Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tannhäuser & Tristan und
Isolde – Herbert von Karajan, conductor. EMI 4768962, 77:48
***1/2:
You may already have this CD. It appears to be a re-release of EMI’s
4/2004 “Great Recordings of the Century” disc (72435627722). I’m not
sure if it’s been re-engineered or just re-labeled”The Karajan
Collection.” No matter. This is truly splendid music, recorded in 1975
under excellent studio conditions. I’ve seldom heard the overture to
Tannhäuser played with such delicacy. Karajan conducts the opening bars
with such sensitivity that you lose yourself in it. The “Song of the
Pilgrims” leitmotif (from Act III) comes through with crystalline
conviction, its undercurrent of sadness belying its forward momentum.
As an added treat, they have included the Scene 1 Chorus of Sirens, as
they sprawl lasciviously and sing about glowing warmth and shameful
carnal bliss. The disc features two from Lohengrin, the seductive Act 1
Prelude that melts slowly away like spring ice, and the short Act 2
Prelude with muscular trumpets and horns rejoicing over the Knight’s
victory with an irresistible upsweep.
Karajan performs the Prelude and Liebestod of Tristan and Isolde with
striking skill and ineffable sadness. He douses us with feverish,
unconsummated longing. In the justly famous Prelude to Die
Meisetersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner touches on most of the important
themes (with nary a clue that it’s a comedy): the “Mastersingers”
theme, symbolizing the glory of the city of Nuremberg and the art of
their mastersingers; the flowing second theme, echoing Walter’s love
song for Eva; another celebrating the art of poetry; and most notably,
shades of the mastersong itself. Karajan controls this material well,
although not as warmly as Giuseppe Sinopoli does with the New York
Philharmonic (DG 419 169-2). Of course in the overture to Der Fliegende
Holländer Karajan rolls the Berlin Philharmonic up and down in vast
chromatic surges like billowing whitecaps. The deceptive calm a few
minutes into the overture is soon shattered by stormy string
figurations. It whets your appetite for the opera that follows.
– Peter Bates
