than on the eiotic. She was also a su­ perb Brunnhilde. Unwanted in her own country at a crucial point in her career, she became one of the mainstays at Bay- reuth. Personal tragedy gave added depth to her work. She developed into Bohm's Bayreuth "Tristan" a heartbreakingly intense performer. Ramon Vina>' came to Bayreuth with a completely different operatic orienta­ tion but with the desire to sing Wagner. GREAT PERFORMANCE of any of electronified, souped-up Wagner on Wieland had heard his great Otello and familiar work is one that strips it records— ring out with the sonority of saw in him an ideal interpreter for cer­ A of barnacles, sandblasts it to a the opera house! Bohm's intensity never tain Wagnerian roles. Wieland's direc­ pristine glow, and carries the listener flags. All effects are interrelated. Such tion transformed him. As he divested l)ack to first impressions of a master­ contrasting moments as the ponticello himself of Latin excesses his woik be­ piece. This was one of Toscanini's of the garden episode, throbbing be­ came a marvel of economy and intensity. strengths: recharging a score after years neath the distant hunting horns; the He developed into a Tristan and a Par­ of lOutine had dulled its vitality. Karl rugged, almost demonic rhythms of sifal of greatest nobility as well as physi­ Biihm accomplishes much the same in Tristan's entrance before Isolde offers cal appeal. Wolfgang Windgassen, a his new recording of Tristan una Isolde him what she believes to be the death fine-looking, tall man, who had been a For Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft potion; the solitude of the seascape sur­ former Wehrmacht officer and made a (stereo 139221 139225) with the Bay­ rounding Kareol—every one of these has rather stolid impression, became, in reuth Festival Orchestra and a first-rate its special magic, combining with the time, one of the most passionate of cast. others to form a total experience which, Tristans and Tannhiiusers. Well, almost first-rate. On consulting for orchestral sorcery, is unique. Leonie Rysanek is the type of singer my notes, jotted down during the listen­ Birgit Nilsson, a chilly Isolde on occa­ whom Wieland loved, an artist who ing period, I find; "Put Tristan on the sion, is here quite outgoing. I have in gives of her soul in each performance. shelf until we rediscover a Tristan. Who mind her melting quality in the duet Certainly her Senta was the definitive today dares present Norma without a with Windgassen; the pinpoint of light one in our time. She absorbed Wieland's Norma? And in Wagner the demands with which her "Liebestod" begins. Her concept of Senta as a fanatical, some­ are just as severe." vocal timbre is, of course, a matter of what neurotic teen-ager, for he believed The notes continue: "Why should we taste. I find the Nilsson quality relent­ that only such a girl could be capable put up with these inadequacies, be toler­ lessly bright and unvaried during the of the violent, selfless love necessary for ant of a tenor who lacks the equipment?" long first act. Yet there is a danger, be­ the Hollander's redemption. Memories of Melchior are still rampant. cause we hear it so often, of taking this Birgit Nilsson was already the world's Once having heard that mighty voice in phenomenal voice too much for granted. greatest heroic soprano when she came lliis )nusic, an opera-lover cannot scrap Nilsson is a great singer who commands to Bayreuth. Wieland expressed some his standards for the sake of amiability. admiration, if not always love. concern about her reputed coolness. In­ There are those (myself included) who deed, there were those who felt, in some feel that the third act—Tristan in tor­ 'F the other artists, Christa Ludwig of her early Bayreuth performances, that ment, Tristan in rapture, delirium spin­ oas Brangaen. e sounds better in the gar­ she was somewhat aloof. A turning point ning the web that unites these opposing den scene, with a beautifully sung Warn­ in Birgit Nilsson's relationship with Wie­ states—represents the peak of expressiv­ ing, than in the act on shipboard, where land Wagner, and in her career, was ity in Wagner. Only a performing Titan she displays a fast vibrato. At best, she their work together in Tristan. She is an can cope with it—and, to be truthful, brings youth and impetus to the part. attractive if not a beautiful woman. "I epic drama of this type leaves Wolfgang Eberhard Wiichter is a ranking Kurven- will make her beautiful," Wieland said, Windgassen behind. He is a cozy rather al; Erwin Wohlfahrt a perceptive Shep­ "I will make her feel that she is beauti­ than heroic singer. Yet dismay at his lim­ herd (his sighting of the ship ushers in, ful." And he achieved just that. He ited powers can give way, once the voice under the direction of Bohm, one of the costumed her and lit her with loving has held the inner ear, to respect for his orchestral climaxes of a lifetime); and care. He made her conscious of the pas­ thoughtfulness, applause for his pene­ Martti Talvela a King Mark in the tra­ sion which, of course, she always pos­ tration. Following Windgassen on his dition of Bohnen, Andresen, and Kipnis. sessed. She became the most ardent and own terms, one can grow to admire the Like those bassos, Talvela succeeds in exquisite Isolde imaginable. And, of c(uict weariness of his "Miiht euch dies?" making the King not a bore but an elo­ course, she sang divinely. in rebuke to Isolde's rage over Morold; quent human being. What was Wieland Wagner like other the well molded lyricism of the love In so vast a score as Tristan and Isolde than as a theater director? duet; the plaintive side of his suffering —especially an uncut edition—one hesi­ He was, above all, a man of infinite during the scene in Kareol. Obviously, tates to single out any detail at the con­ curiosity. He loved the drama and was Windgassen misses an amount of heroic ceivable expense of much else. Yet still so fascinated by the Broadway musical style. In the new Deutsche Grammo­ fresh in the memory are the orchestral that he expressed tlie desire one day to phon recording, however, with Karl introduction to Act III, with its bleak stage such a work. His interest in music Biihm superlatively in command, Wind- and tragic look across the sea; the haunt- covered a range from Orlando Lasso to gassen's poetry as an artist exceeds his ingly played English horn solo; the modern jazz. He had an encyclopedic failings. Compensation stems from a healthy release of the Kareol motive knowledge of Greek mythology as well top orchestra and maestro. (how well Bohm brings out its rhythmic as the Germanic legends and used to This, indeed, is the opera orchestra of vigor!). There are no gimmicks, no echo draw parallels between the two. He had one's dreams. Cellos and basses are un­ chambers—only Tristan. And that, de­ an insatiable appetite for books and was believably rich, the tone of the whole spite some defects in the singing, is al­ particularly drawn to French literatiue. ensemble charged with beauty, passion, ready something. The sound of the Bay­ His taste in painting, as in music, was and intensity, the first-desk solos won­ reuth orchestra, under the baton of a catholic and eclectic. He had a predilec- derfully well played. And how good to great conductor, lifts the album into a {Continued on page 69) hear this music—after a recent plethora special class. —ROBERT LAWREXCE. SR/January 28, 1967 63 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED and stood for high qualilies in mnsic:al accomplishment long before thPierre Boulez-. Tuinabout cello, his sure, easy command of what HuMMEL·; Fantasy in G minor. Ernst stereo, TV 3408IS, $2.50; mono, TV the instrument contains in all its regis­ Wallfisch, viola, with the Wiirttem- 4081, $2.50. ters, is recalled more by Miss du Pre's herg Chamber Orchestra conducted sound than by any other I can think of. hij Jorg Faerber. HAT Pierre Boulez, as conductor, Whatever the blood lines, the flow of M.HAYDN: Concerto in C. The .same, Whas done on behalf of such others it that courses through these patterns is plus Lory Wallfisch, harpsichord. as Igor Stravinsky, Georg Frideiic Han­ definitely of the imperial purple, a Turnabout stereo, TV 34079,S, $2..5(); del and C.P.E. Bach, he has now done warming reminder that, as with such mono, TV 4079, $2.50. on behalf of Pierre Boulez, composer of other performers of the postwar geiieia- a work many consider a landmark on the tion as Glenn Gould, Dietrich Fischei- HOSE WHO have long felt that way to the next new point of departure Dieskau, Antonio Janigro, Judith Raskin, Tthere must be some better way of in musical history. That is to say, he has Vladimir Ashkenazy, and (optional with listening to "11 mio tesoro" than from the expounded, clarified, and made audible the reader), the link to the past is strong tenors who customarily sing it in Don all of its nuances and counter-forces for and sure. In the case of such a collabo- Giovanni may be encouraged to discover any who choose to invest time in master­ that Johann Nepomuk Hummel agreed ing its content. with them, long ago. Perhaps it was Foi- those who have not been exposed Hummel's awareness of the cliaracter's to the work Boulez created in 1954 for full name Don Juan Tenorio—which the ISCM festival of that year in Baden- prompted him to choose the tenor of in liaden, it may be cited, in its official de­ struments when substituting bow and scription, as a cantata based on portions strings for the vocal chords in the Fan­ of Rene Char's Le Marteau sans Maitre tasy herein recorded lor the first lime. ("The Hammer without a Master"). But What it amounts to is nine minutes it is both less and more than that—less, if and fifty-five seconds of exposition and cantala conjures up visions of much oi- elaboration of one of his master's most chestra and many voices; more, if can­ winning melodies (Hummel profited tata suggests merely an echo of an old from Mozart's interest at a critical period lirocedure. in his earl>' development). It is, frankly, What it is to me is an extension of more interesting in the exposition than the kind of writing Schoenberg pio­ the elaboration, but makes, altogether, a neered in the String Quartet No. 2 (in charming period piece (the occasion for which a soprano voice joins the strings its creation in 1822 is not identified by in the final movement), and developed annotator Joseph Braunstein who is, in Das Buch der hdngenden Garten fil­ otherwise, faultless in his enunciation of tered through the fragmentizing net­ detail). work of Webern's instrumental practices The Concerto is no less pertinent to with perhaps a flavor of Messiaen, and —Allegro. reconstituted through Boulez's own Stephen Bishop—"subtle treat­ the case of Mozart, for Michael Haydn ment of the piano part . . ." was a contemporary of Leopold Mozart, (Continued on page 73) 64 SR/January 28, 1967 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED