Matti Salminen - SACD

“Recorded live in Berlin, the orchestra and the splendid Radio Chorus are the most impressive elements...The veteran Matti Salminen is still a formidable Daland, but Albert Dohmen’s intelligent Dutchman and Ricarda Merbeth’s committed Senta sound vocally worn and stretched.” Sunday Times, 11th September 2011

“Here is charm, wit and even kitsch alongside the spooky but never overdone drama. The recording is also first-rate in warmth, immediacy and clarity...the best all-round modern performance of the opera and a good nod towards the original-instrument version of this edition of the score we still need.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011

“Janowski's conducting is crisp and fleet-footed, shaping the music naturally and fluently...[Dohmen] is a warm anti-hero, but too soft-grained to sound demonically desperate. Matti Salminen's Daland is vocally worn but still amazing for his age. Vocal honours, though, go to Ricarda Merbeth's keen, nervy Senta, and the two tenors...also the clean-cut chorus, which is reasonably dramatically involved.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****

“It is astonishing that veteran Matti Salminen...can still shine as Daland...but his is the star voice here. Robert Dean Smith gives good value, too, in the tricky role of Erik...Steve Davislim is something of a catch as a lyrically sung Steersman...Janowksi's conducting has a momentum and a sense of abstract theatre which can take the breath away. I won't be jettisoning my allegiances, however, to the older conductors' singers.” International Record Review, November 2011

“[a good Meistersinger] should show teamwork among the soloists and a good balance between the conversational style of much of the singing and the grandeur of the orchestral accompaniment. On that basis, this recording...is the most successful ever made. It is a phenomenal achievement of Marek Janowski to have welded his immense forces into such a virtually flawless unity, and to imbue it with incessant vitality and energy.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 *****

“a swift, light, comic reading of the score, more Lortzing than Tristan...Albert Dohmen sounded at home across the whole spectrum of Sachs's poetry, wistfulness and wit....Henschel essays a Beckmesser who can be all of pompous, weird, a credible vocalist in both serenade and prize song to Eva - and funny....Janowski's achievement is to have recreated a genuine comic feel for the piece.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“[Janowski] never imposes any superfluous heaviness on the score; his Meistersinger breathes naturally, brimming with compelling drama and homogenous humour...Dohmen exudes commanding authority tempered with avuncular softness, his gloriously rich and mellifluous voice never strained. Edith Haller's relatively light, creamy Eva is delightful...a winning Meistersinger that more than holds its own with any in the catalogue.” Graham Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 13th February 2012

“Die Meistersinger is essentially an ensemble piece, and Janowski never lets you forget this...Occasionally, in Sachs's big phrases, Dohmen has to push his voice, but, overall, his Sachs is one of the successes of the set...Another big success is Peter Sonn's youthful and verbally agile David...As Pogner, Georg Zeppenfeld sports one of the finest German basses of his generation and the most beautiful male voice on the set.” International Record Review, February 2012