Recordings of opera
are both the most problematical and
expensive; the first £1 million recording
was by Decca of a Richard Strauss opera
conducted by Solti! Observers outside
the industry can only assume that in
planning opera recordings, A and R departments
are not only concerned with the company’s
catalogue and artists’ preferences.
They must surely plan for the each recording
to join the rather short list of ‘greats’
and thus reap a good chance of a good
return on the investment. However, perversity
often intervenes. Typical examples include
the illness of a singer (before ‘after’
dubbing), a star who develops vocal
problems between contract and recording,
being typical examples. On the other
hand other recordings achieve fame with
little or no forward planning; the Beecham
‘New York’ Bohème being an example.
Certainly what was originally planned
here was intended to be a ‘great’. Look
at the choice of conductor and cast
and this was after all to be the very
first complete recording of a ‘Ring’
opera. The original intention was to
record the work in Berlin. However after
the Nazis took power in 1933 Schorr,
the putative Wotan, List and Bruno Walter,
as Jews, became persona non-grata. The
recording venue was moved to Vienna
and Act I and part of Act II were set
down before logistical and budgetary
problems held up progress. By the time
these had been resolved the Anschluss
(annexation of Austria by Germany) had
driven Walter to America. Act II was
completed in Berlin under the baton
of Bruno Seidler-Winkler who, Tully
Potter suggests in his sleeve note,
was influential in the casting of the
young Hans Hotter as Wotan. (Hotter
would succeed Schorr as the great Wotan
of his generation, but at the time of
the recording he had not sung the part
on stage). The project was never completed
and thus a ‘great’ recording was thwarted.
It is, however, interesting to conjecture
if John Culshaw would have attempted
to persuade Decca to embark on its mighty
‘Complete Ring Project’ if HMV had been
first on the scene with a complete Walküre
with the likes of Walter at the helm.
Of such accidents and influences recording
history is made.
Mark Obert-Thorn’s
restoration is immensely impressive
with the sound forward, clear and pure.
There is a warm resonance; the string
solo that follows Siegmund’s opening
phrases, and Sieglinde’s response, (at
2.40 min to 3.48 min of CD 1 tr. 2)
is an excellent indication of this fine
quality. Bruno Walter keeps the drama
moving with a light touch whilst drawing
refined playing from the Vienna Phil.,
the depth of the recording allowing
full appreciation of the quality orchestral
playing. Walter’s lyrical touch, in
no way Teutonic, allows his singers
to phrase with grace and bring meaning
to that phrasing. Melchior can be heard
in all his vocal glory, his range free
to the top of the voice, as he seeks
the means of fighting Hunding (CD 1
tr. 8). As his twin, and incestuous
lover, Sieglinde, Lotte Lehmann is equally
impressive, light voiced, expressive
and ardent as she responds to his entreaties
(CD 1 tr. 9). Lehmann made her New York
‘Met’ debut the year before this recording
and it was there she made this part
very much her own. She can also be heard
as Sieglinde on the Guild label’s conflation
of 1940 broadcasts, reviewed elsewhere
on this site. On that Guild issue
Lehmann is not in as fresh a voice as
here, but that issue does have the glorious
silver soaring tones of Flagstad as
Brünnhilde, whilst here Marta Fuchs
is not in the same league. She has a
heavier tone and less well defined diction,
which is a strength of the rest of the
cast including the steady-toned List
as Hunding, and the young Hotter, whose
voice is firm and true with an even
nut-brown centre. Wotan’s confrontation
with the Fricka of Margareta Klose is
awesome (CD 1 trs. 14-16 and CD 2 trs.
1-3) and this scene would be the highlight
of this Act II were it not for the fact
that Hotter is so good in his following
dialogue with Brünnhilde (CD 2
tr. 4-7). His singing may not be as
expressive or insightful as for Solti
twenty odd years later, but his richness
of tone, allied to a steady unforced
top, and fine legato, without a hint
of a wobble, have their own virtue.
The only regret is that this scene,
like others parts of the recording,
is subject to the ‘usual’ cuts operative
at the time.
Had this recording
gone as planned it would have been an
all-time great of the gramophone, but
political extremism and racism got in
the way. Nowhere in the world is it
possible to hear Wagner singing of this
quality today. Let’s be grateful for
what is preserved, and so well remastered
in this issue, and enjoy the pleasures
to be had.
Robert J Farr
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Bruno Walter; Berlin
State Opera Orchestra/Bruno Seidler-Winkler 