Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Beate Asserson, Ingrid Bjoner, Set Svanholm, Egil Nordsjo, Waldemar Johnsen, Per Gronneberg, Karen Marie Flagstad, Kirsten Flagstad, Unni Bugge-Hanssen, Eva Gustavson, Norwegian State Radio Opera Chorus
Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Conductor: Øivin Fjeldstad
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Eloquence
Catalogue: ELQ4828809
Release: 2019
Size: 911 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Götterdämmerung
01. “Welch Licht leuchtet dort?”
02. “Treu beratner Verträge Runen”
03. “Es ragt die Burg, von Riesen gebaut”
04. “Zu neuen Taten, teurer Helde”
05. “Willst du mir Minne schenken”
06. “O heilige Götter! Hehre Geschlechter!”
07. Orchesterzwischenspiel (Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt)
08. “Nun hör, Hagen”
09. “Wen rätst du nun zu frein”
10. “Jagt er auf Taten wonnig umher”
11. “Wer ist Gibichs Sohn?”
12. “Begrüße froh, o Held, die Halle”
13. “Willkommen, Gast, in Gibichs Haus”
14. “Deinem Bruder bot ich mich zum Mann”
15. “Blühenden Lebens labendes Blut”
16. “Frisch auf die Fahrt!”
17. “Hier sitz’ich zur Wacht”
18. “Altgewohntes Geräusch”
19. “Oder wie – o sag”
20. “Höre mit Sinn, was ich dir sage!”
21. “Brünnhild’! Ein Freier kam”
22. Orchestervorspiel
23. “Schläfst du, Hagen, mein Sohn?”
24. “Hoiho, Hagen! Müder Mann!”
25. “Hoiho! Hoihohoho! Ihr Gibichsmannen”
26. “Heil dir, Gunther!”
27. “Gegrüsst sei, teurer Held!”
28. “Einen Ring sah ich an deiner Hand”
29. “Heil’ge Götter, himmlische Lenker!”
30. “Helle Wehr! Heilige Waffe!”
31. “Welches Unholds List liegt hier verhohlen?”
32. “Auf Gunther, edler Gibichung”
33. Orchestervorspiel
34. “Frau Sonne sendet lichte Strahlen”
35. “Ein Albe führte mich irr”
36. “Siegfried! Siegfried! Siegfried!”
37. “Hoiho!”
38. “Trink, Gunther, trink”
39. “Mime hieß ein mürrischer Zwerg”
40. “In Leid zu dem Wipfel lauscht’ ich hinauf”
41. “Brünnhilde, heilige Braut”
42. Trauermarsch
43. “War das sein Horn?”
44. “Hoiho! Hoiho!”
45. “Nicht klage wider mich”
46. “Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort”
47. “Mein Erbe nun nehm’ ich zu eigen”
FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA. REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES.
Kirsten Flagstad’s farewell to the role she made her own: a rarely reissued, newly remastered and extensively documented monument in the history of Wagner on record.
As the first commercial recording of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung this set would have lasting significance even without the presence of its undoubted star, the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad in her signature role of Brünnhilde. In fact Flagstad had retired from the operatic stage in 1953, just shy of her 58th birthday, with her voice still largely intact when she was persuaded to return to the heroine of the Ring one final time and in propitious circumstances: live performances of an act at a time, generously spaced by a few days at a time, working with a fellow-Norwegian conductor she knew well, and a partner in the role of Siegfried who had developed a musical understanding with her over the course of decades. On her death in December 1962, Set Svanholm paid tribute to ‘the warm dark gold in her voice’, the immense physical presence she brought to the stage and ‘an expression in the performance whereby the greatness of the simplicity became overwhelming’.
The concerts in January 1956 were recorded by Norwegian Radio; on becoming aware of them, Decca producer John Culshaw fully appreciated their significance and arranged for an additional recording session to cover almost all the sections of the score that had been omitted in the live performances. Printed in the booklet of this Eloquence reissue there are further glowing personal tributes by Harold Rosenthal, former editor of Opera magazine, and by the conductor Richard Bonynge, for whom Flagstad’s Isolde, experienced live, was ‘miraculous’: ‘Hers was undoubtedly the greatest Wagnerian voice that I have ever heard or that I am likely to hear again.’ The booklet also includes a contextual essay on the opera by Robert Boas and a full synopsis.
‘A magnificent performance … Flagstad takes her place among the great Brünnhildes of all time … But it must not be overlooked that this recording also preserves the performance of the best Siegfried of the same period, Set Svanholm, whose singing remains as accurate and intelligent as ever.’ – The Musical Times, October 1956
‘[Flagstad’s] voice remains amazingly strong and clear … In the last two acts she sings with confidence and regal authority … For such singing as this the set will always retain its value.’ – Gramophone, October 1956