Customer Reviews

Wagner: Siegfried (abridged)

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I purchased this title after reading that Siegfried was the most "inaccessible" of the Ring operas. I wanted to save money, so I bought the least expensive version I could find. From the first time I played it, however, I was riveted: the opening sequence bristles with foreboding, and an aura of incontrovertable fate haunts the entire performance. Melchior is at his peak (if you have never heard him before, his 1930's and 40's heldentenor has never been equaled elsewhere for warmth, depth, and power). The sound quality is surprisingly good -- in fact, any imperfections of sound only serve to enhance the brooding atmosphere. I now have the Solti and Barenboim versions -- they are both fine, but this is the one I return to. I truly believe it is sung and played as Wagner would have wished. The price is right; this set is a treasure.

I'm not the biggest Wagner fan in the world, but the Forging of the sword in Siegfried has to be one of my favorite moments in Wagner, the music is so exciting, the music essentially forges the sword right before your eyes, while Mime is forging. And Melchior is beyond compare. Part of the fun of listening to forging is just the sort of jaw dropping "How can he keep that up? He's got 3 more acts to go!" which Melchior, more than any other tenor, supplies amply. He's just unbelieveable. Never a strain, and just a tremendous voice that soars out over the orchestra. One little thing is that they don't tell you who's playing Fafner, which is a little annoying, but he's the weakest link anywho. And of course Florence Easton is just great. Their "duet" at the end is fabulous. But if you get this for anything......it's the FORGING! And for 10 bucks when most Wagner sets cost anything from 60-70 bucks...........what are you waiting for? The only pity is that it's not a full recording. Alas. It's still worth it for the cheapness.

Where do I begin? I took a chance on a recording without really looking that it was taken from three performances in the 1920s and 30s with the same two lead singers - Easton and Melchior. When I realized it, I thought "damn" was I asleep when I ordered? So, then I expected sound that would be aboriginal - dull voices and/or orchestra with the same deficiency. What I got was shock! Firstly - the engineers who transferred material from the 1920s and 30s should have received an award. The transfers are absolutely astonishing, the sound of both the voices and orchestra being so well defined and clean that I was taken aback. Now, this is a performance taken from three conductors and three different venues, perhaps we should learn something? They create atmoshphere! We are at an occasion! The singers do that, also, and they act! Wagner's masterpiece brought to life. Without doubt, this is well beyond what I expected. It should never be out of the catalogue.

Never mind that these recordings were made 1928-1930. This is the most exceptional Wagner singing ANYWHERE, EVER; Melchior's voice totally transcends the medium. He is overwhelming (in the best possible way). His rendition of "Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!" is riveting. On the basis of that alone this CD is worth buying, and I defy anyone to come up with anything close to it on any recording! Really, if you love Wagner, you NEED this, if you just like him, you should have it too. And if you hate Wagner but are a fan of fantastic opera-singing, well, you need to have this! Two awesome CDs worth of Melchior for the price of a few cups of coffee. it's a no-brainer!

Lauritz Melchior defies the laws of singing nature in every performance in which I have heard him. His voice is beautiful, huge, expressive and he can vary the volume and tone exceptionally well.

Florence Easton although in her upper 40's is an impressive Brunnhilde. She has a large silvery voice and phrases expressively. All the other singers are excellent and this is good early electrical sound.

Fortunately this is an abridged version and features most of Siegfried's music without having to hear the excruciatingly boring, pretentious, silly and pompous spoken-music of dwarfs, giants, smurfs, gods and godesses. Wagner wrote some of the most beautiful and exciting music ever but his dialogues with symphonies which infest all of his operas put me to sleep. (Parsifal is musical Ambien). He needed a good editor and real sense of theater but he was too proud and pretentious to acknowledge that. Even Wagner worshipers sometimes talk more about the metaphysical experiences and meanings of the musical forms rather than the music and performance itself. To me the emphaisis is on the wrong thing. To me "THE MUSIC IS THE THING."

Verdi could edit Otello, a masterpiece of Shakespeare, to leave the core meaning of the characters without exraneous scenes and music.

My favorite work of philosophy is Plato's Republic. Fortunately Wagner did not try to set it to music.