Search - Wagner, Windgassen, Sawallisch :: Tannhauser

The "Supreme" TANNHAUSER?.......YOU BET! ! ! !

Gregory E. Foster | Portland, ME, USA | 05/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As I am the first to review this recording, and in addition since it is out of print, currently, I feel sort of strange writing this material.



Perhaps I should start with some comparative information on the better known, "available", recordings.



First, the Decca release, conducted by Solti, featuring Dernesch, Ludwig, Kollo, Bailey, Jungwirth, Hollweg, Braun, and Sotin is just wonderful, and I am not going to try and kid you about it. It is a landmark recording. Period. (Make sure you get the remastered edition.)



Second, the DG release with Sinopoli, Studer, Baltsa, Domingo, Salminen, Schmidt is also great. But, as beautiful as his voice is, Domingo's German just isn't "right", it doesn't "flow" as it should. Sinopoli, who's tragic death a few years ago still "stuns" me when I think of the great loss we suffer in his absence in the great houses of the world, and also in the studio, recording more "masterpiece" recordings. Everything the man touched was simply "the best" so to speak. So, I'm not knocking this recording, either.



There is another recording, that I am as yet unfamiliar with, which is the DG one with the Vienna State Opera and cast members Brouwenstijn, Ludwig, Beirer, Wachter, Frick, and Kmentt, with von Karajan conducting. I would assume it is admirable, and will make add'l notations here after I have heard it.



BUT, the subject of this review is of the Philips recording, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch, at the Bayreuth Festival, 1962. Cast is Bumbry, Silja, Windgassen, Greindl, Waechter, Stolze, Paskuda, Nienstedt. This recording was issued as part of the Richard Wagner Edition by Philips in the 90's and, SADLY, is out of print at the moment. Of all the many recordings of Tannhauser that I have heard over the last 40 years, this one is the most satisfying and the most thrilling to listen to. Is it "played better"?...perhaps. This is not just the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, this is the Festival Orchestra under Sawallisch's deft, loving, touch. Knappertsbusch, Keilberth, Sawallisch, Bohm. These guys were the ones who shone the most consistantly in the 50's and 60's "on the hill". The singers....are they better than those on the other recordings?...maybe, maybe not, marginally??? Yes in all cases. I think what really makes this recording so special is that these people have worked together, both in rehearsals, and live on stage in many performances as a unit, and they cohesively "fit"....unlike singers brought into a studio to record their parts and then are sent away. This recording "breathes", it has a "heartbeat", it is Magic. The audio quality?...well, it is a live recording, which has pro's and con's. Some places are a little soft or unfocused aurally, but in truth, these are made up for by the "electric" nature of live interaction of characters. Even with it's minor shortcoming(s), I place it solidly above the others when I want to hear a truly awesome recording of this most beautiful, tragic-romantic opera. If I want to hear "voices in the studio" I turn to the others. If ever you see this recording, even a used copy, trust my judgement and advice, and snap it up immediately. (Good luck in your search for a copy of this truly magnificent performance, lead by Wolfgang Sawallisch, one of the finest conductors of Wagner since the War.)"

Critic No. 2 here

Bertrand Stclair | new york, new york United States | 04/26/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, here I am, only the second reviewer of this recording, and already in disagreement with the first one. I don't think this is the "supreme" Tannhäuser, although it is by no means bad. The fact that it competes well proves, rather than its intrinsic merit, that the competition isn't all that much - the truly great Tannhäuser has yet to be recorded. Perhaps that is so for most, even all, of Wagner's work, because each recording has many qualities and many faults (see my review of Konwitschny's Dresden version of this opera). That does not mean you shouldn't hear this version, perhaps even own it, especially if you know in advance that you will keep exploring until you acquire something that pleases you better. You will surely like it - as I do - but with reservations.

The recording does have some of that electricity the "critic No. 1" has mentioned, endemic to live recordings (good ones, anyway) that one can grow to depend on so much that even superior but unatmospheric studio recordings become unsatisfactory. However, it is also extremely dry and boxed in sonically, to the point that from the very first bars you wonder whether this is a version you hadn't been aware of - one in which Sawallisch, for some reason, decided to eliminate a few instruments. This is by no means a majestic rendition, nor is majesty often expected from the "sunken" Bayreuth orchestra; by contrast, the pilgrims' choir is majestic indeed, and profoundly moving; they, lucky them, are not in the pit but up on the stage. This is how Wagner wanted it, convinced that his tales were to be prominent and his music mere support to them, which brings up another discussion: does the author always know best?

More important perhaps, is the fact that almost none of the voices are stellar here, although they are all more than adequate. I say "almost," because Windgassen, in the title role, is the exception. He isn't perfect; he sounds as weary in the beginning and during his wild-and-woolly behavior in the singers' hall as he does in the end, when he is ready to give up and die. Nevertheless, the voice is beautiful, technically without reproach, and, in the final scenes, gutwrenching.

No such luck with the others. Grace Bumbry is a shrieky, quarrelsome Venus who disturbs rather than seduces, a nagging wife instead of a lascivious goddess of love. Anja Silja, as Elisabeth, is, like Windgassen, a superb "vocal actress" (one can visualize her on stage) but her voice is too small, with a rapid vibrato, and ultimately just undistinguished. Greindl, Waechter, and Stolze, as the Landgrave, Wolfram, and Walther, respectively, are all subpar, singers with voices that sound past their prime (whether they were or not) and variously either shaky or downright wobbly.

The whole works well because, as the critic No. 1 pointed out, there is a sense of a well-rehearsed and fully involved group of artists who worked together like a Swiss watch; Sawallisch is a masterful conductor, one of the best. So, should you compare this recording to many others, you will find, to your surprise, that although you may object to the same things as I've outlined here, it stands its ground against many more refined studio efforts. But should you pursue this recording madly because it's out of print and therefore quickly acquiring a mythical aura, and, if you find it, should you pay some exorbitant price for it as a collector's item: I would say firmly, no!



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Silja and Windgassen have chemistry

Theodore Shulman | NYC | 05/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well I do not love this opera as much as others--I enjoy it mostly by thinking of it as a first draft of MEISTERSINGER--but this recording is as close as I get to loving it. I do love Act II. Silja is a much more reasonable partner for Windgassen than the Brunhildes he had to face--Nilsson, Varnay, Grob-Prandl. With Silja he's evenly matched and they duet nicely, with passion and precision such as you might expect to hear in the about-to-be-tortured-to-death duet in ENTFUEHRUNG. Silja's just gorgeous, flirtatious, touching. Like Diane Keaton in the early Woody Allen flicks. ("I guess you could say I'm half saint, half whore!") Windgassen plays up his character's curiosity and anxiety very well. All the singing-contestants act honestly and balance each other. Walther von der VogelWeide sounds fussy; Biterolf sounds tough. Greindl is magnificent, the choruses are strong, and Eberhard Waechter delivers a fine workmanlike Wolfram.



Whatever Sawallisch may lack in majesty he makes up for with crisp, unpretentious conducting.



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