# Ring Challenge - part 3 - Siegfried



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I have just uploaded a streamable version of a live performance of Siegfried and have sent links to it via PM to those who have asked to participate. As before it is a live performance done since 1980 and chosen such that participants can listen and comment (hopefully) without preconceptions about the artists. I will post the performance details after everyone has had a chance to comment, but if you just can't wait to know, please PM me after you have posted here.

Should anyone else wish to join in, please let me know.


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## interestedin (Jan 10, 2016)

I like this Brünnhilde. Not the biggest voice and a little weak in the lower register, but a youthful voice, a colorful middle and secure top notes, fast and not widened vibrato. One particular name comes to mind.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Although I know this performance, I hadn't listened to it in a very long time, so I decided to give it another listen today. As I recall, when I first heard it years ago, I considered it pretty much a total loss. But perhaps because I've heard so much truly dreadful Wagnerian singing over the intervening years, this didn't seem quite so awful.

The conducting and orchestral work are excellent. The tempi are brisk but never rushed, and the conductor is considerate of the singers and keeps the textures clear and the music moving forward.

The biggest fly in the ointment, though, is Siegfried. He sounds very, very old and his voice very, very worn out. He has obvious experience with the role (and based on how he sounds, much too much experience), but the voice is leathery and nasal, and any sustained note has a wobble that you can drive the proverbial truck through. On the plus side, he does sing with a reasonable degree of accuracy, decent intonation (except for a couple of high notes that don't quite make it), and phrases musically. And as bad as he is, he's actually a LOT better than some of the tenors who've wailed, shouted, and bellowed their way through the title role over the past couple of decades in major theatres.

The Wanderer is much, much better, and probably the best singer in this cast. He has the right vocal personality for the part, and only lacks the degree of authority that Hotter and Schorr had. His voice is probably not quite as large as James Morris', but this Wanderer is a more interesting singer, and doesn't slither around the notes like Morris did. The Mime is fair, but I grew up listening to people like Patzak, Ulfung, Wohlfahrt, Schreier, and Zednik, all of whom managed to portray the character while still singing well. This Mime is careless about pitches and musical values (although he's vastly better than, say, Paul Kuen in this regard), and the voice itself is pretty nondescript. Alberich and Fafner are excellent (and the latter is real luxury casting - I suspect that many will recognize the voice immediately).

About the Brunnhilde I have mixed feelings. The soprano isn't one that I've particularly enjoyed in the past, and in truth, she really sounds like she's stretched to her limit by this role, and would probably have been more comfortable in a role like Sieglinde. On the other hand, I've never been much of a fan of the big, steely voices in this part, like Nilsson's - no doubt that laser-like voice was amazing in the theatre, but this is a recording, and the soprano in this performance presents a much more attractive, vulnerable, feminine character.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Good recording, I'm very fond of this Wotan, one of the highlights of this cycle. His voice is a little smaller than ideal but he's terrific--at around this time, there were a couple of much more famous and acclaimed Wotans, but I often think I prefer him above both.

I've never been a fan of either this Siegfried or Brunnhilde. Classic case of singers who should have stuck to the smaller Wagner roles who pushed too hard to do the big roles, but less successfully than if they'd stuck with the smaller ones, and in this Siegfried's case, he is many years past his not-great prime. There's something sort of hollow about her voice that has always bothered me, and I often find myself reading with big question marks floating above my head when I see the rapturous praise she gets. 

The Mime is ok, but I do wish Mimes would at a minimum sing all the notes as written, but he's not the worst in this regard. Outstanding Fafner and a very good Alberich. Pleasing Erda although I think I prefer darker voices in the role. 

This conductor is never the most fascinating but he always delivers thoughtful, effective, and well-paced performances.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

howlingfantods said:


> in this Siegfried's case, he is many years past his not-great prime.


Actually, it's not that many years. He was only 52 at the time of this performance, and his earlier recording of the role, which is much, much better and, I think, the best thing that this singer ever recorded, was only seven years earlier. He must have sung a lot of Siegfrieds during those years....


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## OperaMaven (May 5, 2014)

wkasimer, I think you just ID'ed the specific recording. Don't think you were supposed to do that.... :lol:


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

OperaMaven said:


> wkasimer, I think you just ID'ed the specific recording. Don't think you were supposed to do that.... :lol:


Perhaps I gave it away, but I suspect that anyone who can figure it out from my post has already identified the singer in question - it's a voice that's pretty instantly recognizable.


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## interestedin (Jan 10, 2016)

howlingfantods said:


> There's something sort of hollow about her voice that has always bothered me, and I often find myself reading with big question marks floating above my head when I see the rapturous praise she gets.


It is true that she sometimes sounds like she's running out of breath or doesn't have enough power left to include consonants in her diction. But unlike many (most?) Brünnhilde singers, she doesn't sound like an old witch, she hardly ever wobbles, shrieks or scoops.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I enjoyed moments in this Siegfried, but overall I found the cast below par, whilst the conducting and orchestral detail wer very fine indeed. I couldn't tell the difference between Siegfried and Mime and so act one went by in a sort of tenor haze that left me cold. Alberich was very good and is possibly the best singer in this set. I wasn't keen on the Wotan's voice, although I found his interpretation of the part very interesting (he almost brought a Lieder singer's light colouring of particular words to the role). The main problem with this set is that the Siegfried and Bruenhilde weren't quite up to singing this very demanding music and both sounded pinched, overstretched and strained. I didn't finish the opera as I just couldn't take anymore.

This can't compare with the classic live 50s Bayreuth recordings.

N.


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