Wagner: Wie Todesahnung...O du, mein holder Abendstern (from Tannhäuser)

2013 sees a series of Wagner reissues on Eloquence from complete operas and highlights to Wagner singer portraits and even an audiobook!

This is a 50-year retrospective (1950 – 2000) of great Wagner singing on Decca and Deutsche Grammophon featuring twelve extracts from eight operas (including all four operas of the Ring cycle) with nine great singers. Wagner’s knowledge of heroes derived from two sources: the myths of ancient Greece, and the sagas and poetry of northern Europe. In both traditions, heroes possess god-like attributes which set them apart from non-heroic mortals and reinforce the view that they are superhuman. They often have gods as parents or grandparents. But Wagner humanizes his heroes, most notably Siegmund (sung inimitably by Jon Vickers in the legendary Decca recording of Die Walküre with Erich Leinsdorf), and the naïve Siegfried (with Wolfgang Windgassen singing both the Siegfried and Götterdämmerung Siegfrieds). Other great heldentenors represented on this collection include James King and James McCracken. Celebrated bass-baritones are also represented here: Paul Schöffler (singing Wotan’s Farewell from a rare 1950 recording), Ernst Haefliger (as the Dutchman) and most recently, Matthias Goerne (Wolfram). The insightful notes are provided by Wagner scholar Peter Bassett and a photo gallery of the singers is also included.

‘Operatic justice’, writes J.B. Steane in his informative and amusing note for this album, ‘is a law unto itself, and the baritone has been prominent among its victims. Unlucky in love, he is seen in the most favourable light as a father-figure and is otherwise all too often the villain of the piece. He may be manly but is rarely heroic. He will have his arias, his moments of glory, yet (uncannily, it must seem to him) their place is rarely at the centre of the opera, or for that matter, part of its last-act climax.’

Beginning with a bracket of Mozart arias, this colourful recital, recorded by Matthias Goerne in 2000, takes us through the terrains of mid- and late-19th century opera – Wagner, Humperdinck, Richard Strauss – to the early 20th-century with the moving ‘Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen’ from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, to two brief excerpts from Berg’s Wozzeck.

Matthias Goerne both works within the tradition and extends it. Like his predecessors, from Schlusnus to Fischer-Dieskau, he has developed his careers in opera and song side by side, though it is true that his fame and hitherto his work as a recording artist have centred less on opera than on Lieder and oratorio. His operatic recording debut was spotted by Gramophone magazine and described as ‘an impressive appearance’, as Prometheus in the large cast of Braunfels’s Die Vögel.

This double-CD set brings together for the first time two of Claudio Abbado’s Wagner recordings, the first of orchestral music, the second a selection of vocal works with Bryn Terfel, the leading Wagner baritone of our day.

“Terfel brings a wide palette of tone to peer into the Dutchman's soul and express Wolfram's evening thoughts, where his legato and half-voice are admirable” (Gramophone)

A singer of exceptional intelligence and style, the American Thomas Hampson has developed an operatic career that has taken him from Mozart, Rossini and the French composers of the 19th century to the grand roles of Verdi. In the field of song, he has explored a wide repertoire, ranging in this collection from Schubert, Schumann and Mahler to Grieg, Meyerbeer and the Americans Foster and Griffes.

Fritz Feinhals (1869 – 1940) was a German baritone whose career was mainly centered around Europe and the Metropolitan Opera where he was famous for his performances in Wagnerian opera. This release features recordings of him singing Wagner made between 1907 and 1911.

On his first-ever aria recital album Christian Gerhaher makes a strong case for the fascinating early-Romantic operatic repertoire. His illuminating selection draws a stringent line from lyric gems of great melodic beauty by Schubert and Schumann to more dramatic scenes by Weber and Nicolai and to Wolfram’s famous monologues from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, an opera in which the baritone has won particular international acclaim.

The Swedish baritone Peter Mattei has made a formidable reputation for himself performing at the most prestigious opera houses in the world including the Metropolitan, Teatro alla Scala and Covent Garden.

In the recording studio he is, however, a more rarely seen guest. On this his first and long-awaited disc of arias, he revels in the rich opportunities offered by the baritone literature, performing a selection of his favourite arias and roles. Lovelorn young men and cynical libertines, friends faithful unto death and innocent victims of oppression.

All of these are brought to life as one of today’s finest operatic baritones displays his entire range with the eminent support of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Lawrence Renes on the podium.

Dresden-born bass René Pape was recently honoured as a “Met Mastersinger”, a distinction shared only by Renée Fleming. Pape’s perfect diction, bel canto beauty of tone, and psychological penetration make him one of our day’s most capable − and celebrated – Wagnerians.

Assembled for this all-Wagner project, a matter of the heart to René Pape, is a prestigious team. Daniel Barenboim, renowned for the sensuality of his Wagner, conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin, the maestro’s long-time collaborators.

Excerpts from such Pape signature roles as Gurnemanz and the Rheingold Wotan are complemented by a terrific teaser of a part Pape has yet to reveal on stage − his eagerly anticipated Hans Sachs, the noble cobbler of Die Meistersinger.

In addition to scenes from Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, and Die Walküre, a special treat features tenor Plácido Domingo with Pape in a scene from Parsifal.