#franz konwitschny | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

officialwagnerrant · 4 years ago

Text

Recommendation

Der Fliegende Holländer Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Franz Konwitschny

Type: Audio recording (Studio)

Composer: Richard Wagner

Opera: Der Fliegende Holländer/The flying Dutchman

Year: 1962

Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Franz Konwitschny; with Gottlob Frick, Marianne Schech, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, Sieglinde Wagner, Rudolf Schock and Fritz Wunderlich, Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin

Full review under the cut.

As some of you may know I’ve never been quite fond of the flying dutchman. I feel as if Wagner hadn’t found his style yet when he composed the Holländer, allthough I do enjoy the earlier opera, Rienzi. I feel like the Holländer lacks a red thread, something that keeps the opera together. I feel like you can’t lose yourself in this opera like you can in his other works. Individually the music is no doubt almost equally fascinating as his later works.

Franz Konwitschny and the Staatskapelle Berlin solve this problem. Under Konwitschny’s conducting the Holländer is a real entity, everything fits. The phrasing and dynamics are also excellent and fitting. I also loved the chorus (Chorus of the german state opera Berlin), you can hear individual voices everyone of them outstanding, the chorus sounds very alive and especially the ladies blew me away.

Now, let’s get to the soloists.

Senta - Marianne Schech I only heard her as Venus before and found her a little too light for that role. Now as Senta she was nearly perfect. Many Sopranos tend to sound quite piercing at the high notes, she kept a warm sound throughout the whole opera and was incredibly pleasant to listen to. Strong voice and the right emotions at the right places. Also shoutout to her diction, I was able to understand every single word.

Erik - Rudolf Schock @swanfloatieknight and I sometimes make fun of this poor character and say Erik is too weak. And when I had to write a review about the performance I attendet with my class I straight up forgot him. Rudolf Schock makes it impossible to forget about him. He’s your typical Heldentenor, full, dark, strong voice. He sings Erik as emotional, loving and worried, but also gives him some backbone. He doesn’t leave Senta because he has no chance or can’t handle her anymore, he doesn’t want it anymore. He doesn’t want to watch her swoon over some mythical ghost captain anymore.

Holländer - Dietrich Fischer-Diskau First of - I love is voice. It is full and dark, but not heavy. It’s like a deep and yet floating sound which never fails to amaze me. This quality is actually really fitting for a cursed, ghostly man like the flying dutchman. I loved his Wolfram von Eschenbach, I might review this recording at another time, but this is about the Holländer. What I really enjoyed in Rudolf Schock’s performance bothers me with him: He seemed a little too strong, lacked disappointment and other softer emotions. Of course this is a matter of interpretation, yet as someone who loves the more vulnerable Holländers and as someone who knows Fischer-Diskau can sing those emotions I was a little disappointed.

Mary - Sieglinde Wagner I can’t really say much to Mary, it’s too small of a role. She was nice, was rather angry at Senta than worried. At least that’s what her scolding sounded like. Also I love Sieglinde Wagner’s voice.

Daland - Gottlob Frick Big love. Of course Daland isn’t the best dad, he more or less sells his daughter to the Holländer. This get’s a little lost in Frick’s interpretation, he sounds truly fatherly, like a good dad. His voice is fantastic, dark, full. He sounded really calm, some Dalands get a little overenthusiastic at “Mögst du, mein Kind”, not him. Really pleasant to listen to him. Voice-wise one of my favourite bass singers.

Steuermann - Fritz Wunderlich His Steuermann is exactly what you’d expect from the great Fritz Wunderlich - natural, emotional, pure. In this recording his voice also sounds quite dramatic. I admit that every time I see his name on a Wagner recording there’s a tiny bit of hope he actually sings the leading tenor, which of course is never the case since this astounding singer died way to early. In this regard hearing him as the Steuermann does not only amaze me but also makes me sad since, in my opinion, you can hear that he was ready to tackle the big wagner roles already in 1962. He’d been such a great, maybe near perfect Lohengrin, an incredibly raw and a captivating Parsifal, a fascinating Erik. It is a tragedy that never fails to sadden me that he was forced to leave earth so early and in such a sudden, let’s call it what it is, frustrating way.

All in all this recording managed to do what a live performance did not: It made me love the first of the ten works performed at the Bayreuth Festival, which is why I warmly recommend you this outstanding recording.

#recording #recommendation #richard wagner #der fliegende holländer #the flying dutchman #fritz wunderlich #franz konwitschny #gottlob frick #marianne schech #dietrich fischer-diskau #sieglinde wagner #rudolf schock #deutsche staatsoper berlin #staatskapelle berlin

6 notes · View notes

todayclassical · 7 years ago

Text

August 14 in Music History

1675 Birth of composer Johann Georg Christian Storl.

1714 FP of Mouret: "Les Fêtes ou Le Triomphe de Thalie" opera/ballet, Paris.

1727 Death of English composer William Croft in Nether Ettington.

1738 Birth of composer Leopold Hofmann in Vienna.

1763 Death of Italian violinist Giovanni Battista Somis.

1755 Death of French violinist Jean Baptiste Anet in Luneville.

1769 Birth of composer Friedrich Ludwig Dulon.

1804 Death of tenor George Mattocks.

1810 Birth of English organist Samuel Sebastian Wesley, in London. 1814 FP of Rossini's opera Il Turco in Italia at La Scala in Milan.

1823 Birth of composer Karel Miry.

1865 Birth of French composer Paul Dupin in Roubaix.

1868 Birth of Italian composer Leone Sinigaglia.

1869 Birth of Spanish bass José Mardones, in Fontecchia, Spain.

1869 Birth of Finnish composer and conductor Edvard Armas Jarnefelt.

1870 Death of French soprano Josephine Fodor-Mainville.

1870 Birth of American composer Lucius Hosmer in South Acton, MA.

1876 FP of Wagner's Ring Cycle with Die Walkure, at Bayreuth.

1886 Birth of American soprano Mignon Nevada.

1892 Birth of Belgian soprano Emma Luart, in Brussels.

1892 Birth of English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.

1893 Birth of composer Alfred Alessandrescu.

1899 Birth of composer Jaroslav Jeremias.

1900 Birth of composer Shalva Mikhailovich Taktakishvili.

1902 Birth of German opera composer Franz Konwitschny.

1904 Birth of French baritone Martial Singher.

1910 Birth of French composer Pierre Schaffer in Nancy.

1911 Birth of Dutch conductor and composer Jan Koetsier, in Amsterdam.

1913 Birth of tenor Ferrucio Tagliavini, in Reggio Emilia.

1923 Birth of American composer William Flanagan in Detroit.

1924 Birth of French conductor Georges Pretre in Waziers, France.

1934 Birth of tenor Horst Hiestermann, in Ballenstedt.

1934 Birth of Rumanian tenor Ion Buzea, in Cluj.

1937 Birth of American composer, pianist, and conductor Brian Fennelly.

1938 Death of English composer and conductor Sir Landon Ronald.

1942 FP of Edmund Rubbra's Symphony No.4 in London.

1946 Birth of English composer Bjørn Kruse in London.

1948 Birth of American bass-baritone John Cheek.

1950 Birth of American composer Joseph Pehrson in Detroit, MI.

1951 Birth of American composer Philip Carlsen in Coulee Dam, WA.

1952 FP of Richard Strauss' opera Die Liebe der Danae produced posthumously at the Salzburg Festival.

1953 Birth of American composer James Horner in Los Angeles.

1953 Death of Hungarian baritone Friedrich Schorr.

1954 FP of Malcolm Arnold's Harmonica Concerto. Larry Adler was soloist at a Proms Concert in London.

1960 Birth of Italian soprano Cecilia Gasdia, in Verona.

1961 Death of English tenor Heddle Nash.

1961 Death of Italian composer Guido Alberto Fano in Tauriano, Udine, Italy.

1961 FP of Henry Cowell's Scherzo from Air and Scherzo for saxophone. Sigurd Rascher was soloist at the Camp Kinhaven in Weston, VT. Composer also arranged it for saxophone and chamber orchestra.

1966 Birth of Japanese composer Michio Shirasawa in Tokyo.

1972 Death of American pianist Oscar Levant.

1974 Birth of Canadian composer and pianist Heather Schmidt.

1981 Death of German conductor Karl Böhm, in Salzburg.

1987 Death of American composer Vincent Persichetti.

1994 Death of baritone Hubert Dilworth.

1996 Death of Rumanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache in Paris.

2004 FP of Lowell Liebermann's Trio No. 2 for Piano, Violin and Cello.

#classicalmusic #musichistory #today in music history #todayclassical #onthisday

4 notes · View notes