Barenboim's La Scala Götterdämmerung on Blu Ray

Richard Wagner, Die Götterdämmerung

Siegfried - Lance Ryan
Gunther - Gerd Grochowski
Alberich - Johannes Martin Kränzle
Hagen - Mikhail Petrenko
Brünnhilde - Iréne Theorin
Gutrune / Die dritte Norn - Anna Samuil
Waltraute / Die zweite Norn - Waltraud Meier
Die erste Norn - Margarita Nekrasova
Woglinde - Aga Mikolaj
Wellgunde - Maria Gortsevskaya
Flosshilde - Anna Lapkovskaja

Milan La Scala Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Bruno Casoni)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Guy Cassiers, stage director and set designer
Enrico Bagnoli, set and lighting designer
Tim van Steenbergen, costume designer
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer

Recorded live at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, June 2013

Arthaus Musik           Blu Ray (108 0930) or DVD (101 696)

                                     

This release brings to an end the La Scala Ring Cycle conducted by Daniel Barenboim and produced by Guy Cassiers. I reviewed the Die Walküre very positively when it came out. This performance is significantly less successful to my mind, largely due to the weak singing of Lance Ryan, but it is very fine nonetheless. I will stick with my earlier judgment that Barenboim’s 1992 Bayreuth Ring Cycle remains his best effort (but for a different view see the reviews by Rob Cummings on this site), but the conducting, production, and most of the singing here is first rate.

One very striking feature of Guy Cassier’s production is the skillful use of light and video – superbly captured on the Blu Ray disc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more evocative portrayal of Brunnhilde’s rock. But the most distinctive feature of the production is its use of visual leitmotifs that reappear throughout all four dramas. Chief among these is the frieze Les passions humaines commissioned from the Antwerp sculptor Jef Lambeaux by King Leopold II of Belgium. The freize depicts a contorted mass of human bodies – rather appropriate for the Ring. There is a striking evocation of the frieze in the Gibichung palace where pieces of the furniture look rather like Damien Hirst-style limbs in formaldehyde. The leitmotif continues with the depiction of the Tarnhelm as a human sculpture, which works rather effectively when Siegrfried arrives at Brunnhilde’s rock (and somewhat less so when Siegfried first arrives surrounded by ballet dancers at the Gibichung palace). 

As with the earlier dramas in the cycle, Barenboim’s conducting is superlative. Die Götterdämmerung has some of Wagner’s classic set-pieces, including Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and the Funeral March and these come across extremely well, as one might expect. Barenboim’s real strength, though, is his sense of structure – both musical and dramatic . A nice illustration comes in Act II, where he builds unerringly to the dramatic high point of Siegfried’s oath.  This is a part of the drama that is crucial, but can sag in the wrong hands.

As indicated earlier, the real problem with this production is Lance Ryan’s Siegfried. Ryan does not have the contolled power of a true heldentenor and he sounds forced and all-too-often wobbly when he tries to project. He is very much at the “shouty” end of the spectrum and it just doesn’t work for me at all (although the audience at La Scala seemed happy enough). The rest of the cast unfortunately shows up his weaknesses. 

Waltraud Meier is outstanding as the 2^nd Norn and then as Waltraute. The duet between Brunnhilde and Waltraute at the end of Act I is sung with simultaneous strength and delicacy. Nina Stemme was the Brunnhilde in Die Walküre and Siegfried, and sang outstandingly well in both dramas. Here she is replaced by Iréne Theorin, who does not quite have Stemme’s dramatic power, but who gives a very creditable performance. Theorin is a wonderfully furious Brunnhilde in Act II, but by the time of the immolation she is a little lacking in dramatic contrast. Hagen is well sung by Mikhail Petrenko, despite some unfortunate portamento in the early stages of the role. Johannes Martin Kränzle continues his strong run as Alberich (with the Alberich-Hagen duet another high superbly conducted high point of the performance). The principals are rounded out by  Gerd Grochowski as Gunther and Anna Samuil as Gutrune. Both do their roles justice.

The audiovisual quality of the Blu Ray disc is outstanding and the performance is recommended for the production, the conducting, and much of the singing. There are enough great moments for this to be compulsory viewing for dedicated Wagnerians

Giulini's Bruckner 9 on DVD

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 9 in D Minor: Rehearsal and Concert

Carlo Maria Guilini

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra

Arthaus Musik DVD 102 188

The 9^th is the Bruckner symphony most closely associated with Carlo Maria Giulini. John Berky’s discography identifies 9 different recordings. The concert on this DVD was recorded for television on 20 September 1996 and has been released on CD at least twice before. This is the first release on DVD and has the very considerable benefit of nearly 60 minutes of rehearsal time (usefully dubbed from the German).

Having the rehearsal footage gives an incredible insight into the nuances of Bruckner interpretation and the level of attention to individual voices within the complex whole of the symphony. It is also a wonderful portrait of the 83 year old conductor – clearly deeply affected by the music and greatly respected and loved by the orchestra. Completely the opposite of imperious, Giulini’s style is very gentle and understated. 

The performance is very fine indeed. The first movement is measured. Tension is built successively through the peaks of the movement and then dissolved in the coda. It is clear that Giulini has a firm architectural grip on the symphony and he seems transfixed by the music. The second movement has great drive and vigor and the rehearsal reveals one of the techniques used, as Giulini instructs the strings in the main scherzo theme that the long notes are to be played marcato, with only the dotted notes played staccato. The “before and after” shots in the rehearsal show how this device builds momentum. For Giulini the third movement is the finale – he takes the traditional approach. And he manages to incorporate a chamber-like balance between the instrumental voices into the monumentality of Bruckner’s symphonic conception. The rehearsal shows how much work went into getting the balance right between wind and horns.

I do have one reservation. Watching the rehearsal gives great insight into details of the interpretation, but it doesn’t help much with understanding the overall structure of his approach. The organization is very disjointed, cutting without warning or explanation from one section of the movement to another. I think that there could have been more editorial guidance besides simply identifying which movement is under discussion. Either that – or reproduce an entire rehearsal.

But even as it is this is a highly recommended DVD. The performance is very much worth the price of admission and the rehearsal certainly deepens appreciation. 

Nagano conducting Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 4, 7, 8

Anton Bruckner, Symphonies 4, 7, 8

Bavarian State Orchestra

Kent Nagano

Farao Classics CD 108074

It is not easy to see the logic behind this set containing three Bruckner symphonies played by Kent Nagano and the Bavarian State Orchestra. All three performances have previously been released by Sony Classical. Two of the performances (the 4^th and the 8^th) are studio recordings of the rarely heard original versions, while the set also includes a live recording of the 7^th made in Ghent cathedral in September 2010.

The booklet contains an essay by Olaf A. Schmidt entitled “Bruckner the Progressive” (doubtless a reference to Schoenberg’s famous essay “Brahms the Progressive”). The essay discusses the different versions of the Bruckner symphonies, proposing that Bruckner’s first thoughts were often his most daring and forward-looking, subsequently tempered by the criticisms he received from his contemporaries and misguided well-wishers.

There is some plausibility in this analysis. The  Hunt Scherzo that Bruckner added to the 4^th Symphony is an altogether jollier and less challenging affair than the scherzo included on this recording of the original 1874 version.  But on the other hand, Bruckner’s original versions are sometimes ham-fisted at best – the fortissimo at the end of the first movement of the 8^th is a good example. And the original versions can drag somewhat. The 4^th comes in at 75 minutes and the 8^th at a taxing 100 minutes.

Of the performances here the 7^th is the least convincing. There is nothing dramatically wrong with it. Nagano conducts sensitively and with a good sense of architecture. The orchestra has a fine Bruckner sound. But the performance certainly fails to stand out in a crowded market-place. It is a little ironic also that in a set ostensibly focused on Bruckner’s progressive initial thoughts, the performance of the 7^th includes the controversial cymbals crash at the climax of the Adagio.

The 1874 version of the 4^th and the 1887 version of the 8^th are well worth listening to, however. It’s a fool’s errand, in my opinion, to try to identify the definitive version of either of these great works. Really there is a family of different versions, each of which needs to be listened to on its own terms. Nagano and the Bavarian State Orchestra have broadened our horizons by giving us a clearer understanding of what Bruckner originally intended. Listeners can make up their own minds as to whether the subsequent revisions were improvements or detractions.  

Review of Schaller's Bruckner 4 with the Volkfest finale

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 (with Volkfest finale)

Philharmonie Festiva

Conduced by Gerd Schaller

Profil CD PH13049

Gerd Schaller is the founder and artistic director of the Ebrach Summer Music Festival and the Philharmonie Festiva is the orchestra he has put together for the festival, primarily with musicians from the leading Munich orchestras. Together with the Philharmonie Festiva Schaller has already recorded a complete cycle of Bruckner symphonies. In this recording Schaller offers an unusual version of the 4^th Symphony.

Bruckner’s 4^th Symphony is almost always heard in some form of the 1880 version, although an increasing number of conductors are trying to revive the original 1874 version. The 1880 version is basically the 1878 version with a new finale (the symphony’s third). The original (as it were!) 1878 version was written with what he entitled the Volkfest (People’s Festival) finale. It is the 1878 version with the Volkfest finale that Gerd Schaller and the Philharmonie Festiva play on this intriguing recording.

The Volkfest finale has not received a huge amount of attention. It was not even published until 1936, when it appeared as an appendix to Robert Haas’s edition. Another edition was produced by Leonard Nowak in 1981. There are a few recordings in which it features as a filler (e.g. Tintner’s recording of the Study Symphony), but this is one of a very small number of recordings that offers us the whole of the 4^th Symphony as Bruckner conceived it between 1878 and 1880.

Schaller’s Bruckner is majestic, rather than monumental or mystical. The tempi are steady and we see a slow build up of tension rather than a spiky series of climaxes. Many recordings of the 4^th are more jagged, but the overall impression here is of the slow unveiling of a lengthy musical argument. The internal logic of the argument is familiar, of course, up to the end of the third movement. At which point the Volkfest finale begins.

For most Bruckner enthusiasts I imagine that the first hearing will be rather disconcerting. The Volkfest finale initially sounds much less substantial than the 1880 finale and there are moments that seem almost trite. It did grow on me after a couple of listenings, however. The Volkfest is in some ways better proportioned than the 1880 finale, which can seem out of balance relative to the rest of the symphony. It also has some particularly fine moments, particularly the close in which all the principal themes come together in a classic Brucknerian peroration.

The 1878 version will not replace the 1880 version, I am confident – or even the 1874 version. But it is well worth listening to as part of an entire performance, rather than as a “bleeding chunk”. Bruckner himself found it compelling enough for a couple of years and although he was almost certainly correct to prefer the later version of the finale, he was also correct not to reject it. This disc is a valuable testament to an important stage in Bruckner’s evolution as a symphonist.   

Das Rheingold at the Houston Grand Opera

Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold

Houston Grand Opera

Wortham Theater Center, Houston, TX

13 April 2014

Wotan - Iain Paterson
Loge - Stefan Margita
Alberich - Christopher Purves
Mime - Rodell Rosel
Fricka - Jamie Barton
Erda - Meredith Arwady
Fasolt - Kristinn Sigmundsson
Fafner - Andrea Silvestrelli
Freia - Melody Moore
Donner - Ryan McKinny
Froh - Chad Shelton
Woglinde - Andrea Carroll
Flosshilde - Renee Tatum
Wellgunde - Catherine Martin 
Conductor - Patrick Summers - Margaret Alkek Williams Chair
Director - Carlus Padrissa/La Fura Dels Baus 

Rather than design from scratch a new production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the Houston Grand Opera took the interesting step of outsourcing the production to the Catalan theater company La Fura dels Baus under the direction of Carlus Padrissa. Padrissa reproduces the well-documented and much-discussed Valencia Ring that debuted between 2007 and 2009 and is currently available on DVD and Blu Ray from Unitel. The hallmarks of La Fura dels Baus are the inventive and effective video projections and the use of stage acrobats. This is the group responsible for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and they certainly have no problems with large-scale dramatic choreography.

The production has some wonderful and memorable moments. When Alberich encounters the Rhinemaidens they are each singing in individual glass tanks suspended above the stage. When he renounces love he drains the water from the tanks in a very telling gesture. The video projections for the journey into the depths of Nibelheim are the most effective representation I have yet seen of Wotan and Loge’s descent and Nibelheim itself is depicted very successfully. Instead of a pile of gold we have a crowd of gold-colored dancers (crawlers?) who form a human mountain to hide Freia during the final negotiations between Wotan and the giants. And then, in the closing minutes of the drama, Froh’s swinging hammer metaphorically shatters the backdrop into shards and opens up a view of Valhalla represented by a suspended cylinder of interlocking human acrobats. Heady stuff!

Yet at times the production subtly undermines what Wagner is trying to achieve. One of the characteristics of the mature Wagner is the fluidity of his dramatic writing. There are no set piece duets, arias, sextets etc. Instead there is an unbroken web of music where structure is imposed through the leitmotifs and other musical devices. In many successful productions the dynamic flow of the drama is matched by dramatic flow on the stage, with the bodily movements of the singers matching the emotional ebb and flow of the drama. Padrissa and La Fura dels Baus go in the opposite direction. For much of the drama the principals sing from cranes, with no opportunities to move anything except their arms (and rarely doing even that). The effect this creates is very static. Even though the cranes move around (steered by teams of supernumeraries) the principals are in effect talking heads and an important element of the drama is lost.

As far as the singing is concerned, the one unqualified success of the performance I heard was Christopher Purves as Alberich, who delivered a commanding performance and gave real depth to a character too often presented as a caricature. The one unqualified disappointment was Iain Paterson’s Wotan. The Rheingold Wotan is not the conflicted Wotan of Die Walküre or the tragically resigned Wotan of Siegfried. But still he needs to be both magisterial and deeply ambivalent. Paterson’s Wotan was neither.

The rest of the cast had some fine moments. Stefan Margita is a very experienced Loge and sang the role well (more lyrically than, for example, Graham Clark, who is even more a professional Loge). Meredith Arwady has sung Erda in Frankfurt and at the Met and her intervention was a little crude but powerful (it would have been even more powerful, I suspect, if she hadn’t had to emerge from a pile of chopped wood). Jamie Barton was an adequate if undramatic Fricka. Her role deepens in Die Walküre and it will be interesting to see what she does with it next year. Andrea Silvestri (Fafner) has a very powerful basso profondo voice, but the timbre did not quite fit the role (to my ear). Kristinn Sigmundsson is a solid Fasolt. Melody Moore does not have much to do as Freia, but she can certainly project and I look forward to hearing her in more demanding Wagner soprano repertoire. Chad Shelton (Froh) and Ryan McKinny (Donner) did not disappoint, but nor did they shine.

The orchestra of the Houston Grand Opera did well at times (usually in the parts of the drama that are closest to grand opera), but gave the impression that they are still coming to terms with the demands of the score – at times they sounded rather ragged, particularly in the brass. Patrick Summers is certainly a much less well-formed Wagner conductor than Jaap van Zweden in Dallas. The Prelude, which is the seed from which the entire Ring Cycle grows, was frankly disappointing, portrayed a rather dull canal rather than the swirling depths of the Rhine. Because it is the longest unbroken piece of music in Wagner’s entire oeuvre and because it does not contain any of the Ring’s most memorable dramatic moments, Das Rheingold is a real test. The second half of the performance was more successful than the first, but I did not have the sense of a conductor with a clear architectural vision of what is, after all, two and a half hours of uninterrupted music.

There are many good things about this production, but also many things that need work before Die Walküre comes online in 2015.

Rudolf Kempe's Mahler 4 on ICA Classics

Mahler, Symphony No. 4

Wagner, Parsifal – Prelude

Mendelssohn, Ruy Blas Overture*

Joan Alexander, Soprano

BBC Symphony Orchestra

* London Symphony Orchestra

Conducted by Rudolf Kempe

ICA Classics 5117

Kempe’s recorded legacy includes the First and Second Symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde, all originally released by the BBC Classics label and re-released on BBC Legends. Archipel has released a 1948 live recording of the Fifth Symphony with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. That may be it – and on the strength of this recording it’s a real shame that there is so little recorded testimony to a penetrating Mahler interpreter.

The web retailer Archiv Musik currently lists 132 different recordings of Mahler’s Fourth, and there are surely many more out there. It is hard to imagine that at the time of this 1957 performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony there were only three recordings of what is probably Mahler’s most popular symphony available. Mahler was still a little-known and somewhat distrusted composer. So it is all the more remarkable how compelling this performance by Kempe and the BBC Symphony is.

Kempe’s characteristic virtue as a conductor is a remarkable clarity and ability to keep the orchestral lines audibly distinct and yet integrated. This is very important in Mahler and Kempe delivers a fine interpretation of the Fourth. His approach is precise, with a clear sense of purpose and direction.

Kempe’s interpretation is very un-mannered, which is refreshing – perhaps with Mahler so relatively unfamiliar to there concertgoing audience there was no need to exaggerate to mark out a distinctive interpretation? The slow movement is the real heart of the symphony and Kempe brings out a wonderful cantabile line. There is fine singing in the final movement from Joan Alexander, the Scottish soprano who died in 2010 at the age of 98.

Kempe is much better known as a Wagner conductor. There are (at least) two live Ring cycles available, including a 1957 performance from Covent Garden and a 1960 performance from Bayreuth, in addition to a Parsifal live from Covent Garden in 1959. His affinity with Wagner emerges very clearly in the Parsifal Prelude presented here. Kempe allows the richness and intensity of Wagner’s emotional world to emerge without luxuriating in it.

With more than acceptable sound quality, this disc is highly recommended.   

Barenboim's La Scala Walküre on DVD

Nina Stemme (soprano) – Brünnhilde

Vitalij Kowaljow (bass) – Wotan

Simon O’Neill (tenor) – Siegmund

Waltraud Meier (mezzo) – Sieglinde

Sir John Tomlinson (bass) – Hunding

Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo) – Fricka

Danielle Halbwachs (soprano) – Gerhilde

Carola Hoehn (soprano) – Ortlinde

Ivonne Fuchs (mezzo) – Waltraute

Anaik Morel (mezzo) – Schwertleite

Susan Foster (soprano) – Helmwige

Leann Sandel-Pantaleo (mezzo) – Siegrune

Nicole Piccolomini (contralto) – Grimgerde

Simone Schroeder (contralto) - Rossweise

Orchestra of La Scala, conducted by Daniel Barenboim
Recorded at La Scala, Milan, 7 December 2010

The legendary 1992 Barenboim and Kupfer Bayreuth Ring is a hard act to follow – right at the top of most rankings of filmed Ring cycles and probably one of the best recorded cycles period. But the 2010 Ring cycle at La Scala, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and produced by Guy Cassiers, was very well received and Arthaus are to be thanked for bringing the cycle out on DVD and Blu Ray with very fine sound and picture.

Cassiers’s staging of Die Walküre is imaginative and engaging, deepening the drama rather than detracting from it. Hunding’s hut is more psychodrama than habitation, which is absolutely fine in my book – the only feature is the sword left by Wotan in the tree trunk. Acts II and III are also uncluttered, with skillful use of video projections and an unusual but successful representation of the forest through thin hanging strips. The horses are represented statically through statues, while color changes within a predominantly blue and green color scheme are used to good effect.

John Tomlinson represents the main continuity with the 1992 cycle. Then he was an inspirational Wotan. Here he sings the much more modest character role of Hunding and sings it very well indeed. So well, in fact, that he rather overshadows Vitalij Kowaljow’s Wotan. The singing from the other two principals besides Hunding in Act 1 is very strong. Simon O’Neill is a fine Siegmund, at the lyrical end of the spectrum but rock solid. The everlasting Waltraud Meier (who sang Waltraute in the 1992 cycle) is a wonderful and passionate Sieglinde. The duet in Scene 3 is dynamically conducted and very successful. The partnership continues to work very well in Act II, where Meier is very moving as Sieglinde and O’Neill is absolutely at his best in the duet with Brunnhilde while Sieglinde sleeps.

To the extent that the cast has a weak link it is Kowaljow, but he gets much better as the evening progresses. At the beginning of Act II he lacks depth and presence and Ekaterina Gubanova’s Fricka seems to get the better of him. She is certainly more forceful, although herself lacking some expressive nuances. Kowaljow warms up in the second scene, particularly in the long soliloquy. He couldn’t really be described as a tragic hero, but by Wotan’s Farewell at the end of Act III he is sounding majestic.

Nina Stemme’s Brunnhilde comes into Act II firing on all cyclinders and manages to raise Vitalij Kowaljow’s game. Stemme acts very well, capturing Brunnhilde’s loss of certainty and lack of comprehension during the initial encounter with Wotan and then her grappling with the consequences of being more faithful to Wotan’s wishes than he himself is able to be. Stemme has a fine voice and can modulate it expressively. She and Meier are very superior singers indeed.

Daniel Barenboim cements his reputation as an outstanding Wagnerian. The timings suggest slow tempi, but the music flows dynamically and dramatically. This Walküre is highly recommended. It does not scale the heights of the 1992 Bayreuth recording, but it is an intelligent production with an outstanding conductor and some of today’s finest Wagner singers.