Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (1956 Bayreuth Festival)

Wagner (Artist), Fischer-Dieskau (Artist), Hotter (Artist), Cluytens (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 17, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Label: Music & Arts Program
• ASIN: B0000061FS
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,989 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Prelude

2. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act I, Scene 1: Chorus: Da zu dir der Heiland kam

3. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act I, Scene 1: Verweilt!--Ein Wort! ein einzig Wort! (Walther von Stolzing)

4. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act I, Scene 1: David! Was stehst?

5. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act I, Scene 1: Seid meiner Treue wohl versehen (Veit Pogner)

See all 6 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act I, Scene 1: Fanget an! So rief der Lenz in den Wald (Walther)

2. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act II: Prelude

3. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act II, Scene I: Johannistag! Blumen und Bander

4. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act II, Scene 2: Pogner; Lass sehn, ob Meister Sachs zu Haus? (Veit Pogner)

5. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act II, Scene 3: Zeig her--'s ist gut (Hans Sachs)

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III: Prelude

2. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene I: Gleich, Meister! Hier! (David)

3. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 1: Am Jordan Sankt Johannes stand (David)

4. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 1: Wahn! Wahn! Uberall Wahn! (Hans Sachs)

5. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 1: Gruss Gott, mein Junker! (Hans Sachs)

See all 10 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 4: Weilten die Sterne im liebliche Tanz? (Walther von Stolzing) (Continued)

2. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 4: Selig, wie die Sonne quintet (Eva)

3. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 5: Procession Of The Guilds

4. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 5: Procession Of The Mastersingers

5. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Act III, Scene 5: Wach auf! es nahet gen den Tag

See all 9 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hotter is magnificent, Cluytens uninspired, October 1, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (1956 Bayreuth Festival) (Audio CD)

This is a live recording from the 1956 Bayreuth Festival. Music and Arts have (or claim they have) done everything possible to clean up the sound, but whatever they did to it can't have helped too much. The sound is full of scratches, amplitude fluctuations, clicks and tape hiss, and so some of the greatness of the performance is lost.

The cast is led by Hans Hotter, THE heldenbariton of the 40's and 50's. Though his voice is beginning to decline, he sings with a humane warmth and understanding of the text that other interpreters of Sachs seem simply incapable of doing (with the exception of Schöffler for Knappertsbusch and, to a lesser degree, Frantz for Kempe). He is perhaps the best Sachs on disc, and it is outrageous that he did not sing the role in Kempe's studio recording from the same year as this performance.

The rest of the cast is not as good. Gré Brouwenstijn is an intelligent singer, but does not have the instrument of a young Schwarzkopf or Grümmer, and is a bit rough in the Quintet solo. Wolfgang Windgassen is a lyrical Walther, but his essential B-flats in the Quintet are strained and he lacks the ring and ping essential for this role. Gerhard Stolze, famous/infamous for his "character" Mime, is an odd choice for David, and Milinkovic is only adequate is Magdalene.

The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra definitely has its moments of sublime beauty, but just as definitely has its scrappy, uncoordinated moments. The chorus is good, but the sopranos aren't pure as they should be, but wobbly and screechy. André Cluytens, a Belgian specialist in French opera, is "correct but uninspired" as CJ Luten in his excellent liner notes points out. The great emotional moments of the opera are made emotional by Hotter and, sometimes, by Brouwenstijn and Windgassen, but Cluytens is basically content to wave his baton and hold his men together. Kempe's life-enhancing, lyrical conducting is unbeatable; Jochum, too, is magnificent.

Music and Arts does not provide a libretto, and the tracks are not very generously indexed (usual playing time is around eight or nine minutes for one track). The price is fairly generous: four discs for the price of three. Like almost every other recording, the breaks between discs come at poorly chosen places: Act 1 is broken up at "Fanget an!", thus ruining the beginning of Walther's trial song, and Act 3 is broken up at "Die selige Morgentraum-Deutweise." This recording should only be purchased if A) you already own Kempe's classic recording (even without Hotter's Sachs) and B) if you can tolerate awful sound. If you buy this, you will be richly rewarded by Hotter's classic Sachs. But this should not be your only set of Wagner's greatest work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fischer-Dieskau. Yuck., March 2, 2009

By 

Theodore Shulman (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (1956 Bayreuth Festival) (Audio CD)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau shamelessly attempts to steal Act 1 as Fritz Kothner. Why did he never play the character for which he was properly suited by voice-type and personality? Beckmesser.

Despite the overall badness, this is not completely without merit. Josef Greindl is very nice as Pogner, as always. Also as always, Karl Schmitt-Walter is excellent at Beckmesser. Both are better elsewhere.

It's funny. I recently got hold of a Bayreuth 1957 because Gustav Neidlinger plays Sachs and Clutyens conducted it beautifully. He must have had an off night.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Thank goodness Music & Arts has withdrawn this travesty, February 22, 2009

By 

Kostas Sarantidis (Portland, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (1956 Bayreuth Festival) (Audio CD)

There is nothing good I can say about this issue, and please don't waste precious money to buy it used or new at exorbitant prices from one of the sellers listed by Amazon.com, or from another label like Melodram. Sonically, it is horrendous, the worst sounding off-the-air transcription of a Bayreuth broadcast you'll ever hear. Besides all the bugs that Music & Arts couldn't clean up, there is way too much bass; sometimes it's more like a buzz than anything else.

Other reviewers have commented on the shortcomings of Cluytens at the podium. At least he doesn't get in the way of the music. Windgassen is too rough and has little of the lyrical quality one looks for in Walther. Sometimes he sounds like he's singing Tannhauser, a role much better suited to his temperament and vocal quality anyway. He does well in the Quintet, singing softly enough to be mistaken for a good Walther. Brouwenstijn has a few good moments and generally sings a clean line. She has a nice trill after the Prize Song, but doesn't really make much of an impression. None of the other singers is worth discussing. Even Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is disappointing in Kothner's two solos in the first act. Perhaps Wieland Wagner's production of a Meistersinger without Nuremberg encouraged the singers to give us characterless portrayals.

But the biggest problem with this performance is the very reason for its existence: Hans Hotter. What a disastrous, decrepit portrayal of this great role! There is hardly any of the character's humor. Hotter was incapable of the relaxed and playful conversation in which Hans Sachs engages with Eva and Beckmesser in the 2nd act and Walther and Beckmesser in the 3rd act. These are some of the greatest scenes in all opera, and he does nothing with them. Anger on the other hand he has in plenty. Just listen to his overwrought barking just before Eva's O Sachs Mein Freund! It is ugly and totally beyond what the moment requires or justifies. Even Alberich doesn't bark like this after the ring is snatched from him! The big solos go for nothing. Listen to the beginning of the Fliedermonolog. Hans Hotter is struggling just to produce a firm line, never mind make anything notable of the music. According to the notes he avoided the role because of its high tessitura. Yet it is in the many low-lying and conversational passages that his voice has no body whatsoever. Often he resorts to an unsupported whisper just to make it through. Add to that his trademark wobble and you have the most disastrous Hans Sachs on record. I will not comment on his botched attempt at the soft E-flat in the Wahnmonolog. How this performance could be praised by other reviewers is beyond me. One could excuse some of the vocal failings if he had any strong ideas about the character, but he seems not to have had any idea worth preserving on record. I'm not the biggest fan of Hans Hotter in any of his roles, but this attempt at Hans Sachs is way beyond tolerance.