Dave's memory is incredible. Look at how he blazed through this massive box like lightning, knowing the particulars of each recording. Not having "dead air" in a presentation is the stuff of perfect RUclips engagement.
The best thing about all of your videos is that you teach us not to take the music or ourselves too seriously while still giving us very interesting critical insights into whatever you are discussing. Thank you.
As for the Ring, I refuse to choose just one. I have on my shelf Solti, Karajan, both Furtwanglers, and Kempe....and I love them all for different reasons.
I was waiting for this review. I have all the Ring on London's Japanese boxset and am extremely proud of it. I know nobody owning this beauty! The LPs are very well made and the sound quality is IMPRESSIVE even for a non-opera listener. A must-have! Especially on vinyl where you can find it the crates.
Just one tiny detail about The Ring in this box. This is the 1997 CD transfer, with a half-beat missing in Das Rheingold Scene 2 at Donner's entrance (not on the original LP). The error was corrected in the more vibrant 2012 CD remastering, and presumably the luxury 2023 edition which I have not heard.
In his autobiography "Putting the Record Straight," John Culshaw explained how Fritz Uhl got the part of Tristan. Originally it was supposed to be Wolfgang Windgassen, but he was still under exclusive contract to Deutsche Grammophon, and Culshaw asked Birgit Nilsson to wait a month until his DGG contract expired. Nilsson said that because of her other commitments, if she didn't make the record in that time window she'd have to wait a whole year. Then Culshaw offered it to Jon Vickers, who didn't yet know the role and wasn't willing to learn it. (A Nilsson/Vickers "Tristan" under studio conditions … sigh.) Culshaw then went on an audition tour of European opera houses to look for a suitable tenor, and found Uhl, whose only other record that I know of is a broadcast of Busoni's (not Puccini's!) "Turandot."
If Culshaw had only listened to Met broadcasts he would have heard a much better contemporaneous Tristan in Karl Liebl. Ramon Vinay was also still singing the part. Not the most beautiful voice but he knew his way around it from long experience.
I don't know if it's worth a chat but I am wondering how you feel about Domingo does Wagner. I think it falls under the "seemed like a good idea at the time" but hasn't aged all that well category, along with no vibrato and conducting multiple versions of symphonic works despite having nothing new to say.
However much one loves Domingo in repertoire, where he understands what he is singing about (to mention, but a few examples: Forza and Aida under Muti, Rigoletto/Giulini, Traviata/Kleiber, Don Carlos/Carlo under respectively Giulini/Abbado, and lastly his glorious contribution to the live Andrea Chénier (dvd) from Vienna with the equally stunning Benačkova and Capucilli under Nello Santi), it's difficult to muster any kind of excitement or, for that matter, any other kind of positive feelings about his Lohengrin. We don't need David to tell us what a horrendous and erroneous piece of miscasting, we are encountering here. I guess you could argue, that Domingo is vocalizing the notes of the score beautifully, however, you would have to look far, very far, to find more generic and dramatically uninvolved singing. Worst of all in Wagner, it's painfully clear, that Domingo doesn't understand the words, he is singing - and that he can't be well acquainted, if at all, with the German language. His pronunciation is so bad and unidiomatic, that it's clear for anyone with just a rudimentary knowledge of German, and ears to hear, that we are in troubled waters. I would almost dare to wager a months salary, that he is singing the text from a phonetic transcription. Jessye Norman sings in her usual voluptuous way, and with a much keener understanding of the text. Personally, I would prefer the part taken by a 'Jugendlich-Dramatische' soprano of the Austro-German school with their slightly more 'kühl' and instrumentally carried voices and, at their best, with the diction and textual understanding of a Lied-singer. Two outstanding exponents of this tradition in the latter half of the last century were Gundula Janowitz (Kubelik) and Elisabeth Grümmer (both the iconic studio recording under Kempe,, EMI, and live from Bayreuth, 1959, under Matačić, with Grümmer even more radiant and youthfull sounding, Orfeo). And for our American friends: Eleanor Stener, was no slouch, either, in the 1953, live recording from Bayreuth, splendidly conducted by Keilberth.
I got the Tannhauser for something like $2 on clearance and like the sound of it overall. I'm not an opera gatekeeper type, though, and my ignorance of German and of "proper" opera singing in general just allows me to wallow in enjoyment of the music.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge You can wallow in your guilty pleasure without a hint of remorse or regret: Solti's Tannhäuser is one of the reference recordings of the work. Kollo as the eponymous broken hero might not be everybody's dream of a Tannhäuser, but he is turning in one of his better performances. The rest of the fast ranges from better than good and reliable to exquisitly splendid. The latter superlatives apply to the inimitable Christa Ludwig, whose 1. act portrail of Venus is unbeatable - she excells in her portrail of the seductive - and when called for, vile temptress!
Sadly, this seems rather unavailable at the moment. I got Barenboim's almost-all-Wagner-in-a-box as a second-best to get me through until they re-issue this in some form.
Dave... ... I wish that I had bought this thing new back in 2013, which was released by Becca at the time to mark the Wagner birthday bicentennial. Now, and no one can touch it for less than $150.00, abused! Daye, it looks like your review is likely to be as close as I'm getting to it, unless Deccs does the unthinkable end re-releases it. Cheers!
Ludwig should have had a stunt screamer for Kundry. Some recordings and performances do for Klytemnestra. I think Solti is the first conductor, and still one of the few, to do the complete Wagner canon on records.
Much as I find a lot to admire about the Solti Tannhäuser, the Paris version invariably disappoints me (in distinction to the Dresden version, which I find musically and dramatically more compelling). My major criticisms of the Paris version include its truncation of the magnificent overture, its somewhat boring and stylistically incongruous ballet music, and its shortening of the dramatically central Sängerkrieg scene in act two. I know one can’t argue about taste, but I wish there were more recordings and performances of the Dresden version available.
The Dresden version is definitely more consistent in style. The Paris version is more of a mishmash, though I admit to enjoying the Tristanesque Venusberg ballet music. The elimination of Walther's only aria is regrettable. The Sängerkrieg has more dramatic tension in the Dresden version.
@@grafplatenI agree with you, even though I’m not as enthusiastic about the ballet music as you are (for an erotic operatic ballet, I’ll take the one from Samson and Delilah over the one from the Paris version of Tannhäuser any day). The Paris ballet may be musically “Tristanesque,” but I can’t imagine seeing a ballet sequence in Tristan und Isolde😉.
Re: Tannhäuser: As you say, it's all about the singers. To put it politely, Dernesch is an acquired taste, and after I first heard her as Isolde with HvK, I've stayed away...
Dave's memory is incredible. Look at how he blazed through this massive box like lightning, knowing the particulars of each recording. Not having "dead air" in a presentation is the stuff of perfect RUclips engagement.
Thank you. It also helps your fluidity when you have to go to the bathroom desperately.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Haha. As a fellow old man, I can identify.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge Tell me about it. I'm older than either of you.
The best thing about all of your videos is that you teach us not to take the music or ourselves too seriously while still giving us very interesting critical insights into whatever you are discussing. Thank you.
As for the Ring, I refuse to choose just one. I have on my shelf Solti, Karajan, both Furtwanglers, and Kempe....and I love them all for different reasons.
I was waiting for this review. I have all the Ring on London's Japanese boxset and am extremely proud of it. I know nobody owning this beauty! The LPs are very well made and the sound quality is IMPRESSIVE even for a non-opera listener. A must-have! Especially on vinyl where you can find it the crates.
Bought mine in 1980.
I was lucky to find it on sale back in 2015. Laid solid groundwork for my discovery of Wagner.
Just one tiny detail about The Ring in this box. This is the 1997 CD transfer, with a half-beat missing in Das Rheingold Scene 2 at Donner's entrance (not on the original LP). The error was corrected in the more vibrant 2012 CD remastering, and presumably the luxury 2023 edition which I have not heard.
Donner never did like that half a beat.
Nor did he like Solti's beat, but that's another story!
In his autobiography "Putting the Record Straight," John Culshaw explained how Fritz Uhl got the part of Tristan. Originally it was supposed to be Wolfgang Windgassen, but he was still under exclusive contract to Deutsche Grammophon, and Culshaw asked Birgit Nilsson to wait a month until his DGG contract expired. Nilsson said that because of her other commitments, if she didn't make the record in that time window she'd have to wait a whole year. Then Culshaw offered it to Jon Vickers, who didn't yet know the role and wasn't willing to learn it. (A Nilsson/Vickers "Tristan" under studio conditions … sigh.) Culshaw then went on an audition tour of European opera houses to look for a suitable tenor, and found Uhl, whose only other record that I know of is a broadcast of Busoni's (not Puccini's!) "Turandot."
Wasn’t Fritz Uhl “our Sigfried?”
If Culshaw had only listened to Met broadcasts he would have heard a much better contemporaneous Tristan in Karl Liebl. Ramon Vinay was also still singing the part. Not the most beautiful voice but he knew his way around it from long experience.
I don't know if it's worth a chat but I am wondering how you feel about Domingo does Wagner. I think it falls under the "seemed like a good idea at the time" but hasn't aged all that well category, along with no vibrato and conducting multiple versions of symphonic works despite having nothing new to say.
However much one loves Domingo in repertoire, where he understands what he is singing about (to mention, but a few examples: Forza and Aida under Muti, Rigoletto/Giulini, Traviata/Kleiber, Don Carlos/Carlo under respectively Giulini/Abbado, and lastly his glorious contribution to the live Andrea Chénier (dvd) from Vienna with the equally stunning Benačkova and Capucilli under Nello Santi), it's difficult to muster any kind of excitement or, for that matter, any other kind of positive feelings about his Lohengrin.
We don't need David to tell us what a horrendous and erroneous piece of miscasting, we are encountering here. I guess you could argue, that Domingo is vocalizing the notes of the score beautifully, however, you would have to look far, very far, to find more generic and dramatically uninvolved singing. Worst of all in Wagner, it's painfully clear, that Domingo doesn't understand the words, he is singing - and that he can't be well acquainted, if at all, with the German language. His pronunciation is so bad and unidiomatic, that it's clear for anyone with just a rudimentary knowledge of German, and ears to hear, that we are in troubled waters. I would almost dare to wager a months salary, that he is singing the text from a phonetic transcription.
Jessye Norman sings in her usual voluptuous way, and with a much keener understanding of the text. Personally, I would prefer the part taken by a 'Jugendlich-Dramatische' soprano of the Austro-German school with their slightly more 'kühl' and instrumentally carried voices and, at their best, with the diction and textual understanding of a Lied-singer.
Two outstanding exponents of this tradition in the latter half of the last century were Gundula Janowitz (Kubelik) and Elisabeth Grümmer (both the iconic studio recording under Kempe,, EMI, and live from Bayreuth, 1959, under Matačić, with Grümmer even more radiant and youthfull sounding, Orfeo). And for our American friends: Eleanor Stener, was no slouch, either, in the 1953, live recording from Bayreuth, splendidly conducted by Keilberth.
I got the Tannhauser for something like $2 on clearance and like the sound of it overall. I'm not an opera gatekeeper type, though, and my ignorance of German and of "proper" opera singing in general just allows me to wallow in enjoyment of the music.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge You can wallow in your guilty pleasure without a hint of remorse or regret: Solti's Tannhäuser is one of the reference recordings of the work. Kollo as the eponymous broken hero might not be everybody's dream of a Tannhäuser, but he is turning in one of his better performances. The rest of the fast ranges from better than good and reliable to exquisitly splendid. The latter superlatives apply to the inimitable Christa Ludwig, whose 1. act portrail of Venus is unbeatable - she excells in her portrail of the seductive - and when called for, vile temptress!
Sadly, this seems rather unavailable at the moment. I got Barenboim's almost-all-Wagner-in-a-box as a second-best to get me through until they re-issue this in some form.
As second-bests go, the "almost-all Wagner" Barenboim is a pretty good deal.
Dave...
... I wish that I had bought this thing new back in 2013, which was released by Becca at the time to mark the Wagner birthday bicentennial. Now, and no one can touch it for less than $150.00, abused!
Daye, it looks like your review is likely to be as close as I'm getting to it, unless Deccs does the unthinkable end re-releases it. Cheers!
Ludwig should have had a stunt screamer for Kundry. Some recordings and performances do for Klytemnestra.
I think Solti is the first conductor, and still one of the few, to do the complete Wagner canon on records.
On the question of box reviews - would you be willing to add the Henryk Szeryng Decca box to your (I’m sure already quite lengthy) list?
Much as I find a lot to admire about the Solti Tannhäuser, the Paris version invariably disappoints me (in distinction to the Dresden version, which I find musically and dramatically more compelling). My major criticisms of the Paris version include its truncation of the magnificent overture, its somewhat boring and stylistically incongruous ballet music, and its shortening of the dramatically central Sängerkrieg scene in act two. I know one can’t argue about taste, but I wish there were more recordings and performances of the Dresden version available.
I think they're both stupid, so I go with the Paris version for exactly the reasons you like it less.
The Dresden version is definitely more consistent in style. The Paris version is more of a mishmash, though I admit to enjoying the Tristanesque Venusberg ballet music. The elimination of Walther's only aria is regrettable. The Sängerkrieg has more dramatic tension in the Dresden version.
@@DavesClassicalGuidewe’ll have to agree to disagree, since I absolutely adore Tannhäuser.
@@grafplatenI agree with you, even though I’m not as enthusiastic about the ballet music as you are (for an erotic operatic ballet, I’ll take the one from Samson and Delilah over the one from the Paris version of Tannhäuser any day). The Paris ballet may be musically “Tristanesque,” but I can’t imagine seeing a ballet sequence in Tristan und Isolde😉.
Solti is for me a miracle worker in Wagner. Which is to say he makes Wagner tolerable for me.
Re: Tannhäuser: As you say, it's all about the singers. To put it politely, Dernesch is an acquired taste, and after I first heard her as Isolde with HvK, I've stayed away...