Review: Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Highlights) - Karajan, 1966-70, DG

A must for aspiring Wagnerians

[1] Das Rheingold: “Aur Burg führt die Brücke”
[2] Die Walküre: “Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater”
[3] Die Walküre: Walkürenritt
[4] Die Walküre: “Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!”
[5] Die Walküre: Feuerzauber
[6] Siegfried: “Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert”
[7] Siegfried: Brünnhildes Erwachen
[8] Götterdämmerung: “Brünnhilde, heilige Braut!”
[9] Götterdämmerung: Trauermarsch

Berliner Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan

Wotan: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau [1]; Thomas Stewart [4, 5].
Siegfried: Jess Thomas [6, 7]; Helge Brilioth [8].
Brünnhilde: Helga Dernesch [7].
Siegmund: Jon Vickers [2].
Loge: Gerhard Stolze [1].
Mime: Gerhard Stolze [6].

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This is a truly amazing CD. Not so long ago it was solely responsible for making me a true fan of Richard Wagner's late works. I have never had any doubts in his genius and I have always liked his operas from the so called “middle period” – Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and especially Der fliegende Holländer. But Wagner’s late works – much more aptly called not operas, but music dramas – had always terrified me with their length and complexity. Years ago a complete recording of Der Ring accidentally happened to be in my hands. I gave it a try and ended bored to extinction at the second scene of Das Rheingold – the first part of the cycle. It’s funny how things do change.

These excellent highlights showed me the real genius of Richard Wagner and made of myself an ardent admirer of his late works, especially Der Ring. Only recently have I found out how magnificent and how ingeniously composed this cycle of four music dramas really is. The numerous leitmotifs that Wagner used to describe practically every character, idea, feeling, and object are not only deeply psychological but very often extremely beautiful and combined in an astonishing way. His ability to tell an epic story with text and music in a continuous way without virtually any pauses is something to marvel at. Once one gets bitten by Richard Wagner’s genius, one never fully recovers. Nor does one want to.

The whole of Der Ring des Nibelungen runs for the unbelievable length of about 14-15 hours – the “prelude” Das Rheingold is about two and a half hours long and the three “days”, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, are about four hours long each – and a complete recording usually takes something like 14 CDs. To compress this huge masterpiece into one CD with duration of no more than 80 minutes seems to be an impossible task. And yet, whoever compiled this CD did it. The nine tracks are not only among the best of the whole cycle musically, but they also represent crucial points in the story; one can almost follow it from the beginning to the end, heavily abridged of course.

All excerpts come directly from the complete recording made by Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker together with a really magnificent cast of singers between 1966 and 1970 for DG. This is the same remaster made for the Originals reissue and the sound is astonishing – clear, rich and sumptuous, with terrific dynamic range and power, but never reduced to the bombastic heroism which many people think is the only way to interpret Wagner’s music; for my own part it’s not even the most convincing way, let alone the only one. Karajan’s ability to achieve breathtaking beauty of sound does not at all prevent him from creating tremendously dramatic and at the same time movingly lyrical interpretation. He detested the famous description of his performance as “chamber music style” – and rightly so. It’s a perfect nonsense, unless it means that the brass is powerful without being blaring and the subtlety of Wagner's orchestration is superbly revealed.

Das Rheingold is presented with only one excerpt – [1] “Aur Burg führt die Brücke” – the very last nine minutes or so, or “The entry of the gods into Valhalla” as it is more popular. Here you have the opportunity to enjoy two really great singing actors – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the stately, majestic Wotan and Gerhard Stolze as the exceptionally cunning and shrewd Loge. The finale is certainly one of the most glorious pieces of orchestral music ever composed.

Die Walküre occupies the next four tracks. In [2] “Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater” Jon Vickers appears as Siegmund, the son of Wotan and a mortal woman, contemplating his origins and his fate. Although I have never been fan of Jon Vickers because his specific timbre just doesn’t grip me, his powerful tenor is irresistible here. The so-called Walkürenritt [3], which Wagner himself never called with that name, is actually the famous “Ride of the Valkyries”, but not the three-minute orchestral showpiece that most people know. It is six minutes long, with a lot of singing from the flying Valkyries, and even this is by no means the whole scene that serves as introduction to the third and last act of the music drama.

The last track from Die Walküre – [4] “Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!” – is the final of the opera itself, much more popular as “Wotan's Farewell”. This must surely be one the most stunning pieces of opera ever composed. Richard Wagner surpassed even himself in expressing with the most gorgeous music every embrace, every glance, and every nuance of the heartbreaking scene when Wotan puts his daughter Brünnhilde to eternal sleep amidst fire until a hero comes and awakes her. The American bass-baritone Thomas Stewart gives a supreme rendition. He is tender and caressing, but powerful and majestic when it is required. Last but definitely not least when we talk about Wagner’s music dramas, his diction is exemplary. The last two lines – surely one of the most famous in the history of opera –

Wer meines Speeres Spitze fürchtet
durchschreite das Feuer nie!

are something you are not likely to forget, especially with the following orchestral tour de force. You can listen to them together with the so called Magic Fire Music because they are separated in another track – [5] Feuerzauber.

Siegfried – the third part of Der Ring – is represented by two tracks: [6] “Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert” and [7] Brünnhildes Erwachen, and so is the last part – Götterdämmerung – [8] “Brünnhilde, heilige Braut!” and [9] Trauermarsch. Here two Siegfrieds can be heard – Jess Thomas and Helge Brilioth – and both are so damn good that I am always left wanting more of their voices. As a special bonus from the gentle sex, here is Helga Dernesch in glorious voice as the just awakened Brünnhilde on track 7. Unlike many people, neither Thomas, nor Brillioth sounds “undercast” to me; nor do I hear any problems with Helga Dernesch’s high notes, for that matter.

In track 6 the incomparable Gerhard Stolze appears again, but this time in the role of the sinister Nibelung Mime trying to use Siegfried in his own schemes about obtaining the ring. This excerpt is also known as Schmidelied, or Forging Song, because it is connected with Siegfried’s forging his sword which is called “Notung”. Here Wagner reached new heights in describing the very Hell with music. Awesome orchestration! Track 8 is actually Siegfried’s death and is very moving with its quietness. The Funeral March that follows immediately is the only purely instrumental composition on the disc and one of the most majestic. It is a perfect finale of the CD, if not of Der Ring itself.

At the end of this very long and extremely tedious review, which you are at perfect liberty to evaluate as “uncommonly boring”, a little piece of advice. Listen to the disc with the librettos in hand. Of course the CD has no liner notes whatsoever, let alone excerpts from the librettos, and that is quite natural considering the budget price. But all of Wagner’s original texts, together with his own and very important stage directions, can easily be found with translations on the net, online or not. They immensely increase the understanding of the music and make the whole experience altogether unforgettable.

Karajan and Solti: comparative review of "bleeding chunks"

Karajan and Solti: comparative review of "bleeding chunks"

Disc: 1
Das Rheingold
1. Prelude and First scene
2. Entry of the Gods into Valhalla
Die Walküre
3. Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond (Siegmund, Sieglinde)
4. Ride of the Valkyries
5. Wotan's Farewell & Magic Fire Music

Disc 2
Siegfried
1. Forging Scene
2. Forest murmurs
Götterdämmerung
3. Siegfried's Rhine Journey
4. Siegfried's Funeral March
5. Immolation Scene

Wiener Philharmoniker
Georg Solti

Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Hans Hotter (Wotan, Die Walküre), George London (Wotan, Das Rheingold), James King (Siegmund), Régine Crespin (Sieglinde), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Gerhard Stolze (Mime), Set Svanholm (Loge)

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The best thing about such highlights is that they give quite an excellent overview when it comes to what is worth acquiring and what is not in terms of complete recordings. The Ring, especially, being a work of immense proportions, is a solid thing to buy and I would hardly do so without sample some "bleeding chunks" first. I have been introduced to it thus, only it was a one-disc selection that comes from the complete recording with Karajan. Since I am incredibly fascinated by the work, I thought I should like to hear another recording of it that illustrates an altogether different approach. The first that came to my attention was of course the most legendary one.

The next few lines are by no means a comprehensive review even of this set of highlights. Nor are they comparison of the type ''who's better than whom''. All they attempt to explain is why after hearing Karajan's "bleeding chunks" I rushed to get hold of the complete recording and why I didn't do the same about Solti's Ring, and finally decided not to buy the set at all (unless you have some old copy you're willing to get rid of for a few bucks). Of course it is rash to make conclusions for a complete recording of 14 hours after hearing only two and a half of them, but I daresay it is not so unreasonable.

I may start by saying that I simply don't understand all the hype around Solti's Ring and I do think its historical significance, which is completely indisputable, tends to obscure its weaknesses. I have seen Solti, Culshaw and the cast extolled to the skies a great many times. As it turned out, it is not nearly as heavenly as that.

To begin with Solti's conducting, it is quite impressive – sound-wise. Indeed, Solti (and Culshaw as producer, and Parry as engineer) simply blow Karajan away in terms of powerful sound. It's not often that I hear Karajan's sound with the Berliner Philharmoniker from the late 1960s blown away but that is the case here. But power is not the whole of Wagner. If you think it is, then Solti's Ring is definitely your Ring: it is massive, heroic and frenetic, with blaring brass that is guaranteed to blow you away together with the arm-chair you're sitting in. I don't know why Solti's admirers are offended when the conducting of their idol is described as "bombastic". It is as obvious as it could be – listen to the climaxes during the "Entry into Valhalla" and "Wotan's Farewell". But this is not necessarily a bad thing; this is just Solti's view of Wagner. And it must be stressed that he is not so lacking in lyrical qualities as is often pointed out, although he certainly does nothing to emphasize them. And this is just another proof that is not only possible for a great masterpiece to have radically different interpretations, but it is indeed inevitable.

Now comes Karajan and the famous "chamber style approach" that was invented by some mentally deficient critics. Karajan himself detested the description – and rightly so. To my mind, such description simply states that the brass does not blare and obscure the strings regularly and climaxes flow more smoothly than you can imagine. Otherwise the sound is stupendous in terms of dynamic range and clarity, by no means does it lack power. But the sound of a conductor is just like the style of a writer: if he has nothing interesting to say with it, he is done. And here comes the miracle, because Karajan's attention to detail (hear the timpani, in Siegfried's "Funeral March" for instance), his tempo fluctuations, his ability for building dramatic tension and stunning climaxes (hear "Wotan's Farewell") are something miraculous indeed. In comparison to all that, Solti sounds positively brash, rash and, occasionally, even cheap and vulgar. Karajan's Ring may not be so heroic and so powerful as Solti's, but it is not a bit less dramatic, far more lyrical, and a great deal more insightful at the same time.

An ideal illustration for Karajan's subtlety which Solti generally lacks is, ironically, the most famous part of the Ring: "The Ride of Valkyries". Solti not only brings the brass much too forward but he sounds surprisingly clumsy. In contrast, Karajan never obscures the extremely important strings and he is much more sensitive to Wagner's modest thematic material but fertile imagination. Karajan creates a vision of Valkyries flying on their horses which matches Wagner's detailed stage directions to perfection. Solti brings the Valkyries down with a gusto and puts them on lame horses.

As for Culshaw's legendary sound effects that were supposed to recreate every detail from the action, I am not impressed with them at all, either. Wotan's spear hitting the rocks is fine, but Donner's hammer and the final destruction of Valhalla are distinctly unpleasant sensations. Instead of making the recording more real, they only make it more ridiculous, and for my part I am rather happy that Karajan never went so far with these things. But the bigger problem is that, more often than not, the powerful sound of the orchestra obscures the voices and the text become unintelligible. This is another advantage of Karajan's recording: it has a far better balance between the voices and the orchestra, a kind of unity of sound you are not likely to find in Solti's recording where both parts are clear enough in themselves but don't mix too well. I suppose in the late 1950s, when Das Rheingold was the first of the four music dramas to be recorded and released, such a sound and such effects must have been a sensation. The sound is still gorgeous. But the effects have aged badly.

But the greatest problem with Solti's Ring is not Solti himself (nor the presumptuous Culshaw for that matter). Whatever the details, Solti is still a great conductor, even if not exactly to my taste. He has something unique to say and he knows pretty well how to say it in a most effective way. Even though I would never prefer his conducting for my desert island exile, it remains a towering achievement. And despite Culshaw's puerile passion for cacophony, on the whole the sonority and the clarity of the sound remain spectacular even today, some half a century after it was made.

The greatest disappointment in Solti's Ring is the cast. I am totally baffled when read descriptions like "the greatest cast ever" and the like. I have not listened to almost anything and am a Wagner as well as a Ring neophyte, but to my mind Karajan's singers are distinctly superior at almost all fronts. I am amazed that such cast is so often regarded as inferior, even when Karajan's conducting is considered masterful.

In my very humble opinion the only singers in Solti's Ring that are on par with Karajan's set, differences in interpretation and all, are Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen and Gustav Neidlinger. Nilsson doubtlessly has tremendous voice and she must have been there when the walls of Jericho fell; she is pretty much like Solti's conducting and hence a perfect complement to it. Coincidence or not, Karajan's Brünnhilde, Helga Dernesch, is just like the Maestro's conducting – warm, imaginative and subtle. Wolfgang Windgassen is a bit too lyrical perhaps, but to my mind quite convincingly so; the man has the voice and knows how to use it. He is quite different than any of Karajan's Siegfried's, Jess Thomas and Helge Brilioth, but an equally great pleasure to listen to. The most important difference is that Windgassen has never been underrated, as Thomas and Brilioth often are. As for Gustav Neidlinger, he is superb all right, but not a bit more so than Zoltan Kelemen, though rather different as both voice and interpretation.

It is interesting to note that Gerhard Stolze is the only singer who is on both recordings and sings the same part. Significantly or not, as far as the "Forging Song" goes, he is certainly a more cunning and scheming Mime with Karajan than with Solti; in the latter set Stolze tends to overact his part a bit. Also, there are singers in the Solti's set that are just decent and reliable but nothing more, George London and James King for example. Both are quite dependable, but the former, though possessing a much more powerful voice, is no match for the brilliant dramatic inflection that Fischer-Diskau brings to the text, and the latter, though musical and lyrical enough, simply cannot hold a candle to the burning intensity of Jon Vickers as Siegmund.

Some small parts in Solti's Ring are downright appallingly sung, Froh (Waldemar Kmentt) and the Nightingale (Joan Sutherland?!) for instance, but in this category Set Svanholm gets the palm all right. How so incompetent, not to say terrible, a singer could have been included at all in such recording is beyond me. Both his voice and his rendition of Loge's part are, to put it mildly, some kind of an accident, or a bad joke perhaps. Some say he is great because he actually sings the lines, while Karajan's Loge (Gerhard Stolze) is terrible because his is only declamation and nothing more. Nonsense. First of all, Loge's part is largely declamatory and, secondly, Stolze's rendition is a fabulous characterization which has exactly as much singing as there should be. Both extremes can be heard in the finale of Das Rheingold where Stolze totally puts Svanholm to shame, and I can't help feeling sorry for the poor Set who is trying to tackle a part that is so painfully beyond him.

But my greatest disappointment in Solti's Ring is the man who has been hailed as ''the greatest Wotan ever''. Hans Hotter is just another example of adulation I simply cannot understand. Yes, I know he was past his prime is 1965 when Solti's Die Walküre was recorded. Yes, I have listened to his 1955 live recording from Bayreuth with Keilberth and recorded in fantastic early stereo by DECCA. It is not much better; the voice is fresher for sure, but the rendition is just as messy and can hardly be described as anything more than acceptable. It seems to me that Hotter at his best is hardly better than just good.

But the studio recording with Solti really is pathetic. Hotter's voice is unsteady and hoarse, his diction is often abominable though he is supposed to sing in his native language. He tosses off some of the most lyrical moments with something very much like barking. The long and majestic lines – "Denn einer..." and "Wer meines..." – are incredibly sad things to listen to. The only slight redemption of all that mess comes in the quietest moments when Hotter finally manages to sound at least decent – but not for long. I don't know if Brünnhilde is moved by her father's outburst, but I am certainly filled with sorrow – for Hans Hotter. It is completely out of the question to put such performance along Thomas Stewart's in Karajan's set. Not only is the American's diction far superior, but his voice, which may lack somewhat in power, has nevertheless unbelievable ability for sustaining a beautiful melodic line and a very fine dynamic range. Stewart's interpretation of both the text and the music has an emotional richness and psychological insight Hotter never could have dreamed of.

In short, Solti's historically important recording of the Ring is a remarkable sonic achievement for the age and captures some of the most glorious orchestral playing ever put on record, at least in terms of impressive orchestral power. Otherwise, there is little of Wagner's overwhelmingly important lyrical side, but a great deal of abrasive heroism not entirely without appeal, I admit, but also somewhat tedious after a few listenings. It's interesting to give it a try or two from time to time for, if anything, the approach does sound original, but ultimately I would definitely go with Karajan's subtlety, imagination and absolutely unmatched ability for making Wagner's music flow like the Rhein itself.

For all the hype there is and probably will continue to be, for me the cast in Solti's Ring remains just a little above mediocre and by no means preferable to Karajan's often easily dismissed singers. None of the latter has a poor voice or inadequate artistry to the part, while some of Solti's singers are almost a disgrace, another part are just good, and only a few are on the same level of excellence as their analogues in Karajan's set. How much of that is due to some personal charisma of the conductor and how much due to various other reasons is highly debatable, but I am inclined to think that the excellence of Karajan's cast is not the least due to his fascinating personality. Last but certainly not least, the voices and the orchestra complement each other much better in Karajan's set, whereas in Solti's they usually seem to fight with each other.