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Short Notes  

Notes On this recording   

  
After all the various issues of Furtw�ngler's 1950 La Scala Ring cycle over the years - elsewhere in his 1996 review quoted here Henry Fogel remarks: "when it was on the Everest and Murray Hill labels, it was unspeakably bad-including being at the wrong pitch" - the general opinion was that this was the better performance in much the worse sonic condition of the two recordings which exist of Furtw�ngler conducting the Ring. Thus far the reaction to our XR-remastered issues of this Ring Cycle have been exceptionally positive - particularly from those who've followed those various releases through since those first almost-unlistenable LP issues. When marking up the tracks for this release I used our previous issue of Furt�ngler's 1953 RAI Ring as a guide - and was repeatedly struck by just how much the better of the two the older recording sounded. By getting the pitching spot on (a clear 50Hz hum indicates the performance took place at A=446Hz) and trimming applause to a minimum, I've been able to fit each act onto a single disc, with the only cut being Furtw�ngler's own in Act 3. As in previous operas in the cycle, sound quality slips occasionally for a few seconds at a time - that aside it really does sound quite amazing.

Andrew Rose

 There are many fine Rings now available, so many that it is difficult for us to remember the groundbreaking, even historic nature of Solti's Decca cycle. In addition to a host of well-known commercial recordings there are many important live performances from Bayreuth (notably the remarkable 1953 cycle led by Clemens Krauss) and even a fascinating English-language set led by Reginald Goodall. Towering above all are the two complete cycles left in recorded form by Furtw�ngler, who began a commercial recording for EMI in 1954, but lived only to complete Die Walk�re. The La Scala performances reproduced here were fully staged at Italy's great opera house in 1950; then, in 1953, he was invited by the Italian Radio in Rome to do a studio broadcast performance without staging. For that cycle, each act of each opera was taped on a different day, with between two and four days of rest between tapings. Clearly, many conditions for a better Ring recording existed in Rome in 1953. No singer was tired out by Wagner's excessive demands, and the orchestra and conductor were also able to rest. In addition, Furtw�ngler could concern himself exclusively with musical matters, rather than dilute his attention with matters of staging. Also, as heard on EMI's CD edition, the original recorded sound of the 1953 Rome version is far superior to the Scala. The frequency response is extended at both ends of the spectrum so there is a far greater range of vocal and orchestral color, and the balances are better. In short, the recorded sound of the Rome performance is significantly more vivid, and that may be the most crucial point in its favor.

Many specifics of casting favor the 1953 Rome performance as well, most notably the role of Siegfried. Set Svanholm and an over-the-hill Max Lorenz share the role (Lorenz sings in G�tterd�mmerung) in the Scala performances, whereas Ludwig Suthaus is vocally and rhythmically stronger than both in the Rome set. The Rome Siegmund (Wolfgang Windgassen) is also more pleasing on the ear than Scala's G�nther Treptow, who at times seems to be pushing his leathery voice. Ferdinand Frantz is a strong Wotan in both performances, but he gets to sing the Siegfried Wanderer in the Rome set, whereas Josef Hermann, a less convincing artist with a less focused voice, takes that role at La Scala. And there is one more issue that favors Rome-the two lengthy cuts in the Scala performances. Furtw�ngler shortens Wotan's second-act monolog in Die Walk�re and the Siegfried-Wanderer confrontation in Siegfried (the scene described memorably by Anna Russell as Wotan playing "Twenty Questions" with Siegfried). While these are unquestionably disfiguring, I am not sure that most listeners will object as strongly as musicologists and Wagnerian purists will. Nonetheless, these cuts, plus the casting advantages and the superior sonics, have to give the edge to the 1953 Rome Ring on EMI.

And yet. . . and yet. . . there are those of us who just cannot let this Scala set go, cannot view it as superfluous. First, there is Kirsten Flagstad's glowing, brilliant, intense Br�nnhilde. By 1950 her top notes may have been frayed (she omits some important high Cs), but hers was one of the greatest Wagnerian voices of our century, and this document of her Br�nnhilde shows why. She pours out a river of glorious, thrilling sound, and she is more specific in her response to text and drama than she could sometimes be. To those who think of Flagstad as a hausfrau with a voice, this offers stunning refutation. Martha Modi, the Rome Br�nnhilde, may have also been an important and imaginative artist, but she was not blessed with this kind of vocal equipment, and there is no doubt of Flagstad's superiority in the role. In addition, one must note the superiority of the La Scala orchestra. Even though there are some signs of tiring at the conclusions of some of the operas (particularly in the string playing in Siegfried), the fact is that the Scala players are in another league from the Rome Radio forces. The string sections have an ensemble cohesiveness, a tonal solidity, missing in Rome. Individual Scala woodwind principals (and particularly the solo horn) play with more imagination and accuracy than their Rome RAI counterparts, and they convey an extra level of dramatic intensity when necessary, a level that is not quite there in Rome. Some of this has to do with the different natures of the performances themselves.

This Scala Ring is a staged performance, a true theatrical event. The Rome Ring is a conceit, actually a series of concerts. That difference affects everyone-Furtw�ngler, the singers, and the players. In this Scala performance, there is just that much more menace in the Fasolt and Fafner music, more fury in Wotan's outbursts, more passion in the love music between Siegfried and Br�nnhilde and between Siegmund and Sieglinde, and more tenderness in the orchestral and vocal expressions of Wotan's feelings for Br�nnhilde. The singing and the conducting all interact with the drama unfolding onstage, whereas in the Rome version, the performance is more considered, more thoughtful. "Considered" and "thoughtful" are qualities to be admired but they can also inhibit a full, emotional communication of a music drama. While on balance one has to recommend the Rome Ring, mostly because of its superior recorded sound, it is a difficult choice, and 1 guess I would say that if you think you can "hear through' ' the more constricted sound of the Scala version, if you can live with the inferior tenors, and if the opportunity to have access to Flagstad's Br�nnhilde is important to you, this might well be the edition to choose.

For those unfamiliar with Furtw�ngler's performance of Wagner's cycle, it is very difficult to put into words a description that does it justice. More than any conductor, he welds the diverse elements of the tetralogy into a unified whole. It is not only the logic of his tempo relationships, but the evenness of his transitions from one to the other, and the sense of preparation that each transition has, that creates this unity. The shaping of Wagner's melos is uniquely right; at the moment of listening, you feel that this is the only way it should go. The relationship between harmonic change and other interpretive choices is stronger than with other conductors-in fact it is harmonic motion that seems to generate adjustments in tempo, in dynamics, in texture, and balance. Most of all, Furtw�ngler's is a human Ring where the characters, even the gods, touch and move us on a very personal level. His tasteful but generous use of portamento effects in the string playing give the lyrical passages a uniquely strong emotional resonance. Perhaps John Ardoin put it best in The Furtw�ngler Record: "He leads us . . . toward the peaks of the Ring as surely as a painter composes a canvas to direct the eye to that element he wishes to stress. Furtw�ngler achieves this ideal without melodrama and exaggeration, but with humor, humanity, tenderness, a continual play of light and shadow, athletic energy, almost unbearable excitement at times, and a rich and varied feeling for orchestral detail and sonorities." Indeed, Wagner's Ring Cycle as conducted by Wilhelm Furtw�ngler is one of the supreme achievements of the age of audio recording, even though the performances were not intended for permanent recorded documentation. The flaws expected of any live performance of this cycle are present in both this and the 1953 Rome cycle, and the casting is not perfect, but anyone to whom this music matters should have a Furtw�ngler Ring in his collection, and we can be very grateful to Music & Arts for making this one available in a high-quality transfer and an economical, professional presentation.  

Henry Fogel, Fanfare, Nov/Dec 1996, excerpt