Wagner's Valhalla

[kishnevi]

KFV is the tenor on Paavo Jarvi's Beethoven 9.  While I wouldn't call his singing there superb,  there's nothing problematic about him in that performance.  (That's the only other recording in which I have him.)

[zamyrabyrd]

I saw most of the film of Lohengrin with Vogt. He seems more than adequate to me. One third of the viewers here didn't like him.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcSq3R6PzOg

Maybe I don't know the role enough but In fernem Land seems anyway to demand a more narrative approach than flowing aria. I can't imagine him though in Lied von der Erde, at least not just yet...

Meanwhile, I found the famous Melchior who is quite matter of fact here, even dry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9wwA5ldjM8&NR=1

Jonas Kaufmann is interesting for his darker tones and also a wider range of expression:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fKr_BuXu3w&NR=1

ZB

[Harry Powell]

When Vogt sang Paul ("Das tote Stadt") in Madrid some months ago I can tell you there was a mixed reaction from the public. Of course his voice carried well through the theatre (far better than Torsten Kerl's, according to friends who listened to both) but being heard is the first requisite, the essential thing is how.

A for the Lohengrin racconto, I'd recommend the audition of Pertile, Fleta and Völker. They complied with the narrative character of the piece while achieving a "heavenly" flowing legato and ethereal mezzavoce.

[knight66]

The Sunday Times here today gives a big thumbs up to a new Parsifal with Vogt. I thought therefore I was going to read some favourable comment about him. But he was perceived as the only blot on the landscape. I quote...

'I can't take Vogt's bantemweight Parsifal seriously. His light boyish timbre is fine for the pure fool in Act 1. But he retains the same childlike innocent throughout.'

Mike

[Harry Powell]

I remember very well an afternoon with friends and a broadcast of Parsifal in which he played the title role. When he sang "Du weisst, wo du mich wiederfinden kannst!" we burst into an irrepressible laughter.

Harry.

[knight66]

Who says Wagner couldn't manage comedy?

Mike

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Ring tickets: 360 euro.
Seeing Fasolt and Fafner doing high fife: Priceless!

[kaergaard]

Anybody familiar with the new Tannhäuser, directed by Kasper Holten? He is the young genius who gave us the Copenhagen Ring with Brünnhilde chosing to give birth to a little Siegfriend instead jumping into the fire.

Holten turns the singer Tannhäuser into a composer, writer, wearing a beret and everybody in late eighteen hundred costumes. During the overture we get entertained with a pantomime of the mature Elisabeth and their teenage son welcoming father home again. No, no bare-breasted or bare-bottomed flower maids and Venus is wearing a business suite! Stig Andersen is again an outstanding tenor from beginning to end, plus being the great actor he has been as Siegfried.

Tannhäuser was the Wagner opera at the bottom of my list, just a tad above Parsifal, but this one is up quite a number of notches, a keeper!

[kishnevi]

Just a head's up.  If anyone doesn't have, but wants, the Sinopoli Tannhauser with Domingo, it's on sale this weekend at Arkivmusic for $19.99.  And if you order two other items from their clearance list, you get free shipping in honor of Labor Day.  That's through Monday midnight US EDT.

[Lisztianwagner]

6 Favorite Operas (because I just couldn't do 5!):

Tristan & Isolde
Siegfried
Der Fliegende Hollander
Die Walkure
Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
Tannhauser

6 Favorite Single Pieces (even harder):

Der Fliegende Hollander - Overture
Tristan & Isolde - Prelude & Liebestod
Die Meistersinger - Prelude to Act III
Siegfried - Idyll
Tannhauser - Overture

I'm an extreme fan of Richard Wagner too, he is definitely my favourite composer! I started my wagnerite journey listening to "Das Rheingold" (Karajan/Berlin Phil/DG), and I liked it so much that I wanted to continue listening to Wagner more and more, till collecting all his operas.
Almost all the Wagner CDs I have are conducted by Karajan, apart from Tristan (Furtwängler) and Tannhäuser (Solti).

The operas you chose as your favourites are really outstanding, but I'm a little surprised there's not "Götterdämmerung" in the list; I think it's one of the most beautiful works ever composed, and Wagner's music is in its most completest form there: great harmonies and orchestration, elaborate use of leitmotifs and rich cromatism.

My 6 favourite operas could be:
Götterdämmerung
Siegfried
Das Rheingold
Tristan und Isolde
Der Fliegende Holländer
Parsifal

Have you got all Wagner's operas? Maybe even the less famous ones, Die Feen, Das Liebesverbot and Rienzi?

Ilaria

[Sergeant Rock]

Have you got all Wagner's operas? Maybe even the less famous ones, Die Feen, Das Liebesverbot and Rienzi?

You may not get an answer from her. Isolde (who now goes by Senta) doesn't visit the forum much these days (last active in April). But I own all the operas/music dramas except Die Feen. My six favorites:

Lohengrin
Tristan
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Götterdämmerung
Parsifal

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

You may not get an answer from her. Isolde (who now goes by Senta) doesn't visit the forum much these days (last active in April). But I own all the operas/music dramas except Die Feen. My six favorites:

Lohengrin
Tristan
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Götterdämmerung
Parsifal

Sarge

That's it!  I'm getting my own machine gun, since you did you include Siegfried in your top 6!   

[Lisztianwagner]

You may not get an answer from her. Isolde (who now goes by Senta) doesn't visit the forum much these days (last active in April). But I own all the operas/music dramas except Die Feen. My six favorites:

Lohengrin
Tristan
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Götterdämmerung
Parsifal

Sarge

Thanks for warning me Sarge I had to make it clear that my question wasn't adressed just Isolde, everyone could answer.

Yes, Die Feen is rather difficult to find, I haven't got it either, apart from the ouverture; I know Sawallisch was used to record Wagner's early works.

Great list of favourite operas!

Ilaria

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Hi, Ilaria! I think my absolute favorites are


Tristan
Götterdämmerung
Parsifal


with Rheingold, Walküre, Meistersinger and Third Act Siegfried not far behind.

[karlhenning]

Yes, Die Feen is rather difficult to find . . . .

There must be reasons . . . .

; )

[Sergeant Rock]

That's it!  I'm getting my own machine gun, since you did you include Siegfried in your top 6!   

I'll have to put on my kevlar helmet and vest 

Actually there's not a Wagner opera I dislike (although they won't all fit in a top 6). I'm crazy about Rienzi too. A true Wagnerite here 

Sarge

[karlhenning]

Tristan and Parsifal certainly earn Wagner musical immorality. No! Immortality!

And one of these days, I'm going to give Götterdämmerung a proper new shake . . . .

[marvinbrown]

Tristan and Parsifal certainly earn Wagner musical immorality. No! Immortality!

And one of these days, I'm going to give Götterdämmerung a proper new shake . . . .

  A Freudian slip I'm sure..........LOL!

  PS: Good luck with Gotterdammerung, it can be quite.............GLORIOUSLY taxing 

  marvin

[Lisztianwagner]

Hi, Ilaria! I think my absolute favorites are


Tristan
Götterdämmerung
Parsifal


with Rheingold, Walküre, Meistersinger and Third Act Siegfried not far behind.

Hi Johan! Haha, my absolute favorites could be very close to yours:

Tristan
Götterdämmerung
Siegfried

with Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Parsifal, Meistersinger, Tannhauser, Lohengrin and Der Fliegende Hollander, just one little step behind. 

Die Feen, Das Liebesverbot and Rienzi are very good, but unfortunately they're not on the same level with the rest of Wagner's operas. I don't know if you've ever listened to them, anyway what do you think about those early works?

Ilaria

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Die Feen, Das Liebesverbot and Rienzi are very good, but unfortunately they're not on the same level with the rest of Wagner's operas. I don't know if you've ever listened to them, anyway what do you think about those early works?

I'm afraid I've always been a very obedient Wagnerian -  for the Meister the canon started with the Holländer, and so it has done for me. I know the overtures to Feen and Liebesverbot, and that's it. Of the so-called 'romantic' operas Tannhäuser is my favourite, though Wagner himself thought he owed the world a better version...