Karajan and Solti: comparative review of "bleeding chunks"
Disc: 1Das 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
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
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.
