Customer Reviews

Wagner: Lohengrin / Seiffert, Maggie, Polaski, Struckmann, Pape, Trekel, Barenboim

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This should not be the first _Lohengrin_ you buy. It's pretty good, but there are _great_ performances available: Kempe, with Jess Thomas in the title role, Solti with Domingo, and (I'm told) Abbado with Jerusalem. It's best to get to know the work through a performance that brings out its mix of the political and military with the personal, with the spiritual shimmering in the background as both promise and threat, and its mix of increasingly modern structure and harmonies with old-fashioned Good Tunes thrown out in astonishing profusion. The Kempe, Solti and (apparently) the Abbado make the most of these things; the Barenboim does not.

However, this is a serious contender for your second _Lohengrin_ set. This set is special, not because of the performance but because it is one of only two genuinely complete recordings of this opera. The other truly complete set is the older Erich Leinsdorf set, with the superb (if underfamed) Sandor Kolya as the eponymous hero.

Just before the first performance of _Lohengrin_, Wagner wrote to his friend, advocate and conductor, Franz Liszt, to suggest cutting the second part of Lohengrin's Grail Narration ("In fernem Land"). Wagner was influenced by doubts about his tenor, and fears that the full version of the Narration, in an inadequate performance, would not make its musical mark, also holding up the drama just as it was reaching its climax. Since then the cut has been observed in almost all performances, and all recordings except these two.

But Wagner's uncharacteristic lack of confidence in his Narration was a mistake. With the cut restored, you gain wonderful music, a longer stay in the mysterious silvery-blue harmonies of the Grail. As you'd expect with Wagner the second part of the Narration is not a musical repeat of the first; it strikes out anew to provide a satisfying balance and conclusion. The longer version is also more effective dramatically. The tragic irony is more intense if the characters on-stage -- and the audience in the theatre -- have more time to absorb the marvel of Lohengrin and the Grail, before confronting the sad reality that they have lost these marvels forever.

Barenboim and Leinsdorf rightly restored this cut, demonstrating that complete performances ought to be the norm. Wagner no longer needs to be unsure of his audience, and -- don't believe what people say -- there's no shortage of good Wagner tenors.

Once I'd decided that I wanted a set with the Narrative uncut, I listened to the two competing complete sets on headphones. It was a pleasant couple of hours because although these aren't the very best _Lohengrin_ sets, they are both fine recordings. I expected to prefer the Baremboim, with its better-known cast, his greater current reputation as a Wagnerian conductor, and modern sound.

Barenboim's Peter Seiffert does give a good performance of the title role, though unfortunately for him he's up against the greatest of all recorded Lohengrins, Sandor Kolya, in the Leinsdorf. Seiffert's slightly breathy voice, though attractive, is certainly second best. However his is an honest portrayal, bringing humanity to both Lohengrin's public pronouncements and to his intimate scenes with Elsa.

Emily Magee's is a beautiful Elsa, more so than Leinsdorf's Lucine Amara. But Amara has a smaller voice, and is closer to the part. Still, Magee sounds lovely enough, and brings out the way Elsa is not afraid until her "rescuer" arrives; but from then on she is very afraid. As an aside, if Domingo can make the journey from Italian opera to Wagner (and Wagner, who loved bel canto voices, would certainly have approved of Domingo) it's time more Puccini sopranos moved over to take Wagner parts, Elsa for one, also Eva, Freia and Gutrune.

As the "villain", Deborah Polaski is far superior to Leinsdorf's Rita Gorr. Polaski's Ortrud is both well acted and well sung, and her invocation to the old gods (a Bellini moment if ever there was one, speaking of bel canto) will lift the hair off your head, without curling the ends. I tend to be sympathetic to Ortrud's point of view in this opera -- she is a member of an old religion at a time when a new and bloodier religion is finishing the job of slaughtering her remaining co-religionists, and she is fighting for survival. Wagner considered that Ortrud represented conservative forces, with Lohengrin as symbol of the new, so I couldn't argue that Wagner was secretly on her side. But his presentation of the mundane Christian world of kings and soldiers is rather more ironical and layered than is often acknowledged. And Ortrud "gets the best tunes", with far more interesting music than Elsa.

Falk Struckmann is in good voice as the stupid, weak von Telramund, a study for _Götterdämmerung_'s Gunther. He's in danger of sounding too heroic for the part, though not too intelligent. Barenboim fields better "villains" than Leinsdorf. The smaller parts are much of a muchness.

Barenboim is a more thoughtful musician than Leinsdorf, studying and pondering the score, delivering a well-paced performance. Leinsdorf offers stronger forward propulsion, while Barenboim finds more details, and makes more of some of the Big Tunes Wagner almost throws away in this opera. This care has its downside; Barenboim's Prelude to Act III, for example, doesn't have anything like Leinsdorf's brash jubilation. I'm biased towards faster Wagner conducting than is currently fashionable (though in practice many of my favourite Wagner conductors are notoriously slow), so I have a tendency to favour Leinsdorf's approach, but Barenboim's is also legitimate and satisfying.

Sooo, after I'd tested these two truly complete sets, I bought the Leinsdorf. But it was a close thing, by no means an easy or quick decision. The Barenboim is a perfectly good set, with strong attractions.

Cheers!

Laon

There have been several noteworthy studio stereo recordings of this essential romantic opera. My personal favourite remains the (nobly) aged Kempe set, which captures more of the delicate, sublimely beautiful, almost Mendelssohnian fairy-tale enchantment of the work than any later set. Rudolf Kempe's mastery of the score is breathtaking: for example, unlike any conductor after him, he can - with his judicious phrase building and subtle use of dynamics - turn even such relatively minor scenes like Elsa's Act 1 entrance into revelatory highlights. He gets strong support from an exceptional cast. It is no exaggeration to call it truly one of the greatest opera recordings of all time, as close to perfection as an opera recording can realistically be expected to get.

Solti's digital recording with Placido Domingo in the title role is a strong alternative. After a somewhat tedious first scene between Sotin and Nimsgern (fine singers, both of them, but not exactly very characterful or dramatic - their dialogue is almost like an oratorio with two rather similarly-voiced soloists), things get better. Domingo's Swan Knight sounds angelic, even if his German diction is rather outlandish, and the dramatic production of the Act 3 flourishes should thrill anyone.
I also have a soft spot for Karajan's Lohengrin, despite its obvious flaws, as it was the first Lohengrin I ever heard. And Abbado's set is definitely not to be overlooked either: aside from Hartmut Welker's rascally and roguish caricature of Friedrich von Telramund, the singing cast is as strong or even better than any other. Its only real serious flaw lies with Abbado's hasty and heavyhanded conducting, which negates much of the inherent beauty and drama of the work: the extremely rushed final scene, in particular, is given very little room to breathe or build up to a climax, making it hard to enjoy it wholeheartedly.

These were, for me, the four main rivals that Barenboim's set had to challenge. I will admit that I had certain doubts and prejudices regarding Barenboim's conducting due to his past track record with Wagner. Some of his early recordings of Wagner's orchestral music were downright ghastly, and his conducting was easily the single biggest downside of his live Bayreuth Ring cycle (the Looney Tunes style Rheinfahrt is the most inadvertently comical Wagner moment I have ever heard). His Parsifal was, admittedly, much more convincing, and I was happy to discover that here Barenboim exhibited many of the same strengths. The Act 1 prelude flows freely and naturally enough, and Barenboim seldom lets himself get in the way of music. Only rarely (like towards the end of Act 1) can he be accused of going on autopilot. However, he can sometimes make the music sound a bit dull and bland, and the big orchestral passages do not stand out and excite you as they should. The Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra play more than decently enough even though they lack the finesse of the BPO or the VPO in the Act 1 prelude and produce some less than perfect intonations later on.

In the title role, Peter Seiffert is as fine a Lohengrin as you can hope to find on record. He is more of a Domingo style angelic-voiced Lohengrin than your ordinary muscular Heldentenor, but with more idiomatic German than Domingo. Emily Magee's Elsa is a mixed bag. Her fullbodied voice is admirable and she is capable of tenderness when required, but her focus is occasionally vague and she is rather too mature-sounding for this role, the most innocent and fragile of all Wagner heroines. Rene Pape as König Heinrich has got a beautiful basso cantante voice, rich, eloquent and ringing, even if it is not quite as immensely dark or deep as we are accustomed to hearing from such profundos as Frick or Moll. Falk Struckmann as Friedrich is straightforward and reliable in what is generally considered, along with Pizarro, one of the least rewarding (bass-)baritone roles in the standard German opera repertoire. Deborah Polaski is not a bad Ortrud, despite the wobble and the strain in her voice under pressure, but she has to face tough competition from such magnificent Ortruds as Ludwig and Meier.

All in all, this set was a strong one, a pleasant surprise to a Barenboim sceptic. The Kempe still remains my unchallenged number 1 choice, but this set certainly gives the Solti a run for its money. For me personally, the Solti set wins by virtues of superior orchestral delivery and more theatrical and detailed soundscape. The singers are 50-50 - or 60-40, Barenboim's cast might actually have a slight edge over Solti's. Barenboim's set also provides a further attraction in the form of the full Grail narrative (with a second stanza that Wagner cut out for the first performance, a tradition usually followed ever since), which none of the four other sets I listed have. Being so accustomed to the shorter version, it is really hard to say whehter I prefer the short or the long version, but the inclusion of the full version alone makes this set a must-have among modern Lohengrins for serious Wagnerians.

The only reason to get this recording mianly is for the restored full Grail narration in Act 3.

Barenboim brings alot of vitality and sympathy to the score and the singing is fine too, the quality of the sound is excellent, but the only problem for me is the choice for Elsa and Ortrud. They both have practically the same voice! You have to struggle with pain to figure who is who when they have all that dialogue in Act 2. Lohengrin also doesn't have the throatiness of the grail in his voice as Sandor Konya and Domingo have unfortunately...he could also be more emtionally expressive and involved. I also don't get a sense of the drama and dramatic throughline in this recording as much as in others such as Solti's, Kempe's or Leinsdorf's.

Now speaking of Leinsdorf...I will have to recommend Leinsdorf's recording from the 60's over Barenboim's recording due to the superior acting and quality of playing of the Boston orchestra. Leinsdorf is a much greater intepreter of Lohengrin and of Wagner in general, and the only other person to include the full grail narration in Act 3! Sandor Konya is really my ideal Lohengrin! I totally fell in love with Wagner's Lohengrin again and finally understood it musically and dramatically thanks to Leinsdorf and their whole cast and crew.

If your looking for a Great Lohengrin, get Leinsdorf's stupendously loving and energetic version or Solti's fantasticaly warm edition.

This recording features the second part of the so-called "Grail Narration" of the third act, where Lohengrin describes his heritage as a Knight of the Grail at the Court of Parsifal. The second part describes his journey from the Castle to Brabant to save Elsa's honour (Elsa being the female protagonist).

Wagner cut this second part of the Narration from the score, and on listening to this recording one understands why - the dramatic line is diluted and prolonged unnecesarily by Lohengrin's continuing after the words "Sein Ritter ich bin Lohengrin genannt!" - the point of the Narration being that he reveals his name on Elsa's request, thereby having to leave her, since he, as a Knight of the Grail, must be incognito (this is Wagner at his most Romantic!).

Furthermore, the recording as a whole lacks drama and intensity, being a sort of a "middle-of-the-road" Lohengrin - not actively offensive, just sort of boring. Don't waste your money on this recording, rather go for Kempe's version, or Abbado's on DG.