Guild GHCD2278/80 (medium price, three discs, 3 hour 11 minutes).
Remastering Engineer Richard Caniell.
Date: Live performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on January 27th, 1940.

Comparisons:

Melchior, Traubel, Harshaw, Hawkins et al, Metropolitan Op Chor and Orch/Busch (Grammofono 2000) AB78747/9 (1947)

Völker, Müller, Klose, Prohaska et al, Berlin State Op Chor and Orch/Heger (Preiser) 90043 (1942)

For any lover of historic opera performances, this is a most exciting issue. Not only is Lauritz Melchior in resplendent voice, and demonstrating that there has never been a more sensitive interpreter of the title-role, but he has for the larger part very distinguished colleagues. At various times there have been quite a number of versions of Lohengrin with Melchior, all of them from the Metropolitan, but while the Grammofono issue is conducted most impressively of all by Fritz Busch, by 1947 Melchior's voice was sounding a bit old for the knight in shining armour, and the Elsa, the lovely Helen Traubel, is calm to the point of impassivity.

One of the reasons for listening to this Guild issue is that it gives us a rare chance to hear Elisabeth Rethberg in a complete opera. She was nearing the end of her career at the Met, and the earlier performances of opera with her in the cast are in inferior sound or fragmentary, while the nearly contemporaneous Figaro finds her in poor voice. Anyone who has listened to her commercial recordings of arias and duets will know that her voice was incredibly beautiful, and that the beauty was clearly founded on a flawless technique. She does appear to lack temperament in them, however, or to be unwilling to display any in the studio. In this performance we hear a singer of quite a different character, abandoning herself to ecstasy at the end of Act 1 after Lohengrin has won the fight with Telramund, giving voice to fearful anxiety, gradually and subtly mounting to hysteria in the love duet in Act 3. There is no more committed Elsa to be heard, though Maria Müller on the Preiser recording made in 1942 in Berlin is also vivid, and she has a comparably lovely voice. But time had taken its toll of both singers, and in the end it is Rethberg who leaves the stronger impression. There are flaws that one wouldn't have expected, such as singing slightly below the note in Elsa's dream, and sounding edgy, even acidic, from time to time. Dramatically, though, it is impeccable, and she and Melchior seem to bring out the best in one another.

He is so much the noblest of Lohengrins that one would just like all his critics to listen to this and be humiliatingly silenced. There are a few places where he gets out of time with the conductor and where he alters Wagner's note values, but mainly he is not only accurate but continuously inspired. The range of colours in his voice, his extraordinarily refined pianissimos, the trumpet tones which he can summon tirelessly, the way he can convey by purely vocal means tenderness, urgency, warning, all are things which no other singer of the role comes within hailing distance of. Franz Völker, singing under Robert Heger on the Preiser set, is wonderful too, but his is a lyric rather than a heroic voice, and the authority which Melchior exudes just escapes him.

The villains here make a striking if not a great pair too. Kerstin Thorborg is stretched where every Ortrud is, in her final explosion; but she manages her earlier ones, as well as her insinuations and her cajolings, with aplomb and plenty of volume where required. Julius Huehn is quite up to Telramund too, though he is often thought of as a capable second-rater. Here he is depicting a weak but ambitious character with powerful vocal means, and he brings it off. The young Leonard Warren is a distinguished Herald, making his announcements with enough variety of tone to avoid monotony. And Emanuel List, whipping boy of most commentators, makes a decent attempt at singing King Henry until his voice more or less shudders to a halt in Act 3.

One of the biggest surprises of this set for me is the fine conducting of Erich Leinsdorf, no fan of his tenor but offering him strong support. Most of Leinsdorf's Met conducting of this period is competent but routine, but there are plenty of places in this Lohenqrin where he ignites his singers and orchestra, sometimes even the chorus, though it tends to be weedy. It's a score, notoriously, which tends to sound foursquare unless there is plenty of subtle rubato applied to it, or elicited from lt. Much more than in his later commercial recording Leinsdorf seems willing to caress the score, and through a certain amount of crackle - not an intimidating quantity or quality, and I'm pleased that Guild left it in rather than indulging in the alternative - often there well sounds of grandeur and warmth. I fell in love with the opera all over again.

There are cuts, but they are less drastic than they had been under Artur Bodanzky. They make possible the inclusion of four solos by Melchior, introduced by the ultra- gentlemanly Milton Cross. One of the excerpts shows once again how skilfully Melchior built up his Act 3 narration in Lohengrin, even when he sang it as an aria out of context.

Michael Tanner

WAGNER NOTES

By JOE PEARCE
President of the N.Y. Vocal Record Collectors Society
Music critic, Opera Quarterly
(Re-printed by permission from the Wagner Society of New York)

LOHENGRIN

Metropolitan Opera, R. Wagner. Principals: Lauritz Melchior (Lohengrin), Elisabeth Rethberg (Elsa), Kerstin Thorborg (Ortrud), Julius Huehn (Telramund), Emanuel List (Heinrich), Leonard Warren (Herald); Erich Leinsdorf, conductor. (Performance of January 27, 1940) (3 CDs) Also Laurtiz Melchior: Rare Broadcast Recordings 1935/1936. Guild GHCD 2278/80.

About eighteen months back, Wagner Notes contained a review of a wonderful and very important set called THE DREAM RING, an engrossing project by Richard Caniell, of the Canadian-based International Performances Recorded Music Society, in which he very successfully attempted to engineer an entire Ring Cycle, in the best possible sound, based on performances broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera during their generally acknowledged Golden Age of Wagner, and going so far as to often incorporate sections of different Met broadcast performances from that era in order to achieve a more satisfactory whole. “Satisfactory” is hardly the word; for those who love great singing, it is the dominant Ring on records and unlikely to ever be surpassed. This LOHENGRIN is from the same source and the same era and, if considerably less immense in scope, it has been accorded the same extraordinary love and care throughout.

As in that earlier set, Mr. Caniell's notes, while not as copious as before, are rather formidably thought-provoking when it comes to “Wagner and Lohengrin” (how many CD producers double as philosophers?), less so but highly entertaining and a bit challenging (to me, at least) when addressing the singers, and totally aboveboard regarding his descriptions of just what went into the engineering of this set. As with the earlier Ring, the cast listed above should sell itself (themselves?) to just about any Wagnerite whose interest in great singing trumps their interest in Robert Wilson-like cardboard cutouts of the opera's characters, this assuming that the reproduction is truly supportive and worthy of such a cast. So, to the reproduction and the cast, occasionally using Mr. Caniell's comments as a starting point for further discussion.

For the most part, the sound is excellent, occasionally terrific, for its time, with the orchestra usually sounding big and full behind the singers (the Act I finale is particularly exciting in this respect) and the singers themselves practically jumping off the CDs at you throughout. So, slight pitch problems aside, this is an excellent to superb technical achievement.

To the singers: Well, let's just start by saying that when you have Melchior, Rethberg and Thorborg in LOHENGRIN, you are bound to have one of the greatest versions of the opera you are ever likely to hear. Still, I find myself in occasional disagreement with Mr. Caniell's assessments of some of the artists in this set, actually liking some of them more than he does and, in one case, not being quite as overwhelmed by a particular performance as is he. Covering our protagonist first and at considerable length, now let's all say it together - “Melchior was the greatest Wagnerian tenor of the Twentieth Century, probably of all time, and he was incapable of giving anything other than a grand performance, vocally and interpretively, of any Wagner role he undertook”. That is as true in this performance as in any other that he has left us. However, I am not quite as taken with his Lohengrin as is Mr. Caniell, who, not content with all of that, tells us that “His entire re-creation of this mystical knight glows with a subdued, unearthly grandeur” and that “his voice alone compels belief that he has come from a higher sphere”. Well, he's absolutely wonderful throughout, but to these ears he seems to be coming down more from Valhalla than from Montsalvat. The lyricism inherent in this role is not inimical to Melchior, but I don't hear it in his interpretation until we get to the Bridal Chamber Scene and beyond. Prior to that, he is his usual eager and stentorian self, with really just about nothing separating his sound as Lohengrin from his sound as Siegfried, Tannhauser or Tristan (speaking of three guys who never found a higher sphere to come down from). This is not a bad thing! But over twenty years ago I said (in a program devoted to non-German tenors singing Wagner in their own language) that Ivan Kozlovsky was the only Lohengrin I had ever heard who sounds like he could conceivably have been brought onto the scene in a boat pulled by a swan, and I see no reason to change that opinion now. When Melchior sings “Nun sei bedankt” to his trusty swan, it sounds almost like a call to arms (at least, next to Kozlovsky, Slezak or Konya), as indeed does his warning to Elsa never to ask his name and from where he has come. But he is meltingly lyrical in much of the Bridal Chamber Scene (more so than in his famous recording of it with Flagstad), sensitive if a bit overpowering in “In fernem Land”, and absolutely suffused with emotion throughout “Mein lieber Schwan”; indeed, after Kozlovsky and Crooks, I can think of no other tenor who does this last piece so movingly. Yes, on pure voice he is the great Lohengrin, but on pure voice he is the great almost-anyone-you-can-come-up-with. But for total warmth and romanticism, I'd go for Konya or Kozlovsky, and the latter is the only interpreter I can think of who brings a true hint of otherworldliness to the character (sometimes he sounds like he's representing another species!).

Happily, I have almost nothing but screaming raves about Rethberg. This performance catches her at 46, only two years away from retirement, but she is superb throughout (rather unexpectedly, her voice rides over the Act 1 finale in a manner that would not have been foreign to Birgit Nilsson). Vocally, this is expected since Rethberg was always at the top of the A-list of singers. What is not expected, and which Mr. Caniell rightly calls particular attention to, is her total dramatic involvement from beginning to end. This is a Rethberg one has never heard on records, where her interpretations tended to be either dutiful or absent altogether (Flagstad's recording of the Bridal Chamber Scene with Melchior absolutely pales next to Rethberg's interpretation here), and it makes one understand how she could stay at the top of the Met heap for two decades in a wide repertoire that overlapped with those of just about every major soprano on the roster, from Ponselle, Mario, Bori and Milanov thru Muller, Lehmann, Lawrence and Flagstad. For all practical purposes, Rethberg was (like Milanov) that rarest of singers, a superstar house soprano! Bravo!

Raves are also pretty much in order for Thorborg's brooding and vocally splendiferous Ortrud. What a superb artist! Thorborg was one of the few Wagnerian contraltos of her time who never took even a shot at the Wagnerian soprano heroines (even Branzell had a couple of Brunnhildes in her), probably because the very top of her contralto range was really its very top. She delivers a most creditable “Entweihte Gotter”, but is really at the end of her tether in her final scene. Of course, even screaming this music a bit can have the proper effect, since Ortrud is certainly screaming out her black soul at this point; very few mezzos or contraltos can sail through those final moments - Ludwig being the measurement standard here - but Thorborg's overall conception is grandly dark throughout and quite mesmerizing in her quieter moments as well.

I thought Julius Huehn's Telramund far better than Mr. Caniell's middling opinion of him. First of all, the voice is strong and steady throughout and words mean something to him, and he is well- matched with Thorborg in the brooding department. My favorite Telramunds are still ones I encountered relatively early, Joseph Metternich and Fischer-Dieskau. If Huehn hasn't got quite the voice of Metternich or quite the theatricality of Fischer-Dieskau, he makes a very good combination of many of the best attributes of both of them. He really holds his own with Thorborg in the great duet that opens Act Two, and his delivery of the first act Klage is better (and more dramatically apt) than the vast majority I have heard over the years since first being spoiled by Leopold Demuth's classic rendition.

I also like Emanuel List more than does Mr. Caniell, who finds him “wobbly”. Now, List doesn't have the beauty of voice of a Kipnis, and he may occasionally be even a bit uneven, but I don't really hear a wobble from him anywhere in this set, nor did he evidence one even a decade later (when in his mid-60s) when he made his final recordings. Anyhow, no one buys a LOHENGRIN for the Heinrich (except maybe Mrs. Heinrich), so don't concern yourself too much about it.

But you might want to buy this LOHENGRIN for the Herald from Heaven, and I do mean Leonard Warren in a role he first sang only a few weeks before this performance and would repeat 21 times in the next few years. It was his only German role and his may have been the best voice ever heard in this music at the Met (or anywhere else, for that matter). Interestingly, his voice is not as easily recognizable as it would shortly become, as it is all tone at this point, without the cover he would shortly use throughout a substantial portion of his range and which gave him a uniquely soft, warm, and rather velvety quality that made his voice as immediately identifiable as any singer's has ever been. Whatever the sound, however, Warren's casting as the Herald is as extravagant as would be hearing Jon Vickers as Beppe!

It almost goes without saying that the 28 year-old Erich Leinsdorf whips up considerable excitement throughout this whole performance. And someone will probably take a whip to me for saying it, but I have a feeling this is the kind of LOHENGRIN we might have heard from Toscanini at this point in his career. Anyhow, with singers like these, it is wise for the conductor to not get in the way; Leinsdorf doesn't.

As usual with such issues, there is no libretto included (surely you have other versions of the opera from which you can purloin a copy), but the notes are terrific. So, there it is. This is a set which should be deemed indispensable to the collection of any Wagnerite who cares about the history of great Wagnerian singing. Highly recommended!

Joe Pearce

Note:

Mr. Pearce made comments connected with the improvements we made to the recording. These have been omitted here because since the release of the Guild set the original transcription has been located with the Prelude as broadcast. The pitch lapses have been corrected and the new issue which Mr. Pearce received after his review was filed, includes the broadcast commentary.

Music Web 02.04.04

Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)

Lohengrin - opera in three acts. (plus Melchior arias)

Lohengrin, Lauritz Melchior (ten); Elsa, Elisabeth Rethberg (sop); Ortrud, Kerstin Thorburg (mezzo); Friedrich von Telramund, Julius Huehn (bar); King of Germany, Emanuel List (bass); The King’s Herald, Leonard Warren (bar)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, New York/Erich Leinsdorf
Rec. From Live Broadcast on January 27^th 1940 (Lohengrin). Broadcast Recordings 1935-1936 (Melchior)

GUILD HISTORICAL IMMORTAL PERFORMANCES SERIES CD2278-2280 [3CDs: 54.30+66.28+70.00]

In his introduction to this performance Richard Caniell, archivist and guiding light of the series notes at page 5 of the booklet, that the 1939-1940 season at the ‘Met’ was a feast for lovers of Wagnerian opera. The Guild series has already picked from the Met’s rich orchard including ‘Die Walküre’ and ‘Tristan und Isolde’ both featuring Melchior and Flagstad. The roster at the theatre included the greatest Wagner singers of the age, and in the case of Melchior and Flagstad, of any age. Erich Leinsdorf had taken over the German repertoire at the house on the death of Arthur Bodansky in November 1939. Bodansky is notorious amongst Wagnerians for the often savage ‘cuts’ he made and this is true of the present performance. Over 40 minutes of music are missing compared to Kempe (EMI ‘GROC’). Worse, as far as some of the great Wagnerian singers were concerned, was that Leinsdorf wasn’t Bodansky who they were used to. In those days Leinsdorf was considered lacking in authority and experience. Whatever the tensions, they were buried in the creativity of the performance heard here, with Melchior strong and secure throughout, even a little lachrymose in his ‘farewell’ (CD 3 tr. 12). As Lohengrin’s lover, Elsa, Elisabeth Rethburg’s silvery soprano shows some signs of her age; she had debuted at the theatre as Aida in 1923. Thorburg, two years her junior and on the Met roster since 1936, is formidable as Ortrud, although as Caniell admits (p.11), Wagner’s tessitura defeats her in the ravings in Act 3.

Of the lower male voices Huehn is steady as Friedrich if not ideally refulgent of tone (CD 2 tr. 14). He is a paragon compared to List’s wobbly King. By comparison, in one of his earliest performances at the Met, Leonard Warren as the herald gives every indication of the vocal virtues he was to bring as the leading Verdi baritone at the theatre. This was a mantle he was to wear until his untimely death on that stage on March 4^th 1960 during a performance of La Forza Del Destino.

This Lohengrin has appeared on various labels since the days of ‘EJS’ LPs. With some commendable restraint Richard Caniell recounts (p 34) how an entrepreneur, posing as a student, joined the Immortal Performance Recorded Music Society, who had been given the right to access the then copyright NBC performances, and stole various tape restorations. These including this performance were issued on various labels naming ‘Eklipse’ and ‘Walhal’. This issue has undergone much further work since then. Whilst still conforming to the philosophy of unfiltered presentation and pitch corrections this is perhaps best compared to the transfer of the same performance issued on ‘Arkadia’ in 2000. On this Guild issue un-correctable defects in Melchior’s ‘Höchstes Vetrau’n’ (CD 3 tr. 6) have been patched out from other sources, as has the Prelude to Act I. In an opera so full of pageantry, sound has an important part to play in enjoyment. Collectors will need to weigh the merits of Melchior in the opera (and the four arias in the appendices) with that of other interpreters on historical and more modern recordings and then decide if investment in this issue will be worthwhile.

Robert J. Farr