Naxos have been here before: twenty-plus years ago they released
two volumes of Wagner entitled 'Orchestral Highlights from Operas',
as well as orchestral highlights from The Ring - each recording
by a different ensemble and conductor (8.550136, 8.550498, 8.550221).
More recently, Naxos Historical have issued Wilhelm Furtwängler's
own recordings of similar material (8.111348,
8.110997).
None of the aforementioned were of the greatest quality, either
in terms of sound or - Furtwängler aside - performance,
and perhaps therein lies Naxos's motivation for three new albums,
of which this is the first, with two and three released more
or less in tandem. The problem is, these recordings are of the
same vintage, and suffer from similar technical problems. These
are all old Delos recordings, by the way - most of the tracks
in the three Naxos volumes can be heard on a 3-CD boxed set
released in the mid-1990s (DE 3182).
Sound is not bad by any means. There is pretty good stereo and
the different sections of the orchestra are generally well defined
- Schwarz's direction playing a role too in that regard. Yet
there is minor sound distortion in the louder sections of most
of the works, and overall the audio often has a rather thin,
muddy/lossy quality, again most noticeable in the higher-volume
sections. In other words, whether audio is impressive enough
to warrant a rescue of these recordings from the vaults is debatable
- especially when there are still quite a few old Delos discs
in circulation. On the other hand, Naxos now own the copyright
for these recordings, so once the originals have all been taken,
this reissue may well be worth another look.
Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony have recorded prolifically
for Naxos over the years, especially American repertoire - although
their recent Rimsky-Korsakov volumes are particularly praiseworthy
(8.572693,
8.572787,
8.572788).
Whether they have quite the right temperament for Wagner's deeply
serious music is a moot point, and their readings here, for
all their technical assurance, are just a little lacking in
pathos. For all but devout Wagnerites, however, they would still
suffice as introductions to the master orchestrator. Yet in
the final reckoning, with so many alternatives in the huge Wagner
discography, sound quality is just not good enough for this
volume to merit a place on the shelf.
The booklet notes are detailed, but amounting to no more than
a gallant attempt to summarise the 'plot' of Der Ring. Written
by veteran annotator Keith Anderson, the text is probably as
old as the recordings.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
see also review by Rob
Maynard
Seattle Symphony/Gerard Schwarz 