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4.0 out of 5 stars
Snapshot of a vanished French performing tradition, April 4, 2011
This review is from: Wagner en français - excerpts from the Ring (Audio CD)
Romophone recruited audio-restoration divo Ward Marston to remaster this absorbing anthology of recordings of excerpts from the "Ring" in French, all from around 1930 and thus providing a representative sample of how Wagner was performed in Paris at that time.
It would be idle to pretend that they all stand up to scrutiny; it is a real mixed bag, but fascinating. The "Chevauchée des Walkyries" is frankly risible: a frenetic scamper of tiny paws as an assembly of Minnie-Mice twitter ineffectually - until the young and already majestic Marjorie Lawrence arrives to inject a bit of class into the proceedings. René Verdière's Siegmund is afflicted with a tremolo that robs him of the requisite heroic dignity and again it is the arrival of a world-class Wagnerian soprano in the shape of Germaine Lubin that provides the lift in quality. The great César Vezzani gives us a much more vibrant and convincing Wälsung twin, although he has to fudge his low notes, having little of the baritone in his lyric-dramatic tessitura. True Heldentenor Paul Franz is rather distantly recorded and thus lacks impact but he is clearly on top of the part, delivering a confident, competent "Ho-ho" over his anvil as he hammers away. It is when he is singing that one notices least the incongruity of Wagner in French; he seems to have the knack of making that language a best fit to the music. There is some pretty ropey orchestral playing and intonation but we are of course spoilt by modern orchestras and conductor Ruhlmann (who?) expertly accompanies Franz's thoughtful and moving Siegfried in a delicate, subtle account of the Forest Murmurs, embellished by wonderfully throaty French woodwind. I do not care for Charles Rousselière's gritty singing in "La Mort de Siegfried" - but I suppose he is dying.
Stand-out track for me is the extended excerpt "Les adieux de Wotan" marvellously sung by veteran bass-baritone Marcel Journet, sounding like a young Hans Hotter but with French elegance, seamless legato and a true actor's command of the text. Others will equally admire Lubin's Brünnhilde. She swoops and even occasionally squawks a bit but has a big, pure generous tone, rising steadily to the required intensity for the "Scène d'immolation".
All in all, an unusual byway to explore for the Wagner aficionado with a taste for a Gallic take on the "Ring", presented here in very acceptable sound.
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