WAGNER PORTRAIT
Richard WAGNER (1813-83)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Fanget an!; Am stillen
Herd; Morgenlich leuchtend.
Die Walküre - Ein Schwert verliess mir den Vater; Dich selige
Frau; Winterstürme; Siegmund heiss'ich.
Parsifal - Anfortas! Diw Wunde!l; Nur eine Waffe taugt.
Tannhaüser - Hör an, Wolfram! Hör an!.
Rienzi - Allmächt'ger Vater.
Lohengrin - Höchtes Vertrau'n; In fernem Land; Mein lieber
Schwan!.
Robert Dean Smith (tenor);
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava/Ivan Anguélov
Recorded December 8th-13th, 2000, Slovak Radio Concert Hall, Bratislava.
ARTE NOVA VOICES 74321
81176-2 [DDD]
[76.49]
Crotchet
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Amazon
recommendations
Robert Dean Smith is due to sing the role of Siegmund in Walküre
at Bayreuth this year, according to his biography, where he will also take
on Walther von Stolzing and Lohengrin (he made his debut there in 1997 as
Walther). This disc should act as an indicator of his talents, and what is
revealed is a generally intelligent singer, not blessed with either
earth-shattering beauty of tone or great insight. Smith is of generally lyric
bent. His legato is smooth and his sound pleasing (all three of the
Meistersinger excerpts confirm this), and he is capable of generating
a certain amount of voltage when required. However it has to be said that
the Bratislava orchestra's contribution under Anguélov is distinctly
under-powered and seems almost at times to sabotage Smith's efforts. The
most blatant example of this is Siegmund's cries of 'Nothung' in Act One
of Walküre, where tension drops just at the critical moment:
similarly, the orchestra damps the elation of the revelation of Siegmund's
name, a turning point in the act.
Another name-revealing casualty comes in the Lohengrin excerpts. The
moment Lohengrin owns up to his own name is of cataclysmic importance to
this piece: here its consequence is cruelly belittled.
Any singer in any opera has to convince the audience that he/she is actually
feeling the emotions the composer/librettist is describing at any given time.
Thus, when Parsifal seems to feel Amfortas' wound in the Seduction Scene
from Act Two of that music-drama, the listener should be able to envisage
the pain-transferrence. Far from it: here it is hard to believe that this
Parsifal is anything more than even mildly hurt.
There seems little point in recommending this recital in any way, as the
record catalogues are littered with accounts of this wonderful music which
really do remind us that Wagner is one of the greatest composers that ever
lived (arguably second only to Beethoven). Smith and Anguélov seem
to set out to deny this.
Colin Clarke
