Lohengrin from Frankfurt Opera (de Billy)

Richard Wagner, Lohengrin

Heinrich, Falk Struckmann
Lohengrin, Michael König
Elsa of Brabant, Camilla Nylund
Friedrich of Telramund, Robert Hayward
Ortrud, Michaela Schuster
The Army Caller, Daniel Schmutzhard

Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra
Choir and Extra Choir of the Frankfurt Opera / Bertrand de Billy

Oehms Classics OC946

Frankfurt has been the source for a number of recent Wagner recordings, most prominently the Ring cycle conducted by Sebastian Weigle that was released on CD and subsequently on DVD/Blu Ray (I have reviewed all four dramas in the Frankfurt Ring on this site). This Lohengrin was recorded in March/April 2013, with Bertrand de Billy at the podium. De Billy is the first permanent guest conductor at the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra. With it Frankfurt Opera consolidates its reputation as one of the world’s Wagner centers, well documented by the Oehms label.

Falk Struckmann’s King Heinrich is probably the best-known soloist here and he does a fine job in a role that is not very challenging from a dramatic point of view. He certainly sets a bar of competence for the rest of the cast, most of whom are far less experienced. By and large they all hit the bar. There is nothing here anywhere near as erratic as, say, Lance Ryan’s Siegfried in the Frankfurt Ring. The standard of acting and characterization is more varied, however.

The female soloists are the most compelling. Camilla Nylund’s Elsa is rather light initially, but she captures her character’s initial vulnerability well. Nylund comes into her own in Act III, where she convincingly implores Lohengrin to reveal his identity before (equally convincingly) reaping the consequences of breaking her pledge.  Michaela Schuster’s Ortrud is also well delineated, masterfully and malevolently sung in Act II. Schuster’s brief appearance in Act III is powerful and effective.

The leading male singers do not reach the same heights. Michael König as Lohengrin and Robert Hayward as Friedrich von Telramund are fine singers. Their set-piece “arias” are perfectly fine, but they both come across as relatively two-dimensional partners in the key duets (between Friedrich and Ortrud in Act II and between Lohengrin and Elsa in Act III). To a certain extent this is a function of their roles – in Lohengrin the female roles are deeper and more interesting than their male counterparts. But others have sung Lohengrin and Friedrich better, despite the limitations of the roles.  

The conducting is definitely a highlight in the Frankfurt Ring. The same can be said here. De Billy does a fine job of bringing out the strengths of the Frankfurt Opera orchestra and choir. The danger in Lohengrin, which has so many large-scale set-pieces, is that it can sound like four-square Grand Opera. De Billy does not fall into the trap. His conducting is fluid and maintains good momentum through the choral scenes.

This Lohengrin does not come close to the classic accounts from the 1960’s – e.g. Rudolf Kempe (with Jess Thomas, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, and  Elisabeth Grummer) or Wolfgang Sawallisch (with Jess Thomas again, Anjoa Stilja, Astrid Varnay, and Ramon Varnay). But it is a fine modern performance that bears witness to the good work being done in Frankfurt.

Gerd Schaller's Bruckner 6 - the end of the cycle

 

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 6

Philharmonie Festiva

Conducted by Gerd Schaller

Profil Hänssler CD PH14021

This is the final recording in Schaller’s complete cycle of Bruckner’s major symphonies. All have been recorded at the Ebrach Abbey with the Philharmonie Festiva, a festival orchestra drawn from the Munich Bach soloists and the major Munich orchestras.  I reviewed the Fourth here and the Fifth here.

Schaller’s performance can seem a little understated, particularly at the first hearing of the opening movement. The program notes provide a clue, describing the Sixth as lighter than the other symphonies – in fact, as Bruckner’s equivalent to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Many enthusiasts of the Sixth (me amongst them) will find this baffling. Bruckner, after all, termed this his “boldest” symphony. Think of the modal changes in the first movement; the rhythmic complexity; and the abrupt changes of mood and musical direction. These aspects are somewhat below the surface in Schaller’s recording of the opening movement– although they do come out on a second hearing.

The Adagio is more engaged but still not fully plumbing the depths of the movement. The Scherzo is dynamic and the contrast with the Trio well done. The intensity quotient picks up in the Finale, but Schaller works hard to highlight the complexity of the orchestration and so there is some trade-off. The closing peroration is not as magnificent as in some recordings, but the plus side is Schaller’s characteristic technical proficiency and command of the overall structure. 

The live sound is good quality and the recording suffers less from the acoustics of Erbrach Abbey than, say, the Fifth. This disc is recommended

Karim Said's Echoes from an Empire

 

Echoes from an Empire

Karim Said, piano

Alban Berg, Piano Sonata Op. 1

Béla Bartók, Three Rondos on Slovak Folk Tunes BB92

Leoš Janaček, Sonata 1 X.1905 (From the Street)

Anton Webern, Sonata Movement (Rondo) for piano

George Enescu, Suite No. 2 in D Op. 10

Arnold Schoenberg, Three Piano Pieces Op. 11

There are really two empires referred to in the title of this first disc from the young Jordanian pianist Karim Said, now living and working in Berlin. The first is the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ruled from Vienna, that came to end in the First World War. The second is the empire of traditional harmony – also, in a sense, ruled from Vienna and also coming to the end of its life in the first decades of the twentieth century. The composers featured all originate from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and each is either actively promoting or in some sense reacting to the demise of musical certainties such as the major/minor harmonic system and traditional sonata form.

Of course, the comparison can only go so far. Unlike the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the major/minor harmonic system did not collapse. Very few of the pieces here would properly be described as atonal – probably only Schoenberg’s Op. 11 Three Pieces, and even these are starting to sound surprisingly accessible, now that they are over a century old. But it is true that the major/minor harmonic system stopped being an organizing principle for most composers.

When one organizing principle disappears, composers reach for others. Folk song was a popular refuge, represented on this disc by Bartók’s Three Rondos and also a strong presence in Janaček’s Sonata. Neo-classicism was another option, illustrated here by Enescu’s Suite No. 2, which features an ornate and charming Pavane. The third Schoenberg piece showcases the expressionism most famously developed in Erwartung (written in 1909, the same year as the Three Pieces, but not performed until 15 years later).

The best-known pieces here are most likely the Berg Sonata and Schoenberg’s Three Pieces. The major discovery for me was the Enescu Suite. But the real reason to buy this collection is not any single performance, good though they are. This is one of those rare occasions when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This thematic recital tells a musical story. The story is a familiar one, famously told for example in Donald Mitchell’s The Language of Modern Music. But here it is told through an artful selection and juxtaposition of piano pieces. Very inventive and highly recommended.   

Die Götterdämmerung on DVD from Frankfurt

Richard Wagner, Siegfried

Siegfried         Lance Ryan
Gunther          Johannes Martin Kränzle
Alberich          Jochen Schmeckenbecher
Hagen            Gregory Frank
Brünnhilde      Susan Bullock
Gutrune          Anja Fidelia Ulrich
Waltraute       Claudia Mahnke
1. Norn           Meredith Arwady
2. Norn           Claudia Mahnke
3. Norn           Angel Blue
Woglinde        Britta Stallmeister
Wellgunde     Jenny Carlstedt
Flosshilde       Katharina Magiera

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
Conducted by Sebastian Weigle

Directed by Vera Nemirova

Recorded live June/July 2012 at Frankfurt Opera

DVD OEHMS Classics OC99  (4 hours and 40 minutes)

This is the final drama in the 2012 Frankfurt Ring cycle conducted by Sebastian Weigle and directed by Vera Nemirova – a DVD release following on from earlier (2010) CD issue of the same production with a very similar cast. The cycle got off to a very strong start with Das Rheingold (reviewed here). Die Walküre and Siegfried were both significantly more uneven, but I recommended both of them (reviews here and here). In many respects Die Göttermämmerung is the weakest of the four dramas. Fortunately it is redeemed by (and worth buying for) strong conducting throughout and some very fine singing in Act III scenes 2 and 3.

One of the strengths of the first three operas was the simplicity of Vera Nemirova’s staging, entirely based on a set of concentric rings each of which can be moved independently in three dimensions. This staging, supported by appropriate lighting and with very few additional props, cast an austere perspective reminiscent of the Wieland Wagner Neue Bayreuth productions of the post-War period. Nemirova at times insisted on going off-piste, adding touches that looked instead to some of the more ironic and (to my mind) self-important productions of the 1980’s, but the Ring definitely came across as a psychodrama, rather than an allegory or a political statement. Unfortunately in Die Götterdämmerung the balance shifts away from seriousness and towards slapstick. Brunnhilde does not come across well prancing around holding a toy horse and the Rhinemaidens have got enough on their plate in the roles Wagner wrote for them without doing double duty as environmental protesters waving placards from an inflatable boat. And what on earth is going on during Siegfried’s Rhine journey?

From the perspective of singing and drama, Lance Ryan is definitely the weak link in the chain. In this performance he is very “shouty” for the first two acts, sacrificing accuracy to volume with occasionally disastrous results. His acting too is exaggerated. Siegfried is not a profound character. But he is not a brainless idiot either. It is not until his final scene culminating in “Brunnhilde, heilige braut” that it becomes clear why Ryan is so highly regarded – he can sing with a wonderful combination of delicacy and power when he puts his mind to it.

The highlight of the drama is Susan Bullock’s Brunnhilde. The exchange with Siegfried in the Prelude is not memorable (largely because of Ryan’s shouting), but she has a fine duet with Waltraute (Claudia Mahnke) and really comes into her own after that. The immolation scene is superb and makes up for all the shortcomings of the production. Bullock sings with great assurance, control, and emotional power. 

The other principals sing well, but do not stand out particularly. Gregory Frank’s Hagen is solid, but lacks the deep malevolence of the role’s finest exponents – as emerges clearly in the duet with Alberich (another good performance from Jochen Scheckenbecher, who was terrific in Rheingold and Siegfried). Anja Fidelia Ulrich does justice to the role of Gutrune, while Martin Kränzle does a fine job of portraying a pathetically weak Gunther.

Once again, Sebastian Weigle conducts extremely well, restoring some of the seriousness taken out by aspects of the production and driving the drama forwards with a great sense of structure and space. The PCM stereo sound nicely complements some good filming (although I have reservations about some of the occasional Brechtian moments when the cast and the cameras descend into the audience). This shouldn’t be anybody’s only Götterdämmerung, but committed Wagnerians will want to buy it for the fine conducting throughout and for the final two scenes.