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I've read the reviews. Many think the performance is underrated, others think it's too slow, (I like Goodall's "slow" Ring Cycle, and his taste in voices), others think it's fascinating in parts.
Furtwangler has been my favorite for years but time for a refreshing change.
I'm also pretty familiar with Price/Klieber on DGG, ( likeable ) and Solti's, (laughable). The classic Bohm/Nilsson has always left me cold.
We'll see!
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Tristan und Isolde represents that one Wagner opera I have never been able to really crack, even though I have seen it live and also own quite few recordings (Furtwangler, Solti, Bohm, Kleiber, Janowski, Pappano). One that I probably should own is the Karajan, since I am such a Vickers fan, although it garners mixed reviews.
Goodall is not the only fascist on this list of conductors. Bohm was considered to be quite the supporter of national socialism, and Karajan was a party member until, oddly enough, 1942 (when he married a woman with Jewish ancestry). OK, old information.
IMHO it's hard to mess that portion up, as long as soprano and tenor tone other down a bit, something Nilsson couldn't seem to do.Where Furt scores for me is making the other acts interesting. He's seriously the master of the ebb and flow and the Philharmonia is a force a nature. They "become" the ocean.
Non lp enthusiasts are going to laugh, but the early uk pressings are best and most involving. I buy every copy I find. The HMV black label is the last of the "immersive" pressings.
Edits: 07/18/16
Although he was apparently not a party member, his relationship with Hitler and the Nazis was one of opportunism, as he fell into positions vacated by other conductors who fled once the Nazis came to power. In the 1970's, he wrote an extremely self-serving biography, "Ich erinnere mich ganz genau" (something like "I remember [things] exactly"), in which he condemned the Nazis and tried to make it appear as if he had always opposed them - something which the facts (freely available online) contradict.
Unlike Goodall though, Bohm WAS a great conductor IMHO. His performance of Strauss's "Die Frau ohne Schatten" at San Francisco Opera in the 70's was one of the great experiences of my whole musical life. His first VPO recording of Beethoven's Ninth (the one with Gwyneth Jones et al) is also magnificent - a perfect example of how a great performance can be achieved with moderate, middle-of-the-road tempos.
I can't think of one performance of his that's a stand out. Expedient, yes; a friend of Strauss, yes; but so safe and middle of the road!
I have owned a lot of Ormandy records over the years, and even saw him live once. With the amount of recording he did, there are bound to be a few worthy recordings, but they are few and far between, IMO. In general, his conducting can be described as prosaic. I find Dutoit to be much more interesting.
Being the somewhat compulsive collector I am, I managed to acquire the complete Franklin Mint Great Conductors series last year after becoming aware that it even existed when I came across two volumes in a used book store in Oakland (we were waiting to get into Fenton's for lunch on Mothers' Day). There were 15 volumes in total, featuring some of the more prolific conductors of the day circa 1980, each with five LPs. There are some surprise omissions - no Bernstein, no Karajan, and no Bohm - he passed away before they could get to him, I suspect. But Eugene is there, and sad to say, it is one of the volumes of lesser interest.
The major surprise to me was how good the Leinsdorf set was.....I had him pegged as another boring conductor, but they chose his selections well, including a mid-60s Mahler 1 that had appeared on Phase 4 - quite a good reading.
Yes - that was my point! ;-)(And I think it was jdaniel's point too.)
Edits: 07/19/16
Your first point is that Ormandy was a boring conductor. Your second point is that Dutoit is the Ormandy of Canada. Full agreement on the first, but not on the second.
Google Translate has it as "I remember exactly", although my truly very rusty German renders it as a much more emphatic phrase than that.
I also heard Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the SF Opera in the late 70s - with King, Nilsson and Rysanek - but the conductor lodged in my memory is either Adler himself or Berislav Klobucar, of whom Nilsson was particularly fond. Think it was Klobucar, at least the performance I heard - Bohm would have been pretty far along then.
I haven't cared that much for his conducting, although at an early age, his recording of Mozart's 39th symphony was important to me. Last fall, I picked up his mid-70's set of Beethoven symphonies, and found it quite lumpen - uninspired readings, IMO. Never liked what I heard of his Ring - found it quite without repose. Neutral response to his Fidelio. Interesting when you read something like "The Rough Guide to Opera" where he comes across as somewhat of a hero.
According to the SF Opera archives, the Bohm performances were in 1976 and featured Leonie Rysanek as the Empress, Matti Kastu as the Emperor, Ursula Schroder-Feinen as Barak's Wife, and Walter Berry as Barak. This was the one my wife and I saw. (We were given a pair of tickets at literally the last second!) Bohm also conducted the work at the Met around this time and his performances (evidently) were so outstanding that they were mentioned in his NY Times obituary.
Ursula Schroder-Feinen as Barak's Wife in the 1976 SF Opera Production
The next time that "Frau ohne Schatten" was performed in SF was in 1980 and featured Leonie Rysanek as the Empress (Eva Marton sang this role in one performance from this run), James King as the Emperor, Birgit Nilsson as Barak's Wife, and Gerd Feldhoff as Barak. The conductor was Berislav Klobucar. This was undoubtedly the performance you saw.
King, Rysanek, Nilsson and Feldhoff in the 1980 SF Opera Production
The production in both cases was the one by Nikolaus Lehnhoff, and in each case, there was a run of five performances.
Also, the Bohm performance of the Ninth I referred to was from the VPO set recorded in 1969-1972 (which BTW also contained a wonderful Pastoral Symphony IMHO). I haven't heard the other symphonies in that set. There was also a later Ninth he did (with Jessye Norman and Placido Domingo) in 1980, also with the VPO.
Of Bohm's Ring Cyle, I've heard only Walkure and Siegfried and I liked their forward drive. Haven't heard his Fidelio.
(Man, I sure miss not being able to use umlauts in these posts!)
Don't know the Cast, but it was Conducted by Dohnanyi.
He was by far the best conductor I ever worked with.
Amazing ears, knowledge, technique.
When he "Tuned " chords, they immediately sounded better.
He heard everything and could fix ensemble problems on the fly.
Unfortunately, he was a COMPLETE ass-hole.
Of course, the SF Opera Orch at that time was no where near as good
as the Cleveland Orch.
Wow - that's neat that you worked with Dohnanyi! Sorry to hear he was an ass-hole.
For years, I accompanied a wonderful singer, Emily Rawlins (she's on Ozawa's recording of Electra, singing two different roles), who worked with Dohnanyi on some modern opera (it may have been Reimann's "Lear"). She told me that in the piano rehearsals with Dohnanyi, she would occasionally miss a note (easy to do with a score like this!), and Dohnanyi would continue to conduct but would always exclaim, "Ach! Frau Rawlins!" every time she missed something. She was very amused by the whole experience. ;-)
He was like Good Cop-Bad Cop rolled into one.
He was clearly used to better orchestras, but still, he was pretty disagreeable at times.
But I was in Awe, I have to say.
is probably my overall favorite, like the one above a LOT.
Edits: 07/19/16
Boy, those were the days at the SF Opera - opera here used to be front page news, and generate as much excitement as pop stars due these days.
I was at grad school at UCLA for the 76 performance, so yes indeed it was the later one. I recall that "Frau" had some of the most beautiful music that could possibly exist, coupled with quite a bit of parts that were less good. Still, a spectacular experience.
Still the best Magic Flute, IMNSHO.
But I do have to admit that she's not quite as accurate in the coloratura as several others I've heard. Of course, I've haven't heard the Bohm recording in a LONG time and I really should hear it again to refresh my memory.
I was in the chorus for Rigoletto in Nawlins in the mid-sixties. Roberta Peters had a very nice "chest register" IIRC.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
There can only be one Tamino.
. . . and concentration camp denier? THAT Reginald Goodall?
As for his "Tristan", here's one person's comment from the link below:
While I can understand Goodall being a total idiot politically, what I can't fogive is his tempi in Wagner. I struggled through his Tristan and it's absurd how slow he takes the music. At a couple points, it simply unravels because of the fascist nutter's tempi. Awful, rivalled only by the appalling Bernstein recording. I strongly suspect that in Goodall's case, it's "the Gramophone effect" i.e. hype from British critics.
I hope he enjoys his stay for eternity in hell for his comment about Bergen-Belsen, however.
I must say this is one of my favourite in spite its slow reading. Almost 4.5 hrs!
Tristan und Isolde Timings (Complete with no cuts)
3.38 Böhm, Bayreuth, 1966 (DGG, CD)
3.44 Knappertsbusch, Munich, 1950
3.49 Carlos Kleiber, Bayreuth, 1974 (CD)
3.55 Furtwängler, Bayreuth, 1931
4.04 Mottl, Bayreuth, 1886
4.11 Toscanini, Bayreuth, 1930
4.15 Furtwängler, London, 1952
4.26 Bernstein, Munich, 1981 (Philips, CD)
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Seriously, I suspect some of his singers and musicians were Jewish, he's dead, and his poisonous politics and beliefs don't permeate the music, especially when not captured in analog.
. . . like my favorite:
That's partly because I like to have the visual element available too, as well as the extra channels - I guess it's all part of the "Gesamtkunstwerk" thing for me. ;-)
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I'm perfectly willing to admit that some listeners might prefer Flagstad, but if they haven't heard any Tristans since, say, 1985 (?) how would they know? It's as if they're stuck in a time warp. Surely, there's an element of sour grapes here?
L
Elizabeth Schwartzkopff supplied a high C.
I read that Flagstad was heartbroken when word leaked out. That seems incredibly naive to me (i.e., to think that word wouldn't eventually get out).
But, per my subject line, what inquiring minds wanted to know was whether (per your subject line) Nina Stemme had the power of two on HER high C's. ;-)
Since the Belohlavek Tristan blu-ray was assembled from a run of performances, perhaps you could say that Stemme's high C's DID have the power of two (from different performances) - but at least both of them were probably her own! ;-)
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In an episode of The Flintstones, Wilma and Betty try to brainwash Fred and Barney into doing their preferred activities, including going to an opera starring Kirsten Flagstone.
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