# First Round: Erda's Warning. Ludwig, Podles



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I love this piece. I think I have a good roster. Podles is singing here in Seattle. I normally don't preview my other contestants but you are a serious Wagner crowd. I wish I could have Jessye Norman, but alas. I do have: Schumann-Heink, K. Thorborg,J. Madeira, and O. Dominguez


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Christa Ludwig is obviously not a contralto. Indeed, her mezzo is nearer to soprano than to contralto, and I'm surprised that she'd want to sing this role. That said, she's one of the most intelligent of artists, and she brings to Erda's dark pronouncements the gravity they require. Podles, by contrast, seems made for the part; her cavernous timbre is filled with the weird glow of the underworld. She seems less subtle and varied than Ludwig, although the acoustics as recorded make what nuances are there a little difficult to hear. With a nod to Ludwig's ability to make art transcend nature, I have to pick Podles.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I love the beauty and artistry of Ludwig, but I've heard Podles live and her enormous voice in this aria must have been other worldly live. I've got some great ladies for you guys and gal and I think you will enjoy this contest. I am not sure who will win.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Interesting comparison, between a famous heavyweight like Ludwig and a relatively more recent and unknown Podles. I also have to go with Podles. I saw the Seattle Ring around a decade ago, I'm not sure if she was performing then.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Like Woodduck, I wonder why Ludwig would bother to sing an obviously unsuited role - maybe she was feeling a bit low? 😂 
The stage effect for Erda usually involves some gimmick to make her sound otherworldly. I wonder if it was used for Podles, but it seems to have affected Wotan, too. Hm. Perhaps just a reverberant recording. Podles it is!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Couchie said:


> Interesting comparison, between a famous heavyweight like Ludwig and a relatively more recent and unknown Podles. I also have to go with Podles. I saw the Seattle Ring around a decade ago, I'm not sure if she was performing then.


No, she performed performed in the 2005 Ring after Eaglen stopped ( that is why I didn't go- Eaglen was a hard Bruinhilde to follow) and the last Ring, which you saw in the post Speight Jenkins era. It was the 2005 Ring that they did a commercial recording of. She has performed all over the world but not much at The Met for some reason. She is rather wooden as an actress in a Soviet era style, but you forget that when you hear her. She is actually more famous as a recitalist than as an opera singer, which makes sense.


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

I'm voting for Podles. It's rare we get to hear a genuine Contralto in Erda's music.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Podles. But looking back fondly at the stupendous Jean Madeira in this role.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Francasacchi said:


> Podles. But looking back fondly at the stupendous Jean Madeira in this role.


Madeira's on the Solti _Rheingold,_ in case some haven't heard it.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Madeira's on the Solti _Rheingold,_ in case some haven't heard it.


I did write that she is coming. I promise, I have some great Erdas coming. She is FABULOUS.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Francasacchi said:


> Podles. But looking back fondly at the stupendous Jean Madeira in this role.


On my list I gave at the start.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Ewa Podles is on the right place here, despite her impressive list of barocco and Rossini characters. (There is also her late video where she sings in Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky", with an unparalleled sense of a tragedy). It's a real voice of a sacred monster. 
Christa Ludwig sounds more feminine and has an advantage: a possibility of sex between her and Wotan becomes more evident. Nevertheless I wouldn't find faults if I heard something like that in the theater. I like her so much. She was not only a big artist, but a wise, intelligent person with great sense of humor.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Christa Ludwig rarely sang Erda. Her main roles in the Ring were Fricka and Waltraute. Sometimes the same singer sings both roles as both lie low or maybe Erda and the First Norn. I'm not sure I would say Waltraute is a contralto role but it does require a hefty lower register.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Francasacchi said:


> Christa Ludwig rarely sang Erda. Her main roles in the Ring were Fricka and Waltraute. Sometimes the same singer sings both roles as both lie low or maybe Erda and the First Norn. I'm not sure I would say Waltraute is a contralto role but it does require a hefty lower register.


It is mezzo I think. I wish I could find Waltraute's big aria as a standalone contest entry but it eludes me. We had a great Waltraute here and it is a wonderful aria I think.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It is mezzo I think. I wish I could find Waltraute's big aria as a standalone contest entry but it eludes me. We had a great Waltraute here and it is a wonderful aria I think.


Look on YouTube for 
*'Höre mit Sinn was ich dir sage'*

You'll find several. Here's Ludwig:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Look on YouTube for
> *'Höre mit Sinn was ich dir sage'*
> 
> You'll find several. Here's Ludwig:


Thanks. I only listen on Youtube these days in the car so I lack the librettos. You are a dear. I've found some thanks to you and some new to the contest. Some of these Youtube videos are a pain for me as the don't list the singers and I have to dig.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I haven't much liked Podles in any of the previous competitions, so I'm pleased to say she sounds absolutely perfect for this. Love Ludwig though I do, she is not a contralto, not even a low mezzo, so, although she brings her customary musicality and intelligence to the table, she doesn't sound right here.

Podles has it.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Ludwig is stunning (I have that set and it is a wonderful survey of Christa's career from live recordings). That said, this is really contralto territory and I feel there is something missing as Ludwig is clearly a mezzo. Her enunciation of the text is superb though!

Podles is a contralto and so naturally has the right tone from the outset (despite the boomy sound, the way the mic has caught her she sounds like she is singing from the very depths themselves. I love the conducting of this one as well.

Whilst I have reservations about Podles' interpretation, especially next to Ludwig's exemplary performance, they aren't serious enough for me not to pick her. Podles wins!

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Ludwig is stunning (I have that set and it is a wonderful survey of Christa's career from live recordings). That said, this is really contralto territory and I feel there is something missing as Ludwig is clearly a mezzo. Her enunciation of the text is superb though!
> 
> Podles is a contralto and so naturally has the right tone from the outset (despite the boomy sound, the way the mic has caught her she sounds like she is singing from the very depths themselves. I love the conducting of this one as well.
> 
> ...


I've heard Podles live twice and her voice is boomy and sounds like she is singing from the very depths themselves LOL. She can sing up to D6 but the voice is basically a twilight sound. I think darker voices record better than brighter voices. Podles and Jessye Norman both sounded on recordings like they did live to my ear.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I think darker voices record better than brighter voices. Podles and Jessye Norman both sounded on recordings like they did live to my ear.


In general, darker and lower voices have always recorded better, and the farther back we go in recording history the truer this is. Higher, brighter voices owe more of their specific qualities to high frequencies, which are harder for recordings to capture accurately. In the acoustic era so many of the upper frequencies were lost that we're often left with only a dubious approximation of a soprano's actual timbre. High basses, baritones and tenors sound very much on 78rpm shellacs as they do on electrical recordings, as we can tell from singers (Stracciari comes to mind) whose careers spanned both technologies. I don't know enough about modern analog and digital technologies to know why it's still a challenge to capture certain voices truthfully.


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