RCA Red Seal has been
for many years BMG’s prime label, with
all releases being at full price. This
new series of re-issues at budget price
rather throws some dealers so if you
are looking for this disc in a shop
beware. And you really should be looking
for it; it is a superb disc in every
way.
Lorin Maazel has been
conducting opera and excerpts like this
for many, many years. He is, in addition,
an absolute magician in this kind of
repertoire. Put in charge of an orchestra
of the calibre of the Berlin Philharmonic,
and recorded in very high quality digital
sound as on this disc, the experience
is first rate.
Wagner was in the habit
of creating relatively large passages
purely for orchestra within the operas
to develop and strengthen the symphonic
underpinning of his operatic plots.
Lorin Maazel, in addition to recording
these pieces before, has also arranged
Wagner’s Ring cycle in orchestral guise,
and this has been available (again with
the Berlin Philharmonic) on Telarc.
The present disc opens
with a very exciting and lively account
of The Flying Dutchman which has the
storm scenes thrashing around in very
vivid form. This is one of the more
exciting performances of the overture
I have heard.
We then move on to
the earliest work on the disc, the overture
to the opera Rienzi. This receives an
absolutely stunning performance well
up to the standard of the other works
on this disc. The Prelude to Act III
of Lohengrin, long a favourite encore
for visiting orchestras, makes its impact
in no uncertain terms.
The Mastersingers Overture
is the only relatively less exciting
piece in this collection, being pompous
rather than stirring in tone. This is
a well experienced thing though with
many conductors treating the overture
this way. The only criticism I have
of it is that in the company of the
other works the effect is relatively
muted.
Siegfried Idyll makes
its usual impact, being beautifully
played by the Berlin Philharmonic, with
the textures glowing in Wagner’s present
to his wife on her birthday in 1870.
The final piece on
this well-filled anthology is Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey from Götterdämmerung.
This, the final instalment of The Ring
opens the third Act of the opera with
an orchestral interlude, Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey. In musical terms it portrays
Siegfried beginning his journey along
the Rhine with Brünnhilde watching
and hearing his horn-call after he disappears
from sight.
The Berlin Philharmonic
must have played these chunks of Wagner
so many times in the past, that they
will have this music in their veins.
I haven’t enjoyed a recital like this
as much since the days of Karajan, and
here I would say that the controlled
elegance, sometimes out of character,
is replaced by an animal excitement
to which I cannot believe any true music
lover can fail to respond.
John Phillips
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Lorin Maazel