I have long known about
the live recording of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung
from Covent Garden in 1936 conducted
by Sir Thomas Beecham. Tantalising fragments
from Act 2 appeared on LP during the
early 1970s but this 2 CD set from Guild
is the first time I have come across
an attempt to assemble all the surviving
recordings.
What we have here is
a recording of the end of Act 1 (Hagen’s
monologue to close) and the entire Act
2 from Beecham’s performance; though
the transfer engineers have had to patch
in bits of other performances by the
same singers as the final disc covering
the end of Act 1 and the opening of
Act 2 have not survived adequately.
The Brünnhilde
here is Frida Leider, one of the great
Brünnhildes of the inter-war period.
Guild have included Leider’s 1928 Berlin
account of the Immolation scene which
provides a satisfying conclusion to
the Götterdämmerung excerpts.
Sir Thomas Beecham
is not currently best known for his
Wagner conducting partly because Wagner
featured less in his post-war discography.
But during the inter-war years he conducted
significant Wagner operas both at Covent
Garden and with his own opera company.
The recording of Tristan und Isolde,
recorded live at Covent Garden in 1937,
has existed on the fringes of the catalogue
for some time though its influence is
somewhat compromised by EMI’s efforts
at issuing the set when they mixed up
Beecham and Fritz Reiner discs and ended
up producing a set which was a collage
of the work of both conductors. Götterdämmerung
was recorded live at Covent Garden
in 1936 on two different dates with
different casts, so that we hear two
Hagens.
Beecham’s Wagner is
notable for its fleetness and flexibility,
and it is good to have a record of his
Götterdämmerung no
matter how fragmentary. The transfer
quality varies from poor to surprisingly
good. These discs are never going to
be ideal performances but with patience
they open up a magical window onto the
past. Here we can eavesdrop on a performance
which took place at Covent Garden nearly
seventy years ago. The cast is a fine
one; besides Leider, Lauritz Melchior
is an incomparable Siegfried, Emmanuel
List and Ludwig Weber share Hagen and
Kerstin Thorborg is a passionate Waltraute.
Though Leider is associated
with the role of Brünnhilde in
the inter-war years, she was in fact
not much older than Kirsten Flagstad,
a singer with whom she has some vocal
qualities in common. Leider presents
a focused, flexible vocal line which
only seems to lack Flagstad’s gleaming
power. But at such a distant remove
from the performance it is now difficult
to really asses the size of Leider’s
voice, at least on the basis of these
records. What is undoubtedly true is
that her Brünnhilde is beautifully
shapely and passionate. She has a wonderful
sense of line and presents Brünnhilde
as shapely, womanly and feminine; still
powerful and implacable but not quite
the warrior maiden. It must be admitted
that the orchestra does tend to dominate
her voice and this is, in fact, a very
orchestra-led recording. There is also
a certain snatched quality to some of
her high notes, but her legato is lovely.
Melchior’s Siegfried
is open and noble and he makes a fine
pairing with Leider. He does not seem
to have been in the best of voices and
his upper register sounds a little effortful.
But Melchior, even when not at his best,
is still considerable. List and Weber
are both powerful as Hagen and Herbert
Janssen’s Gunther is suitably vile.
Whilst Beecham’s Götterdämmerung
is not really shaped into paragraphs
it is undoubtedly superbly dramatic
and propelled along with a wonderful
impetus. The conclusion to Act 2 is
glorious.
The Berlin Immolation
scene sees Leider projecting Brünnhilde
with a slightly lighter voice but the
balance with the orchestra is better
than in the Covent Garden recording.
This means that her top gleams properly
and she rightly dominates.
Guild have also included
further excerpts from Die Walküre
and Siegfried which Leider recorded
in Berlin in 1927, enabling us to start
to put together a more balance view
of her Brünnhilde.
These discs are the
fascinating torso of a performance,
recorded at a time when live recording
of complete operas at Covent Garden
was still in its infancy, but they remain
essential listening.
Robert Hugill
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
Orchestra and Chorus of Royal Opera House Covent
Garden/Sir Thomas Beecham (1) 
