Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 22-MAY-2001… More >>
Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 22-MAY-2001… More >>
#1 by Bob Jones IV on March 18, 2010 - 7:43 am
I have been toying with purchasing the Goodall recording for sometime. First, I’m not a fan of operas that are not in their original tongue. Second, I’d heard horror stories about the slow tempi that Goodall used in this recording. As to the first point, the Porter translation is wonderful and the English gives the piece an immediacy that I lose with the German. Second, the tempi that Goodall uses really give the music time to breathe. I hear details that are totally lost in either the Solti or Bohm recordings. As another writer said, if you already have a good German Ring, this one would make a worthy addition to your set.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Jeff D. Wolf on March 18, 2010 - 7:48 am
Three recordings of “Rheingold” are essential: Solti, Karajan, and — at least for English-speaking listeners — this live recording conducted by Goodall. The superb English translation of Wagner’s libretto is eye-opening (or ear-opening) even to those who are familiar with the Solti and Karajan recordings, adding a crystal-clear understanding of the background on which Wagner’s entire “Ring” is founded.
It’s no small matter, either, that the musical performance itself is marvelous. The principal singers, especially the Wotan of Norman Bailey, are first rate, the orchestral execution and recording quality are outstanding for a live performance, and Goodall’s calculated conducting allows the music to unfold unhurriedly with measured effect and achieves many glorious peaks (and caverns). If certain “bleeding chunks” such as the “Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla” do not come across as the spectacular showpieces available elsewhere, that does not detract from the value of Goodall’s solid, overall presentation.
Highly recommended to anyone, especially to Americans who want to find out what Wagner’s “Ring” is all about but who are hesitant to wade into deciphering a German libretto.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Eric S. Kim on March 18, 2010 - 9:47 am
We have so many Ring recordings in store right now: Furtwangler, Keilberth, Solti, Karajan, Boulez, Janowski, Barenboim, the list is endless. This Ring recording is especially unique because it is sung in English. And not only that, but this live production took a very long time to produce: every musica detail had to be heard, every pronunciation had to be accurate, etc. And so here we have The Rhinegold, the “Preliminary Evening” in the Ring Cycle.
While I do praise Goodall with his amazing attention to detail, his ridiculously sluggish tempi will tick some Wagnerites off: nothing is faster than andante. But I did enjoy listening to the slow beauty of the Rhinegold Prelude.
The English National Opera Orchestra outshines Bayreuth in terms of orchestral clarity and beauty, but I do miss the punch that Bayreuth packs. “Erda”s Warning” and “Entrance to Valhalla” are a delight to listen to.
As for the siingers, they are the best since Solti and Bohm. Norman Bailey as Wotan has that divine spark that Hotter used to cherish. He’s heavy and unblemished, and he handles the English text with flair and sheen. I enjoyed his singing during Scene Four.
Derek Hammond-Stroud’s Alberich is three-dimensional, but not that much: Siegmund Nimsgern in Janowski Ring has the advantage. Still, he can sound very demanding and treacherous in Scene One and Three.
Gregory Dempsey isn’t emotional enough as Mime. He doesn’t sound fearful or depressed at all, which makes him the dullest Mime in Rhinegold.
Emile Belcourt as Loge isn’t as good as Stolze (in Karajan), but he certainly can make some of the best of an English-speaking Loge. He has that Schreier-like intelligence that he brings out in his singing, and that straightfowardness that Siegfried Jerusalem brings out in the Levine Rheingold.
Katherine Pring as Fricka sure knows how to act. And it’s not only the acting, but her voice as well. It can be sweet and b*tchy at the same time (Yvonne Minton for Janowski acts the same way, too). I give her an A grade.
The giants could’ve been better. I know that Robert Lloyd and Clifford Grant aren’t as good as Kurt Moll or Matti Salminen or even Karl Ridderbusch, but they never disappoint. The tension between them might worked more clearly.
Erda sounds remarkable here. Anne Collins has done an extraordinary job; her “Warning” is far superior to Vera Soukupova’s in the live Bohm recording. She ranks with Birgitta Scenden and Outrun Wenkel when it comes to the top.
Now, be warned. This should not be your first Ring (get one that’s in German and that makes sense when it comes to the epic itself). But it still should be part of every Wagnerite’s collection for its stunning detail.
Now on to The Valyrie . . .
The Box Set: Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set)
-The Valkyrie (Part 2): Wagner: The Valkyrie
-Siegfried (Part 3): Siegfried (Goodall Ring Cycle/Chandos Opera in English)
-Twilight of the Gods (Part 4): The Twilight of the Gods (Goodall Ring Cycle/Chandos Opera in English)
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Pater Ecstaticus on March 18, 2010 - 10:10 am
The figure of speach may not be completely correct in this instance, but, well, I hope you get the point. In any case, for a Dutch speaking person, like I, to hear ‘The Ring’ in a language other than the original German feels – almost shockingly(?) – natural. Certainly, this modern English translation, to me, is as least immediate, and probably even more immediate, than the original (archaic) German text. And in music drama, immediacy is essential. Maybe it is also the wonderfully natural translation, I don’t know, but it works for me, the Ring in English.
But most of the credit has to go to the music, the singers, and the recording as such. I believe that this (originally analogue) remastered recording has one of the best recorded sounds and acoustics of any Ring, studio or ‘live’. It is wonderfully clear but warm, kind of velvety (very unlike Solti), with beautifully natural balaces between voices and orchestra. Audience noises can be heard (including a delightful little ripple of laughter) but never really obtrusively so, thankfully. And I love the thunderclap-sound effect when Donner strikes his hammer against the rocks – very tastefully done, and lending extra power to the scene.
All the time one reads in reviews everywhere of the very slow speads at which the music is conducted by Sir Reginald Goodall. Well, that may be so, but I, for one, am certainly endeared to Sir Reginald Goodalls ‘caressing’ of the music, as a result of which wich the Leitmotifs come out more clearly than ever. The slow – but nonetheless very concentrated, and always involved – playing has, to me, an almost mesmerizing effect. Certainly, compared to many other recordings, the music may sound stretched almost beyond breaking point. But in the end, I think it is really just that: a matter of speed, no more. The concentration never falters and the dramatic arc never saggs. There is live ‘music magic’ going on here, I feel, even if the English National Opera Orchestra may not be (as precise or as diciplined as) a Wiener Philharmoniker or a Bayreuther Festspielorchester. Certainly, Sir Reginald Goodall must have loved this music and these opera’s: one feels a slowly beating but constant loving pulse that energizes the drama and the music.
But we also have the singers. And what a great singers! While the best may be yet to come (with Alberto Remedios as Siegmund and Siegfried, and Rita Hunter as Brunnhilde), we here, in The Rhinegold, already have one of the most commanding of Wotans (Norman Bailey, with wonderful burnished timbre). Also, Emile Belcourt stands out as a wonderfully sleek but full-voiced Loge. Derek Hammond-Stroud’s Alberich may not be as black as Gunther von Kannen’s (for Barenboim), for example, but there is enough anguish, frustration and anger to lend his character a convincing reality and depth. And the giants too, are a winning pair. Especially Fafner (Clifford Grant) is as imposing and powerful as one may ever wish.
With all the rave reviews, here and elsewhere I can’t wait to hear The Valkyrie, (especially) Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods. This certainly is a winning ‘Ring’, to be kept alongside any other ‘great’ recorded ‘Ring’ out there, IMHO. To me, it can hold its own alongside any other favorite recordings.
Please, sample this Ring (try for example the Chandos website for fragments of all of the music) and decide for yourself. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Richard Steiger on March 18, 2010 - 12:53 pm
I’ve enjoyed listening to the Ring cycles by Solti, Bohm, and Furtwangler, but my pleasure has always been dampened by the necessity to follow the dramas with a German/English libretto. This performance freed me from that burden and allowed me to listen to the Ring with my ears alone for the first time. And what a delightful experience it was! I found I could understand about half the words the first time through. but that was enough for me to understand what the characters were saying and concentrate on Wagner’s great music. Some of the characters (Loge and Alberich, for example) are almost perfectly comprehensible, while others (Fricka in particular) might as well be singing in German. The sound itself is superb, with perfect balances between orchestra and voices. Goodall’s conducting is famously slow (about half an hour longer than usual), but he is never slack and he reveals a wealth of detail in the orchestration. The singers are a mixed lot, with Loge, Alberich, and Mime particularly effective. Bailey is hardly the grandest of Wotans, but he is solid and convincing. In any event, for us non-German listeners, this recording is a real treat. I would not recommend it as a first Ring (Bohm is a good choice, though some of his tempi are rather hectic), but as a supplement to a recoding in the original language, it is hard to beat. Give it a try! As for me, I’m ready to go on to “Die Walkure” (pardon me, “The Valkyrie”).
Rating: 5 / 5