Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“…Bell has the lightness and quickness of Mercury in passagework, and a smooth and sweet lyricism no less divine in the slower sections. …he is well matched by the ASMF, their sound ample and softly comfortable yet clean and clear.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2008

“If you like your Baroque music with a Romantic gloss, this will be for you.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ***

“A big-name violinist, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, John Constable tinkling away on a ten-ton Goble – this Seasons is a bit like returning to old times. Any Vivaldi-lover will have these iconic concertos in their collection already, probably several times over, but the merest glance at the packaging of this one will tell you that it is not aimed at them anyway. So what will the 'I want a Four Seasons but by somebody I've heard of' clientele get for their money? Well, mighty fine playing for certain: Bell has the lightness and quickness of Mercury in passagework, and a smooth and sweet lyricism no less divine in the slower sections. Not a single ugly noise emanates from his instrument, and he is well matched by the ASMF, their sound ample and softly comfortable yet clean and clear. It is doubtful if you will ever hear a more purely beautifully rapt ensemble rendition of the slow movement from Spring, for instance.
What is missing amid all this high-class musicianship is the inventive spark of excitement these pieces can provoke in so many players, especially through its descriptive elements. All right, not everyone has to give themselves over entirely to being dying stags, drunken peasants or barking dogs, but these performances would surely benefit from the greater rhythmic and dynamic flexibility a bit more pictorial imagining could bring.
The fill-up is a thoughtful choice, however; Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata, adroitly played with extra-romantic, stratospheric cadenza, as if to Bell the Devil were ne'er a foe.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Karajan's Parsifal seems to grow in stature as an interpretation on each rehearing; on its CD transfer it appears to have acquired a new depth, in terms of sound, because of the greater range of the recording and the greater presence of both singers and orchestra. As in practically all cases, CD offers a more immediate experience. Karajan's reading, a trifle stodgy in Act 1, grows in intensity and feeling with the work itself, reaching an almost terrifying force in the Prelude to Act 3 which is sustained to the end of the opera. Moll's Gurnemanz is a deeply expressive, softly moulded performance of notable beauty. Vejzovic, carefully nurtured by Karajan, gives the performance of her life as Kundry. Hofmann's tone isn't at all times as steady as a Parsifal's should be, but he depicts the character's anguish and eventual serenity in his sincere, inward interpretation. Van Dam is a trifle too placid as Amfortas, but his singing exhibits admirable power and fine steadiness. Nimsgern is the epitome of malice as Klingsor. The choral singing doesn't have quite the confidence of the superb orchestral playing, which has both qualities of Keats's imagining of beauty and truth in abundance.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“In most respects this is the most perfect, atmospheric Parsifal yet committed to disc or cassette. Admitting the vocal imperfections, few as they are, the set attempts an artistic, or at least technical superiority which it fairly achieves.” Gramophone Magazine, 1981

“...in its glowing beauty, Karajan's Parsifal comes closest to the ideal of Schopenhauerian or Buddhist renunciation of will that the opera itself may strive towards.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

“Communion, musical and spiritual, is what this intensely beautiful Karajan set provides. The playing of the Berlin Orchestra is consistently beautiful, near to the atmospheric ideal. A superb achievement.” Penguin Guide

OK, so I know that January’s CD of the Month was also an opera and I do try to vary these things, but what is one to do when faced with a set that reduces you to helpless, awestruck admiration (and, I admit it, tears) by its close? This is a worthy conclusion to a magnificent cycle. As before, most of the cast, familiar from other recordings, surpass themselves here. Windgassen may be more vocally secure for Solti but nowhere else is he so tender, so moving as here. Josef Greindl is a far more saturnine, charismatic Hagen here than elsewhere. But it is Astrid Varnay who is the great revelation. - Gramophone Magazine

“…Götterdämmerung with white-hot immediacy. The cast is superb, from Norns and Rhinemaidens upward. Keilberth sweeps them all along the path of tragedy with compellingly balanced drive and spaciousness, arriving at an unusually serene vision of Valhalla's destruction. It's an altogether gripping experience...and takes its place alongside the Solti among the finest renditions on disc.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

“At one and the same time this is a beautiful Parsifal… a modern Parsifal… and a new look at Parsifal, informed by Thielemann's experience and knowledge of a great tradition. …Domingo's… commitment to the role is undiminished and his understanding of the text is superior to earlier recordings under Levine... The high-ranging vocal landscape of Kundry's final attack on Parsifal in Act 2 pushes Meier to the limit... her phrasing and characterisation are now of almost Hotter-like perception. ...the VPO are attentive and flexible to every novel requirement, the winds (a crucial part of Thielemann's sound world for this opera) a colourful and seductive joy.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2006

“Time and again, as I listened enraptured to this overwhelming performance, I felt as though as I was sitting in the Bayreuth stalls. …Keilberth's… command of every aspect of this vast score is unerring in balance, detail and overall Schwung. No opera house or recording has since rivalled the cast assembled here, not even the Decca set, by which time Hotter Windgassen and Neidlinger were all some 10 years older. In 1955 all three are at the peak of their form and - singing live rather than in the studio - are that much more involved and involving. Don't take my word for it: buy the discs and experience Wagner as he was supremely performed in those special days...” Gramophone Magazine, March 2006

“[Windgassen] is in gloriously fresh voice...Neidlinger too is clear and incisive as Alberich, with Josef Greindl darkly majestic as Fafner...The duetting of Varnay and Windgassen as Siegfried and Brunnhilde then makes a thrillingly passionate conclusion in Keilberth's thrustful reading.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“…a quite remarkable performance from New Bayreuth's golden era, with an underrated conductor and truly classic cast. …Hotter's magnificent Wotan… his verbal sensitivity and expressive range make this tragically sympathetic characterisation unequalled on disc. ...the performance as a whole sounds splendid, carrying one along with immense dramatic sweep.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 *****

“Very properly, Hans Hotter, as Wotan, dominates this utterly absorbing and exciting account of Walküre, the second instalment of the rediscovered Keilberth Ring at Bayreuth in 1955.
There exist several other incarnations of his dominant reading but perhaps only that in the Krauss cycle of 1953 reveals him in such superb form. Whether arguing the moral toss with von Milinkovi?'s harrying Fricka, sunk in deep desolation after his capitulation to his spouse (Wotan's long narration so full of insights, not for a moment dull), his fury at Brünnhilde's disobedience and his final relenting in an unforgettable account of the Farewell, Hotter commands every aspect of the role. His sonorous, wide-ranging voice is matched by his verbal acuity, text and tone in ideal accord. This, much more than his portrayal in the Solti cycle, when his voice often struggles with the part, is the performance to judge him by.
As ever, his long-standing stage partnership with the Brünnhilde of Astrid Varnay pays many dividends. She, too, is in prime form; she, too, melds words and voice into a well-nigh perfect unity. Not even a god could fail to response positively to her appeals to be forgiven, and that follows a warmly sung and deeply considered account of the the Todesverkündigung in Act 2.
That wonderfully moving scene also finds Ramón Vinay's Siegmund in most eloquent form. As throughout the first two acts, his singing benefits from his attractively plangent tone and, in Act 1, his tale of his sad plight. That, of course, turns to ecstasy in the glorious love music that ends Act 1, where Gré Brouwenstijn's womanly, vibrant Sieglinde is a fit match. She is properly distraught and guilt-ridden in Act 2 but – as so many lyrical sopranos have found – the taxing passages in Act 3 prove a shade beyond her.
In Act 1, Keilberth's direction takes a while to catch fire. From the exciting start of Act 2 he is in his most persuasive form, he and his fine orchestra projecting the manifold events and changes of mood with a persuasively dramatic drive. The Ride of the Valkyries whizzes along, Wotan's fury is frightening, the Magic Fire music elating. Once more, he proves that this was the year his Ring came into its own.
The recording is again amazingly lifelike, catching the excitement of a notable occasion on the Green Hill. The stage noises are hardly ever distracting, nor should one be too bothered by two or three moments when a singer forgets his or her words. Altogether we are here in the highest realm of Wagnerian interpretation.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Hans Hotter's Wotan dominates this utterly absorbing and exciting account of Walküre, the second instalment of the rediscovered Keilberth Ring at Bayreuth in 1955, following on from the much-lauded Siegfried… Hotter command every aspect of the role. His sonorous, wide-ranging voice is matched by his verbal acuity, text and tone in ideal accord. ...Astrid Varnay... too, is in prime form; she, too, melds words and voice into a well nigh perfect unity.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006

“There might be flaws in this long-awaited CD release of the original performance, but few of them come from Goodall's thrilling grasp of Wagner's late comic opera. Compelling, joyous, often magnificent, Goodall displays a great sense for overall dramatic architecture and a spaciousness that highlights detail.” The Times, 5th July 2008 ****

“The performance is greater than the sum of its parts: individual roles may have been more lustrously sung on disc, but it is hard to think of a more satisfying team than Norman Bailey (a noble Sachs, earthy and poetic), Alberto Remedios (a liquidly sung, golden-toned Stolzing), Derek Hammond-Stroud, (a pernickety, word-perfect Beckmesser), Margaret Curphey (occasionally lemony-tinted, but radiant on the top line of the quintet) and Gregory Dempsey (a David who really sings the notes). Goodall’s towering achievement shines through the sometimes boxy recording.” Sunday Times, 13th July 2008 ****

“Avid Wagnerites have been clamouring for the commercial release of these two performances for ages. Broadcast on Radio 3, from Sadler's Wells and the Royal Opera House respectively, they have cult status among postwar British Wagner interpretations, and each also represents a significant moment in its company's history. Reginald Goodall's English-language performances in 1968 marked the start of a 15-year-long Wagnerian golden age, as far as Sadler's Wells (later English National) Opera was concerned. Bernard Haitink's Meistersinger - the high point of his tenure as Covent Garden's music director - was broadcast in July 1997, on the eve of the house's closure for refurbishment. Stylistically, they are antithetical. Goodall's at times overwhelming performance is at once extremely slow and phenomenally intense, while Haitink is swift, mercurial and altogether more relaxed. Goodall never lets us forget that Meistersinger is a parable of poetic creativity, and there is an overriding sense of metaphysical resonance and elation in his interpretation. Haitink, meanwhile steers us through an urbane social comedy, before anchoring the work in the final scene, when Walther (Gösta Winbergh) gives the song's first performance, as Sachs (John Tomlinson) gazes contentedly on. Goodall has marginally the more consistent cast, the product of his determination to train an ensemble of house singers. Bailey's nobly introverted Sachs has claim to being the most beautiful on disc, and few Walthers have ever matched Remedios in poetic fervour. Winbergh, very much his equal in vocal ease and beauty, is more impulsive and also, tellingly, more obviously aristocratic. Goodall has the better Eva in the ecstatic Margaret Curphey, while Haitink's Nancy Gustafson is having an off night. On the other hand, Thomas Allen's subtly characterised Beckmesser, for Haitink, is preferable to Derek Hammond-Stroud's snarling caricature on the Goodall set.” The Guardian, 11th July 2008 ****

“Goodall's understanding of what every beat of this core means, and his successful communication of that to his personally trained cast, is a thing of wonder. Climaxes are immense; timers may tell us it's slow, but the pulse never flags.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008

“It's eminently listenable, capturing the musical and spiritual glow of Goodall's orchestra and voices, masterfully embodying the comedy's entwining pain and laughter. …this is not only something very special, but (for Anglophones) strikingly accessible. Pure gold!” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 *****

“Quite a revelation. The radio recording captures the atmosphere thrillingly. [Bailey] was an outstanding Sachs, firm and focused...Hammond-Stroud is a delightfully characterful Beckmesser, pointing the humour infectiously...It is striking that not one of the singers has even the suspicion of a wobble.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ***

“even Solti's detractors have to admit the awesome status of Gotterdammerung, in which performance and recording unite with seamless strength to evoke the power of cosmic, cathartic tragedy. It hasn't been surpassed; it may never be.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012

“As perspectives on the Solti/Culshaw enterprise lengthen, and critical reactions are kept alert by the regular appearance of new, or newly issued, and very different recordings, it may seem increasingly ironic that of all conductors the ultra-theatrical Solti should have been denied a live performance. There are indeed episodes in this recording that convey more of the mechanics of the studio than of the electricity of the opera house – the opening of Die Walküre, Act 2, and the closing scenes of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, for example. Yet, in general, dramatic impetus and atmosphere are strongly established and well sustained, sometimes more powerfully than is usually managed in the theatre.
As just one example one would instance the superb control with which the intensity of Donner's summoning up of the thunder in DasRheingold is maintained across Froh's greeting to the rainbow bridge into Wotan's own great salutation.
At the majestic climax of this scene the power of feeling conveyed by George London's fine performance counts for more than any 'artificiality' in the way the voice is balanced against the orchestra.
Equally memorable in a totally different context is Solti's management of the long transition in Götterdämmerung between Hagen's Watch and the appearance of Waltraute. Nothing could be less mannered or unnatural than Solti's grasp of perspective and feeling for the life of each phrase in this music. On CD the clarity of instrumental detail is consistently remarkable, and while not all the singers sound as if they're constantly in danger of being overwhelmed there are some vital episodes, especially those involving Windgassen and Nilsson. Awareness of what these artists achieved in other recordings strengthens the suspicion that they may have been giving more than we actually get here.
Windgassen isn't allowed to dominate the sound picture in the way his part demands, and Nilsson can seem all-too relaxed within the comforting cocoon of the orchestral texture.
Factors like these, coupled with those distinctive Soltian confrontations between the hard-driven and the hammily protracted, have prevented the cycle from decisively seeing off its rivals over the years. It's questionable neverthe- less whether any studio recording of The Ring could reasonably be expected to be more atmospheric, exciting or better performed than this one. The VPO isn't merely prominent, but excellent, and such interpretations as Svanholm's Loge, Neidlinger's Alberich and Frick's Hagen remain very impressive.
Above all, there's Hotter, whose incomparably authoritative, unfailingly alert and responsive Wotan stands up well when compared to his earlier Bayreuth accounts. Nowhere is he more commanding than in Siegfried, Act 1, where one even welcomes Stolze's mannerisms as Mime for the sparks they strike off the great bass-baritone.
Earlier in this act the interplay of equally balanced instruments and voices in relatively intimate conversational phrases displays the Culshaw concept at its most convincing. He would have been astonished to hear what his successors have achieved in renewing his production through digital remastering. One now realises how much of the original sound was lost on the old pressings. In comparison with the 1980 Janowski/RCA version, the approaches are so different they almost seem like different experiences.
Culshaw was intent on creating a theatre on record with all the well-known stage effects; the rival version eschews all such manifestations.
In general, Janowski presents a much more intimate view of the work than Solti's.
However many other Rings you may have, though, you'll need this one.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Solti himself developed in the process of making the recording, and Götterdämmerung represents a peak of achievement for him, commanding and magnificent.” Penguin Guide, 2010 ****