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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You can't go wrong with this (or the Kempe), November 14, 2000
This review is from: Wagner: Lohengrin (Audio CD)
This is one of the two best nearly-complete _Lohengrin_ recordings. The other is the famous second Kempe set, with Jess Thomas as Lohengrin -- as opposed to Kempe's older mono set with George Vincent in the title role. Of the Solti and the second Kempe, I don't think it matters much which recording you get. (I hear the Abbado set is excellent as well, but I haven't heard it.) The Kempe set has been rightly regarded as a classic recording since its release. It's an ideal ensemble cast, with justly admired conducting, and a good clear, full stereo recording. The Solti set offers a cast that is every bit as good, though in a slightly more complex way. That is, Domingo is a noticeably better Lohengrin than Thomas, though both are in the front rank. (Sandor Kolya from Leinsdorf's complete set is the finest Lohengrin on record, but he graces a set whose merits are even more complicated. There are two full and complete _Lohengrin_ sets, in which the cut in the second part of Lohengrin's "In fernen Land" Narration is - rightly - restored: a recent set by Barenboim and an older set by Leinsdorf. Neither are as good, overall, as Kempe or Solti. Of the two - see my review of the Leinsdorf set, if you're interested - I'd give the edge, though narrowly, to the Leinsdorf.) Some reviewers have claimed Domingo's Lohengrin has a faint Spanish accent, but I must confess I can't hear it. If I did notice it I would have no more problem with it than with Simon Estes' slight but noticeable American accent as the Dutchman in the generally superb Nelsson _Fliegende Holländer_ set. Wagner is an international phenomenon, and so is opera. What would be a genuine problem would be if Domingo's German seemed shallow; that is, if he were simply singing the notes beautifully, without directly feeling and expressing the meaning of the words. And while that criticism has been made, I think it untrue and unfair of this performance, which is both beautifully sung and convincingly acted. The criticism seems more reasonable of Domingo's Tannhäuser for Sinopoli, and to a lesser extent of his Walther in the Jochum _Meistersinger_. I suspect that people may have transferred their dislike and criticism of those performances over to this one. As an aside, it would actually be quite appropriate if Lohengrin did have a noticeable Spanish accent. After all, he hails from Montsalvat, which, as we learn in _Parsifal_, is somewhere near the Moorish border in 8th Century Spain. So Domingo takes the honours over Kempe's Jess Thomas in the title role. Thomas is a pleasant and intelligent singer, whose voice is simply not as powerful or as beautiful as Domingo's. On the distaff side, as Elsa Jessye Norman offers a fuller, creamier soprano than Kempe's Elizabeth Grümmer, but Norman's voice is too big, too confident and paradoxically too beautiful really to be in character as Wagner's naďve visionary: Wagner's Joan of Arc without the military ambition. Kempe's Grümmer is the better Elsa, though I'd say that Eleanor Steber in the mono Keilberth set, with Windgassen good but not among the very best in the title role, is perhaps the best Elsa in a "complete" _Lohengrin_ set. As von Telramund and Ortrud, Solti's Nimsgern and Randova are often said to be outclassed by Kempe's Fischer-Dieskau and Christa Ludwig, and this is true. For Kempe, Fidi and Ludwig are in their prime and abolutely unbeatable. On the other hand, I find the bad guys' big Act II scene is more sinister in the Solti than in the Kempe; Solti loses on beauty, especially with Randova compared to Ludwig, but wins out on drama. The twisted sophistication of the orchestral part at the beginning of Act II, through to Elsa's appearance, seems more modern and dissonant in Solti; and that is an advantage. In fact I would give Solti's Vienna Phil the advantage, though only very marginally, over Kempe's Vienna Phil. Solti's other advantage is an unfair one, but a powerful one in Wagner; his is a clearer and more immediate recording. My main complaint applies equally to both sets. Once you've heard the music cut from the Narration, you will tend to resent that cut. It is beautiful music, and dramatically it allows Lohengrin's hearers (and the operatic audience) more time to be transported to Montsalvat, and to come back to earth with an even bigger bump to face the unpleasant realities of the dramatic situation. Solti especially was a great restorer of cuts, producing the first truly complete recording of Strauss's _Der Rosenkavalier_, for example. So why didn't he restore this one? It was aesthetically the right thing to do, and I'm surprised Solti of all people passed up the marketing opportunity. But either set is superb. Whichever you buy, you can't go wrong. Cheers! Laon
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good Lohengrin, August 27, 2000
This review is from: Wagner: Lohengrin (Audio CD)
I find that Sir Georg Solti's Wagner interpretations got mellower and more careful as he got older, with a gentler approach. His 1985 Lohengrin is perfectly conducted: he takes his time (as he should) over the opening prelude, he is quite relaxed but never detached, and his command of the score is masterly. The Vienna Philharmonic plays gorgeously, with the unfortunate exception of an ugly, forced brass chord at the climax of the Act I prelude. The singers are good, but not outstanding. Plácido Domingo, of course, has a beautiful voice, but he is not as subtle as he could be and his German, though it has improved since his "Meistersinger" Walther for Jochum, is distinctly odd. The magnificence of his voice, though, makes him surpassed only by Heppner (Davis) and Thomas (Kempe). Jessye Norman also has a magnificent voice, but it is too weighty and mezzo-like for Elsa. Her interpretation, as others have noted, is a bit too worldly; the benchmark here is Grümmer's radiant performance for Kempe. Hans Sotin is an excellent King, though his voice has seen finer days; there are many excellent Heinrichs on disc, but among the best are Frick (Kempe), Sotin (Solti), Rootering (Davis), Pape (Barenboim) and (though I haven't heard him I feel safe to say) Moll (Abbado). Fischer-Dieskau contributes an aging Herald; Terfel is excellent for Davis, as is Wiener for Kempe. The real weak links in this recording are Telramund and Ortrud (these roles are extremely difficult to pull off and only one recording does so - I'll reveal it later). Nimsgern, like others in the cast, has a beautiful, resonant voice, perfect for the role, but his interpretation is not subtle or confused or desperate enough. Randová has a mediocre voice, slightly grainy and slightly wobbly, which she uses well, but can't pull off this almost impossible character. Kempe's benchmark Vienna recording from the early 1960's is the only recording that masters every role and the orchestral music. It has magnificent conducting, singers who all pull off their challenging roles (no one comes within light years of Ludwig and Fischer-Dieskau as Ortrud and Telramund), excellent sound and is at mid-price, newly reissued as a "Great Recording of the Century"; it is my number-one recording for this opera. Solti enthusiasts, though, would do well to have this too.
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gripping, haunting "Lohengrin," best I've ever heard, December 30, 2000
This review is from: Wagner: Lohengrin (Audio CD)
As someone who owned the Kempe "Lohengrin" for many years, then sold it to a used-record shop as hopelessly boring, let me add my voice to the chorus of praise for this particular recording. Granted, Ludwig and Fischer-Dieskau sang beautifully on the Kempe version, but except for "Entweite Gotter!" Ludwig did NOT have the same evil, crafty sound that Randova projects here, and Nimsgern has a richer, darker, more appropriate "Black Forest"-sounding voice for Telramund. More to the point, Domingo is far better than Jess Thomas--even in the opera house, his voice had that incipient wobble you hear on the recording--and Jessye Norman is vastly better than Grummer at this stage in her career (she was getting on in years and in vocal decline). I smiled a little to myself when reading others' comments about how Norman sounds "inappropriate" for the role because of her richer "mezzo quality." It's funny how listening to "canned opera" can condition your perceptions. In the LP/CD era, all Elsas are high sopranos, but back in the 1930s and '40s Elsa was sung by sopranos like Kirsten Flagstad and Helen Traubel, singers with big, rich, mezzo-like timbres. And, frankly, it was a real pleasure for me to hear her sounding somewhat dramatically involved in the music. In person this is never a problem, but on records La Norman often tends towards blandness and boredom. Here, she is anything but boring. The glue that holds this recording together, however, is Solti. Never have I heard the music of "Lohengrin" sound more unified, more dramatic, more shapely. Even at leisurely tempos, Solti keeps things moving forward, ever-so-slightly, the way Toscanini used to do with "Tristan" (listen to his classic 1952 reading of the Prelude and Liebestod, and you'll see what I mean). Towards the end of Act 1, I suddenly realized that what I was listening to was a towering, monumental reading of the score, one that slowly, inexorably, yet pleasurably draws the listener inward.
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