Wagner on Decca's "Sonic Stage"

[Wilhelm Richard]

With Solti's Ring as a reference point, which Wagner recordings were given a similar amount of attention and care by Decca's recording team (or by any other label of that era)?  I know that not every Decca-Wagner recording from the 50s-70s is considered to be in this category as stereo placement in Solti's Dutchman is pretty straight forward.  I am thinking along the lines of close attention to stage direction, perspective, etc and fully taking advantage of the power of stereo.  (I hope this question isn't too convoluted).

I am not asking for recommendations based on musical aspects, rather, sonic aspects.  The Best Wagner Recordings with emphasis on the Recording.*





*But don't get me wrong!  I am not planning on tossing out my Flagstad Isoldes and HMV Potted Ring!  I am just curious about exploring more recordings from a different angle.

[Lethevich]

I found his Tannhäuser to be surprisingly powerfully recorded, but I am far from a Wagner expert, so this observation is perhaps not worth much. This may get more attention in the opera section.

[knight66]

Generally speaking, the other operas do not require or yield to that sonic-stage approach. Tannhauser is the only exception I can think of and even in it, there are relatively few effects: the chorus entering from a great distance, Venus disappearing sonically in an imaginative way. I love that Paris Tannhauser set.

But that apart, the other operas don't have the circumstances or stage directions that permit the Ring kind of production. The Meistersingers could have been given more theatricality. I think it was recorded at a series of concerts and the sound picture is static.

The only ones I can think of that get the full treatment are not Wagner, but they are Culshaw productions, Solti's Elektra and Karajan's RCA Price/Corelli Carmen.

Mike

[Wilhelm Richard]

But that apart, the other operas don't have the circumstances or stage directions that permit the Ring kind of production.

Makes sense.  Hadn't thought of it that way, and now that you say it, it seems obvious.  Makes the Ring recording that much more special!
I just love a sonic spectacular... 

[PSmith08]

The only ones I can think of that get the full treatment are not Wagner, but they are Culshaw productions, Solti's Elektra and Karajan's RCA Price/Corelli Carmen.

The only other example of the Decca treatment that I can think of off hand is Solti's Vienna Salome, which works largely because a major character is in a cistern being prophetic. It was, of course, a Culshaw party, too.

[knight66]

Yes, with it and the Tannhauser, it is mostly about creating a soundworld with perspectives and different sound quality to illustrate the drama. As well as the cistern, there is a claustrophobic, silvering effect to the sound in Salome once she has kissed the severed head. It is all very clever and effective. There are not hammers, literal alteration of voices and the kind of chain clanking sound effects of The Ring.

Mike

[PSmith08]

Yes, with it and the Tannhauser, it is mostly about creating a soundworld with perspectives and different sound quality to illustrate the drama. As well as the cistern, there is a claustrophobic, silvering effect to the sound in Salome once she has kissed the severed head. It is all very clever and effective. There are not hammers, literal alteration of voices and the kind of chain clanking sound effects of The Ring.

Mike

To be entirely fair, Culshaw's sonic spectacular has been my one real reservation about Solti's Ring. I don't find it particularly natural, and, while the orchestral and -- by and large -- the vocal contributions are wonderful, there's only so much artifice one can stand. If you listen to the 1955 Ring with Keilberth, then you'll see a more natural perspective. Decca engineers, if I recall from the notes, hung a single stereo condenser mike in the rafters; it doesn't sound like Culshaw's plastic-fantastic production. Now, I doubt Culshaw used Wieland's Neu Bayreuth as his aural blocking model, but I don't think it unreasonable to assert that if the recording sounds more theatrical than a performance in the Festspielhaus, then you probably need to reconsider the value of the production.