Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Das Rheingold (1869)
Wotan: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Fricka: Josephine Veasey
Loge: Gerhard Stolze
Alberich: Zoltán Kéléman
Fasolt: Martti Talvela
Fafner: Karl Ridderbusch
Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
rec. 1967, Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin-Dahlem
Reviewed as 96khz-24 kbps FLAC, streamed from the Presto Classical website
includes digital booklet with German text and English translation
Deutsche Grammophon 4796357 [145]
Herbert von Karajan’s 1967 recording of Das Rheingold always seems to sit among the shadows behind the famous Solti/Decca recording that has been recently remastered in high resolution sound for a deluxe SACD release (review). Over the last several years, DG (without Decca’s level of fanfare) has quietly released the entire Herbert von Karajan Ring Cycle in a beautifully remastered 96khz-24 kbps version. First on a Pure Audio Blu-ray disc, with all four operas contained on a single disc, then a more recent release of the Die Walküre as a stand-alone CD and Blu-ray package. The four operas have only recently become available to stream from the Presto Classical website in the same remarkable high resolution transfer.
The first thing to relate about the new transfer is the dramatic improvement of the sonic quality of the DG Das Rheingold. The bass levels are revealed in new splendour in such moments as the Thunderclap after Donner’s hammer blow and the transformation music between Nibelheim and the plateau approaching Valhalla, where Wagner featured the double basses quite prominently. Woodwind textures have a new clarity and depth than on the previous CD versions, which one can sample in such places as when Alberich turns himself into a frog. The superb playing of the Berlin Philharmonic is highlighted in these delicate passages as much as they are in the bolder, more extroverted sections of the score. The interlude describing the initial journey to Nibelheim reveals the ensemble of anvils with spectacular depth, making the entire transformation music into a more overwhelming experience than I can recall when listening to it on the previous CD incarnations.
In terms of the various singers’ performances, the new transfer only confirms my previous reactions to the quality of the singing. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s Wotan is a satisfyingly complex portrayal, even though some may feel his voice is a bit light to surmount some of the more dramatic sections. His performance of Wotan is a deeply thought-out portrait of vacillating leadership. Many of Wotan’s lines are shaded with the feeling that one would expect from this singer’s reputation as a lieder performer. However, in spite of Fischer-Dieskau’s achievement my allegiance to Theo Adam’s splendidly flawed, realistic Wotan on Karl Böhm’s Philips Ring Cycle remains unchanged.
Josephine Veasey’s strong, linear-sounding tone gives a portrait of Fricka who sounds consistently troubled by her husband’s decisions. The interesting point of Simone Mangelsdorff’s rather shrewish sounding Freia is that she actually sounds as if she could be Veasey’s sister; surely one of the chief reasons that Karajan consistently cast Mangelsdorff in both the Salzburg and New York performance runs of Das Rheingold.
Gerhard Stolze’s vivid Loge will always be a hotly contested topic among Wagnerites. Stolze’s performance remains unforgettable as a character portrait, but one must recognize that his declaimed singing and half-sung declamation, inseparably bound together, is not to every opera-lover’s taste. I find him spell-binding and don’t miss having a more substantial tenor sound in the role. Similarly Erwin Wohlfahrt’s voice as Mime is sufficiently contrasted to Stolze’s portrayal of his brother dwarf and Wolfahrt’s years of experience make his brief appearance in this opera one to sit-up and take notice of.
Zoltán Kéléman’s nasty sounding Alberich is one of the best reasons for hearing this recording. He encompasses every twist and turn of the character of this fascinating Nibelung. His voice is strong, steely and utterly rock-solid. While he is not quite as overwhelming as Gustav Neidlinger is on the Solti and Böhm cycles, he is certainly worthy to sit alongside his earlier colleague. One example of the excellence of his portrayal is the hushed, self-discovered irony he brings to the important phrase of “Bin ich nun frei? Wirklich frei?”, after Loge releases Alberich from his bondage. At this moment, most other singers (for example the superb Ekkehard Wlaschiha on Levine’s Ring Cycle) have a tendency to overload the irony much more forcefully, as they would need to do in a large opera house. On this recording, Kéléman’s subtlety is much more thought-provoking.
Martti Talvela becomes a convincingly besotted Fasolt, his tone and timbre both pure and of sufficient beauty to make one wonder why Freia wouldn’t love him in return. Karl Ridderbusch’s Fafner displays authority, with just enough menace in his powerful tone to hint at the tragedy to come. Both Donald Grobe and Robert Kerns give convincing performances of the lesser God’s, although Kerns has a slight bleat in his voice which the microphones tend to amplify.
There is a superbly musical trio of Rhinemaiden’s, although the Presto site mistakenly misidentifies Woglinde as Liselotte Rebmann when it is clearly sung by the entrancingly youthful voice of Helen Donath, in one of her earliest commercial recordings. (Rebmann sang Woglinde in Karajan’s Götterdämmerung recording of 1969). Oralia Domínguez is a beautifully controlled Erda. She manages to sound suitably remote and detached from the other characters without the excess of audio trickery that often makes poor Erda sound like she is singing from inside a Turkish bath-house on other sets.
Von Karajan’s reading of this score is superbly controlled, with much attention given to highlighting the sonic beauty of Wagner’s orchestral lines. The larger moments come off extremely well and can still overwhelm the listener after the passing of time. Solti’s pacing of the score on Decca is still utterly magnificent; its chief majesty is the superhuman tension that Solti retained throughout his entire Ring Cycle. One comes away from experiencing Solti’s Das Rheingold feeling quite drained. I have always felt that a similar level of tension is unachievable in any live performance of the opera, as Solti indeed showed the world when he finally conducted the work at Bayreuth in 1983. Herbert von Karajan’s quest for beauty in this score is more achievable in a live performance, as the live broadcast recordings of his Salzburg and Metropolitan performances of 1967 give witness to. Karajan also manages to keep up a more sustainable level of tension throughout this unforgettable score.
The Berlin Philharmonic offer unstintingly refined playing for their permanent conductor. It must have been quite something to see them all crammed into the Berlin Church in which this Ring Cycle was recorded. One wonders how they did not overwhelm the acoustic of this often-used recording venue, as the Berlin Philharmonie was only recently built and would have easily been available to them. Ultimately, the sound engineers provide a warmly intimate sound stage, which is revealed even more clearly in the new transfer. It is worth noting that Decca’s Vienna soundstage remains the wider and more expansive of the two. If one already owns this DG Das Rheingold in any of its previous CD incarnations, the new high resolution transfer is of sufficient value for one to consider purchasing a download of these files, or streaming them via the Presto streaming service. I am as yet unaware if other streaming services can offer this in the same resolution as Presto does.
Mike Parr
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Other cast:
Freia: Simone Mangelsdorff
Froh: Donald Grobe
Donner: Robert Kerns
Mime: Erwin Wohlfahrt
Erda: Oralia Domínguez
Woglinde: Helen Donath
Wellgunde: Edda Moser
Flosshilde: Anna Reynolds
