The passion in the duet in the prologue, the determination and fear in the first act. Suprised and enraged in the second act and dedication and determination in the third. All these emotions are sung so tremendously grand. Her Brunnhilde here is also quite fresh and youthful which makes it better than her performance in 1956.

Ludwig Weber also stars in this performance. He is, after Ivar Andresen, my favourite Hagen. All the menace and smoothness he gives makes his Hagen to cherish above all others. Josef Greindl was a favourite by Wieland Wagner in the years after. Personally I think that Weber is superior in all aspects of the role. His 'Hagen's Watch' and calling of the vassals are done with so much grandour and menace. Greindl was good at producing menace but not much else in this role. Weber's Hagen is sometimes even likable. It rivals Gurnemanz as his greatest role.

Herrmann Uhde is his usual great self as Gunther and gives the character a multidimensional quality. Martha Mödl also gives so much to the role of Gutrune, normally given to lesser singers. She is a worthy suitor to Siegfried and it is understandable that he falls for her after she has cast her spell to erase his memory of Brunnhilde.

Knappertsbusch conducts this performance quite slowly, but with so much magic and excitement. He gives so much from start to finish. He delivers the best Norn scene I have ever heard. The first scene in act 2 is also quite creepy with Hagen talking to Alberich. He doesn't rush anything and he keeps the performance in check at all times and gives it a freshness that is missing from so many.

The sound is in good mono. It is, after all, live and it is much better than many other live performances from this era.
Included with this set is a libretto with an English translation and an essay on the performance and Bayreuth. I very highly recommend this performance.

A friend recommended this set to me, and I heartily thank him for it. I have always loved Knappertsbusch and have his 1956 Bayreuth Ring, which is my favorite next to the 1960 Kempe. But this 1951 Goetterdaemmerung on Testament is in a class by itself. It is certainly the broadest recorded performance, but here breadth does not equate with slowness. Knappertsbusch generates so much tension and power (the power of subtlety, instead of vulgar Solti-ish bombast) that he makes the opera seem all too brief. Not once is there a moment that drags or disaccomodates the singers, unlike a few in the 1956 Ring. I defy anyone to listen to the Norn Scene, the conclusion to Act 1, Siegfried's Death and Funeral March, and above all, the Immolation Scene, and not feel utterly shattered. As for the cast, Varnay is at her freshest and most impassioned, and mystical at the end; Aldenhoff, despite occasional unsteadiness, is a bright, ardent Siegfried, by turns bluff and sensitive; Uhde is a model Gunther, tortured by guilt and remorse; Moedl is a three-dimensional Gutrune, not some empty-headed ninny; Hoengen is properly desperate as Waltraute, and Planzl is an excellent Alberich, voicing both evil and frustration in his scene with Weber's Hagen. And Weber! His is the only Hagen I put in the same class as Frick's; indeed, his is so strong a presence that one wonders if Hagen shouldn't be one of the lead roles! The Rhinemaidens (including Schwarzkopf! ) and the Norns are cast from strength. And the recorded sound, though mono, is both rich and transparent, far better then the uneven sound of the Kempe on Melodram. I nominate this as the essential Goetterdaemmerung, a performance which shows this work, even more than Walkuere, as the one Ring opera that can stand alone as a complete whole. My thanks to Testament from bringing this performance to light from the depth of the Rhine (or was it from Decca's vaults?).

Having already owned many famous stereo sets, I came here to "jeer" at this 1951 recording. I was flabbergasted when I heard the recording. Why, this is the most marvellous rendition of Gotterdammerung ever!! NO wonder everyone thought Knappertsbusch peerless. He is peerless!!

If you like Wagner's Ring, the only problem you will have with this set is that the first three operas of this famous 1951 recording are still (as yet) unavailable. (I don't even want to mention the missing recordings from Karajan's 1951 Ring at Bayreuth.)
Kna's conducting is unlike anything you will hear today. No blaring orchestra and screaming singers. Rather, the opera unfolds as a dramatic poem, with orchestra underpinning the vocal element. And, as many observors have noted before me, Kna has a sense of the long musical line like no other Wagnerian conductor before or since.
With the singers, we find the precise opposite of Furtwangler's 1950 Milan recording: rather than a return to the past, the Bayreuth production of 1951 looks to the future. Astrid Varnay and Bernd Aldenhoff make a fine pairing as Brunnhilde and Siegfried. Ludwig Weber presents a dangerous and deranged Hagen. Martha Modl gives a fine if understated performance as Guntrune. The voices are fresher than those found in the Furt. recording; what the singers lack in experience, they make up for in passion and enthusiasm.

Unless you are totally allergic to historical recordings (i.e., somewhat dim -- but quite tolerable - mono sound), this is one of the great Wagner recordings, both in terms of singing and also orchestral playing. The 1951 performance comes from the reopening of the Bayreuth theater and really captures the drama and power of Gotterdammerung without dragging at all. The orchestral playing is excellent with relatively little stage noise. Highlights among the singers include Astrid Varnay as an impassioned Brunnhilde in great voice and a really fine Hagen with Ludwig Weber (a small bonus among the singers is Elizabeth Schwarzkopf as a Rhinemaiden).

This may not be the only recording of Gotterdammerung you may want, but it very well worth having for a consitently powerful and dramatic reading of the work under a master conductor with some great singing that would be hard to match in many later recordings. Definitely a great addition to the Wagner discography after years of being buried in a contractual dispute!

The most magnificent aspect of this legendary recording is clearly Knappertsbusch's conducting. The gears never crash and there is a beautiful saturated sound. Kna made me aware of patterns and colours in the score that I had never noticed before. The orchestra is fine and the recording is ideal. Culshaw and Wilkinson have found an ideal balance between voice and orchestra.

The other key distinguishing factor is hearing a 50s Bayreuth Ring opera caught in a professional commercial-standard recording that brings the orchestra, in particular, closer than in the various pirate Rings of the era.

The singers taken all round are very exciting. Varnay can hit the high notes with thrilling impact (love duet) and darken her voice to sheer menace (end Act II) although the fruity tinge in her tone may take some adjusting to. Aldenhoff is not as successful as Seigfried. He sounds strained in the opening duet and his tone is ungainly and sometimes gravelly. The 'bad' characters are memorably bought to life by Modl, Udhe and Weber. The opening Prelude with the mysterious Norms is particularly successful. Here Kna builds a line of dark intensity which is matched by the sheer visceral power and acting of Modl's 3rd Norn. Special mention must almost be made of the glowering menace of Hagen's Watch. So dark and sinister.

The big caveat for me is the prompt who can be heard clearly in some scenes. This is subtly intrusive in the otherwise almost unsurpassed Immolation scene.

Overall, the strong sense of theatrical ensemble combines with immediate sound creating a landmark (arguably, even, a benchmark) in the history of Gotterdammerung recordings.

Also, Varnay was right. Knappertsbusch's tempi were broad not slow. Solti sounds boring when the music is slow. Knappertsbusch never sounds boring when the music is slow.