# Who is the Best Active Wotan?



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

As a companion question to the "Who's the Greatest Wotan of All Time" poll...so who's the best doing it on stage these days? 

I'm sure many of these names are unknown to some of us. If any of you have heard these singers live please tell us what you thought 

Post videos of your favorites!

PS please excuse my Wotan obsession lol


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Bonetan said:


> PS please excuse my Wotan obsession lol


It's all right. Just don't wear that hat when you go out.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Rene Pape, although I'm not sure if he's still doing Wotan nowadays. I'm also not sure if he ever did the Wanderer.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

howlingfantods said:


> Rene Pape, although I'm not sure if he's still doing Wotan nowadays. I'm also not sure if he ever did the Wanderer.


No & no unfortunately. That's why I didn't list him


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

I will have to check out the few that I have not heard, but as of this moment, Goerne is the Wotan of the 20th/21st Century for me.

Terfel, no way
Eric Owens, no way. But I like the guy, we used to go to the same Borders Book Store in Philly.
Michael Volle. I REALLY WISHED I liked his voice, but I don't. He doesn't seem REALLY to have control of his voice, although I do like his sense of humor.
John Tomlinson was/is fabulous and he would look fabulous in your avatar's set-up, but, you didn't offer him as a choice--I hope he isn't dead yet.

P.S. Thank you for starting this thread. I am so tired of the shellacs.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

What a threadbare collection - 2 Alberichs, a Count Almaviva, a couple I've never heard of and ... ehhh.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Bonetan said:


> No & no unfortunately. That's why I didn't list him


Ah shame. He didn't really have the voice for it but he still sang the role beautifully.

Without Pape as an option, I voted for John Lundgren--I've only heard him in the 2016 Janowski Bayreuth Walkure and Siegfried (Iain Patterson did the Rheingold), but I thought he was pretty impressive. One of the standouts of that cycle.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Becca said:


> What a threadbare collection - 2 Alberichs, a Count Almaviva, a couple I've never heard of and ... ehhh.


Lundgren is *very* good from what I heard of the 2016 Bayreuth peformance. Other than Pape, maybe the best since Tomlinson or Morris at their peak. Honestly, I might pick Lundgren over them.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> It's all right. Just don't wear that hat when you go out.


Come to London, there was a man wearing a black Spanish riding sombrero to a performance of _La forza del destino_ last week!

N.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

howlingfantods said:


> Lundgren is *very* good from what I heard of the 2016 Bayreuth peformance. Other than Pape, maybe the best since Tomlinson or Morris at their peak. Honestly, I might pick Lundgren over them.


I got to hear him live in December as Wotan in both Die Walkure & Siegfried. I really enjoyed his performance


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

JosefinaHW said:


> I will have to check out the few that I have not heard, but as of this moment, Goerne is the Wotan of the 20th/21st Century for me.
> 
> Terfel, no way
> Eric Owens, no way. But I like the guy, we used to go to the same Borders Book Store in Philly.
> ...


I absolutely made sure to list Goerne because he's your favorite, but I probably shouldn't have now that I think about it lol. He hasn't even sung a staged Wotan to my knowledge, so we really don't know if the role is for him.

Tomlinson isn't dead, but he hasn't sung Wotan for many years...

You're welcome!


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Has anyone been able to hear Volle's Wotan live yet?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Bonetan said:


> Has anyone been able to hear Volle's Wotan live yet?


I heard (and saw) Volle at the Met in the spring. Although I think that his voice is perhaps a bit underpowered for the venue (no one should have to sing Wotan in a 4000 seat hall), he resisted the urge to oversing and/or bluster his way through the music (which, unfortunately, Terfel certainly did when I saw him a few years earlier).

I saw Morris in the role in the early 90's. Morris certainly had more voice than Volle possesses, but Volle is a much better actor, both vocally and physically.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

wkasimer said:


> I heard (and saw) Volle at the Met in the spring. Although I think that his voice is perhaps a bit underpowered for the venue (no one should have to sing Wotan in a 4000 seat hall), he resisted the urge to oversing and/or bluster his way through the music (which, unfortunately, Terfel certainly did when I saw him a few years earlier).
> 
> I saw Morris in the role in the early 90's. Morris certainly had more voice than Volle possesses, but Volle is a much better actor, both vocally and physically.


Thank you for this perfect response! How do Terfel's & Volle's voices compare in beauty & size?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Bonetan said:


> Thank you for this perfect response! How do Terfel's & Volle's voices compare in beauty & size?


In terms of vocal size, they're probably comparable. But at the time that I heard them, I'd have to say that Volle had the more attractive sound. By the time I heard Terfel (in 2013, IIRC), he was well past his best; his voice has really dried out over the years, based on reviews and on recordings and broadcasts I've heard. His Wotan included a lot of pitched yelling and bluster, rather than real singing. Volle never had the beautiful sound that Terfel had early in his career (basically, before about 2000), but Volle has managed to preserve what he had.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

I'm halfway through the Met Ring (and have seen Terfel in an earlier ROH one) - his voice is a size too small. He is a wonderful Leporello or Figaro, but Wotan is a beast of a role. And he somehow lacks a certain type of grandeur. I don't buy him as a god, or as any kind of aristocrat. (Same problem with his Scarpia: vocally adequate but lacks elegance. He's too boorish.)

In the ROH Ring he had to drop out of Siegfried and he was replaced by John Tomlinson (who also sang Hagen). The difference in quality was really huge.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Sieglinde said:


> I'm halfway through the Met Ring (and have seen Terfel in an earlier ROH one) - his voice is a size too small. He is a wonderful Leporello or Figaro, but Wotan is a beast of a role. *And he somehow lacks a certain type of grandeur. I don't buy him as a god, or as any kind of aristocrat. (Same problem with his Scarpia: vocally adequate but lacks elegance. He's too boorish.)*
> 
> In the ROH Ring he had to drop out of Siegfried and he was replaced by John Tomlinson (who also sang Hagen). The difference in quality was really huge.


I really like the way you put that, & its perfect that Tomlinson appeared later in your post because that's a Wotan with grandeur to burn.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

What about Finnish bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo? I have a rather bizarre production staged by La Fura Dels Baus and although I haven't watched it in years, I thought that he did a creditable job as Wotan/Wanderer even though I remember thinking his voice (back then) was rather lyrical and maybe a size too small. Is he still active? The Unitel Classica Blu-ray discs I have date from 2009. It doesn't appear that he is doing much these days ... or maybe it's just because I have Finnished reading Finnish. :lol:

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Seen him a good decade ago (Walküre only, they were alternating with Alan Titus because it was over 4 days), he was good but yeah, a bit smaller voice than ideal. Very sweet guy though, we met him after the performance and chatted in a weird mix of German and English. We asked him where to find Walter Fink (the bass) and he just deadpanned: "Hunding ist tot".


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Barelytenor said:


> What about Finnish bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo? I have a rather bizarre production staged by La Fura Dels Baus and although I haven't watched it in years, I thought that he did a creditable job as Wotan/Wanderer even though I remember thinking his voice (back then) was rather lyrical and maybe a size too small. Is he still active? The Unitel Classica Blu-ray discs I have date from 2009. It doesn't appear that he is doing much these days ... or maybe it's just because I have Finnished reading Finnish. :lol:
> 
> Kind regards, :tiphat:
> 
> George


I believe he had some kind of major health issue that ended his career :-(

It's briefly mentioned in this review, but details are hard to come by. From somewhere around '09 to '14 he canceled a lot of performances...

https://seenandheard-international.com/2014/03/flying-dutchman-revival-continues-impress/


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

That's a shame. I think often nonsingers forget what an athletic art good singing is. It shouldn't sound athletic, but you need to be in good physical condition (I hear the snickers already) to sing well for a long time on stage or in the concert hall. Thanks for the info, Bonetan.

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Barelytenor said:


> That's a shame. I think often nonsingers forget what an athletic art good singing is. It shouldn't sound athletic, but you need to be in good physical condition (I hear the snickers already) to sing well for a long time on stage or in the concert hall. Thanks for the info, Bonetan.
> 
> Kind regards, :tiphat:
> 
> George


No prob! So much truth to your statement. I'm a former college athlete & now a professional singer. I find that my physical health is more important to my singing than it was to my performance on the field tbh


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Of these I've only heard Terfel and Grimsley as Wotan. I preferred the latter, but I wish for more.

The best performance of a Wotan role I've heard, though, was from James Rutherford in _Die Walküre_ in Frankfurt. He has sung all three operas, and is currently sharing the role in _Die Walküre_ in Madrid with Tomasz Konieczny.

I've heard Michael Volle live, but only as the Dutchman and Falstaff, and he was great in those roles, but I'm not sure about Wotan. Similarly, I've heard Iain Paterson live, but only as Gunther and Kurwenal... and it was long enough ago and those are small enough roles that I have little memory.


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