Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene Top 10

[Tsaraslondon]

In this months' Gramophone, Mike Ashman chooses his top 10 Immolation scenes (taking into account both the soprano and the conductor). I was pleased to see that my own personal favourite (Dernesch/Karajan) makes it into the list at no 10, but somewhat surprised that the one I would have guessed to be on most lists does not. I assume most Wagner lovers will know whom I'm refering to.

Here is the complete list.

1. Lilian Nordica (with Alfred hertz)
2. Florence Austral (with Albert Coates)
3. Frida Leider (with Blech presumably)
4. Marjorie Lawrence (with Artur Bodansky)
5. Kirsten Flagstad (with Furtwangler)
6. Astrid Varnay (Knapperstbusch)
7. Eileen Farrell (Bernstein)
8. Helga Dernesch (Karajan)
9. Anne Evans (Barenboim)
10. Linda Watson (Thielemann)

I've no doubt opened up a veritable can of worms. Can't wait to see the fireworks fly.

[PSmith08]

I'm just glad to see Eileen Farrell's (1967?) Immolation Scene make the list; I have always been secretly convinced that she and Bernstein put out a really great one with that. It's also another nail in the coffin for my belief that Bernstein did us all a great disservice by failing to record -- at the least -- the Ring and Parsifal, in addition to his brilliant Tristan.

As to the omission of Nilsson -- with Böhm, Solti, or even Rudolf Kempe (Covent Garden 1957) -- I am not entirely surprised. She might be a touch too heroic for some tastes, though I don't know why Astrid Varnay makes the list (with Knappertsbusch, though which outing I don't know -- my guess would be 1956) and Nilsson doesn't. Perhaps Mr. Ashman only had one spot to give to a soprano who made Brünnhilde every bit the mythic player in the great cosmic drama, which is fine, I guess. I have the sense, however, that Solti/Böhm bias might have had something to do with her omission.

Also, I was a little perturbed at the omission of Gwyneth Jones and Pierre Boulez (Bayreuth 1980). Not that either of them were reference-making in their respective roles, but I found that to be one of the more intelligent casting choices given Boulez' musical Konzept.

Lists like these are fun, but just about everyone could make a different one.

[Lilas Pastia]

Agreed. It's senseless to exclude Nilsson and Jones. The latter is seriously challenged but the lass heroically sails through it with immense gusto and her determination makes that culminating moment extremely moving - which after all is the whole idea.

Who has really heard Nordica, Austral (in English ) and Lawrence ? If you want to hear antediluvian stuff it's fine, but IMHO they're only for the fussiest collector. Martha Mödl is one of my favourites. She should be there too. And Eileeen Farrell has sung it with more abandon under Munch.

[Tsaraslondon]

Who has really heard Nordica, Austral (in English ) and Lawrence ?

Well I've heard Lawrence (on a wonderful EMI set called Les Introuvables dh Chant Wagnerien)), and it is gloriously sung, albeit in French.

[Wilhelm Richard]

Wow!  Does he even mention Nilsson?

Does he specify which of the Flagstad/Furtwangler versions he prefers?

[Tsaraslondon]

Wow!  Does he even mention Nilsson?

Does he specify which of the Flagstad/Furtwangler versions he prefers?

Nilsson isn't mentioned at all. He goes for Flagstad/Furtwangler at a pre war Covent Garden performance.

[PSmith08]

Nilsson isn't mentioned at all. He goes for Flagstad/Furtwangler at a pre war Covent Garden performance.

Typical. If one must have a Flagstad/Furtwängler recording, and they should have such an impulse, then s/he should go for the 1950 Philharmonia account on EMI. It's in good sound, which makes up for the fact that I think that the similarly dated recording, from the premiere of Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder, is better. I get the sense Mr. Ashman is playing the "how obscure can I make my choices" game, which, while deliciously self-indulgent and probative of a voracious musical appetite, is a little silly.

[Lilas Pastia]

That's exactly my point.  If such a list is meant to enlighten, it should be made of recordings that are at least reasonably available. Lillian Nordica's recording is over 100 years old (she died in 1914), and although I'm sure it's interesting to hear what was reputedly a great voice, IMO it's preposterous and not a little ridiculous to list her Immolation Scene as # 1. Similarly, if one is to choose Varnay (and rightly so), maybe the commercial DG version would have been more easily obtainable (it's conducted by Varnay's husband). In any case, bits of that Kna version can be heard on that Youtube excerpt (audio only).

I'm grateful for the occasion to discuss this subject, though. IMO that scene is one of Wagner's most extraordinary creations.

[Lilas Pastia]

Hear and watch Nilsson melt the steel cables.

[Haffner]

Hear and watch Nilsson melt the steel cables.

WOW

[Lilas Pastia]

Indeed !

Brünnhilde's vulnerability, sensitivity and womanhood get short shrift, but the vocal and dramatic aspects of the role have rarely been met with such awesome power. What's more, one can witness that even pitted against Solti's almost overbearing loudness she's still keeping some power in reserve.

[PSmith08]

Indeed !

Brünnhilde's vulnerability, sensitivity and womanhood get short shrift, but the vocal and dramatic aspects of the role have rarely been met with such awesome power. What's more, one can witness that even pitted against Solti's almost overbearing loudness she's still keeping some power in reserve.

Well, Nilsson really brought the overdrive with both Böhm and Kempe, neither of whom was as "muscular" as Solti. Like I said above, Nilsson really portrayed Brünnhilde as the major player in a cosmic drama. She might not have been as womanly as Flagstad in her prime or as balanced as Varnay, who did sort of tend toward a darker tone than Nilsson's glowing steel (as far as Wagnerian sopranos go, none of whom are really going to line up to sing the Queen of the Night), but she brought a heroism to the role that was -- in my opinion -- entirely justified and reasonable in the broader context of the Ring.

[Lilas Pastia]

Agreed !

Am I contradicting myself here? Oh, well...

[val]

Frida Leider, Flagstad, Modl, Varnay and Nilsson: this is my top five!

[Haffner]

Frida Leider, Flagstad, Modl, Varnay and Nilsson: this is my top five!

I haven't heard Leider ot Modl, but the others I say "YES!". Nilsson overall just takes it though, in my opinion.

[Lilas Pastia]

Frida Leider, Flagstad, Modl, Varnay and Nilsson: this is my top five!

Hojotoho !! 

Also, Helen Traubel's version (under Toscanini) is not to be dismisssed.
Andy, the Mödl version is available on some complete 1950s Ring sets, but more conveniently on a Archipel Records disc that is currently available at Berkshire Records Outlet :

Label: ARCHIPEL
BRO Code: 122504
Label Cat. #: ARPCD 0236
Format: CD
Amount/set: 1
Audio Type: Mono
Genre: Songs & Arias
Country: GERMANY
   Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Moussorgsky: Arias and Scenes from Fidelio, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Gotterdammerung, Carmen, Boris Godunov. (Martha Modl w.N.German Radio Orch. & Chorus/ Schmidt-Isserstedt and Berlin State Opera Orch./ Schuchter & Rother. Rec. 1950-52. Total time: 76'57')    
Add to Cart
Price: $3.99

For my money, Mödl is probably the most moving and dramatic Brünnhilde of them all.

[Haffner]

Hojotoho !! 

Also, Helen Traubel's version (under Toscanini) is not to be dismisssed.
Andy, the Mödl version is available on some complete 1950s Ring sets, but more conveniently on a Archipel Records disc that is currently available at Berkshire Records Outlet :

For my money, Mödl is probably the most moving and dramatic Brünnhilde of them all.

oooOOOO, the Modl sounds REALLY good.

[knight66]

Then for something a little different, Jessye Norman with Tennstedt. But this is a concert try-out, she never sang the part right through, so perhaps folks will feel that it cannot be added to the lists.

Mike

[Haffner]

Then for something a little different, Jessye Norman with Tennstedt. But this is a concert try-out, she never sang the part right through, so perhaps folks will feel that it cannot be added to the lists.

Mike

I really liked Jessye Norman's Sieglinde.

[Wendell_E]

Then for something a little different, Jessye Norman with Tennstedt. But this is a concert try-out, she never sang the part right through, so perhaps folks will feel that it cannot be added to the lists.

Mike

Of course, the original list includes Eileen Farrell, who never sang any complete Wagner role, did she?