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Discussion: Wagner: Siegfried - Haenchen

Posts: 6

Post by ramesh February 28, 2007 (1 of 6)
Have only heard the last two discs so far.
1. 'First recording according to the Neue Richard-Wagner-Gesamtausgabe'

2. The woodbird is a boy singer!

3. Very fast : each act complete on 1 disc : 76:36, 68:33, 77:56

4. No libretto

5. Cheap.

6. Singers good, but not as impressive as the 1992 Bayreuth set under Barenboim.

7. The Adelaide set so far has a slightly better orchestral sound, with a richer, fuller bass, although the Dutch orchestra is probably the better ensemble, if not by much.

[ 8. It seems cheaper to buy the Melba set from a mail order UK firm than it is to buy direct from the company, so Melba has seen the last of my credit card.]

Post by hanser March 1, 2007 (2 of 6)
I am very interested in this Ring cyle and was astonished that there are no reviews or comments yet, therefore I am grateful for your comments. Now there are reviews to this Ring, but they are very short and not very informative.

I am especially interested in 2 things:

1) the multichannel sound: The stage setting was, that the orchestra was rotating (!) around the stage. How is this audible in the MC recording? Does the orchestra rotate through the surround or is it audible at all?

2) the singers. Most Wagner singers seem to be inadaequate today. Do they seem to be forced or not intoning correctly in this recording?

Post by Castor March 1, 2007 (3 of 6)
hanser said:

I am very interested in this Ring cyle and was astonished that there are no reviews or comments yet, therefore I am grateful for your comments. Now there are reviews to this Ring, but they are very short and not very informative.

I am especially interested in 2 things:

1) the multichannel sound: The stage setting was, that the orchestra was rotating (!) around the stage. How is this audible in the MC recording? Does the orchestra rotate through the surround or is it audible at all?

2) the singers. Most Wagner singers seem to be inadaequate today. Do they seem to be forced or not intoning correctly in this recording?

The review of Die Walkuere in BBC music says:

" Pierre Audi's striking 'ringed' staging placed the orchestra at stage level in mid-set, and the recording doesn't seem to cope with this, creating a remote and under-detailed sound, the opposite of what SACD should achieve"

The singers in this Ring were adequate by today's standards, but not the best around by any means. I was surprised to see it appear on SACD as I saw no signs of microphones at the cycle I attended.
Incidentally, the orchestra was placed in a different position on stage for each of the four operas so it is possible that the sound balance will vary somewhat between the recordings.

Post by hanser March 2, 2007 (4 of 6)
Castor said:

The review of Die Walkuere in BBC music says:

" Pierre Audi's striking 'ringed' staging placed the orchestra at stage level in mid-set, and the recording doesn't seem to cope with this, creating a remote and under-detailed sound, the opposite of what SACD should achieve"

The singers in this Ring were adequate by today's standards, but not the best around by any means. I was surprised to see it appear on SACD as I saw no signs of microphones at the cycle I attended.
Incidentally, the orchestra was placed in a different position on stage for each of the four operas so it is possible that the sound balance will vary somewhat between the recordings.

Thank you, my mistake, the singers rotate around the orchestra. Anyway I would be happy for reports how the multichannel SACD transports this.

Post by Ucheru March 7, 2007 (5 of 6)
The SACDs don't transport the stage concept at all. They contain a rather conventional orchestral sound image, sounding more or less naturally but not very detailed. But there's one really weird point about the sound image: during the complete ring operas every, really every singer is restricted to the center channel. In the consequence, there is no spacial image, not the slightest hint of any "sonic stage". This spoils the recording totally even before commenting on the orchestral or vocal achievements. The latter are - not surprisingly for anyone familiar with contempory Wagner singing - rather modest.

Post by hanser March 8, 2007 (6 of 6)
Ucheru said:

The SACDs don't transport the stage concept at all. They contain a rather conventional orchestral sound image, sounding more or less naturally but not very detailed. But there's one really weird point about the sound image: during the complete ring operas every, really every singer is restricted to the center channel. In the consequence, there is no spacial image, not the slightest hint of any "sonic stage". This spoils the recording totally even before commenting on the orchestral or vocal achievements. The latter are - not surprisingly for anyone familiar with contempory Wagner singing - rather modest.

Thank your for your reply. I will stick then with the DVD version of this (I am interested with the direction).

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