Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Gerd Grochowski, Annette Dasch, Susanne Resmark, Klaus Florian Vogt, Günther Groissböck, Markus Bruck, Berlin Radio Choir
Orchestra: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Marek Janowski
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Pentatone
Catalogue: PTC5186403
Release: 2012
Size: 3.55 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Lohengrin
CD 01
Act I
01. Prelude
02. Scene 1: Hort! Grafen, Edle, Freie von Brabant! (Herald, Chorus, The King)
03. Scene 1: Dank, Konig, dir, dass du zu richten kamst! (Friedrich, Chorus, Herald, The King)
04. Scene 2: Seht ihn! Sie naht, die hart Beklagte! (Chorus, The King, Elsa)
05. Scene 2: Einsam in truben Tagen hab’ ich zu Gott gefleht (Elsa, Chorus, The King)
06. Scene 2: Mich irret nicht ihr traumerischer Mut (Friedrich, Chorus, The King, Elsa)
07. Scene 2: Wer hier in Gotteskampfe zu streiten kam (Herald, Chorus, Friedrich, Elsa)
08. Scene 3: Nun sei bedankt, mein lieber Schwan! (Lohengrin, Chorus, The King)
09. Scene 3: Zum Kampf fur eine Magd zu steh’n (Lohengrin, Elsa, Chorus)
10. Scene 3: Nun hort! Euch, Volk und Edlen, mach’ ich kund (Lohengrin, Chorus, Friedrich, The King)
11. Scene 3: Nun horet mich und achtet wohl (Herald, Chorus, Lohengrin, Friedrich, The King, Elsa, Ortrud)
12. Scene 3: Durch Gottes Sieg ist jetzt dein Leben mein (Lohengrin, Chorus, The King, Elsa, Ortrud, Friedrich)
CD 02
Act II
01. Scene 1: Introduction
02. Scene 1: Erhebe dich, Genossin meiner Schmach! (Friedrich, Ortrud)
03. Scene 1: Du wilde Seherin! Wie willst du doch (Friedrich, Ortrud)
04. Scene 2: Euch Luften, die mein Klagen (Elsa, Ortrud, Friedrich)
05. Scene 2: Elsa! … Wer ruft? (Ortrud, Elsa)
06. Scene 2: Entweihte Gotter, helft jetzt meiner Rache! (Ortrud, Elsa)
07. Scene 2: Wie kann ich solche Huld dir lohnen (Ortrud, Elsa, Friedrich)
08. Scene 3: Im Fruh’n versammelt uns der Ruf (Chorus)
09. Scene 3: Des Konigs Wort und Will’ tu’ ich euch kund (Herald, Chorus, Four Nobles, Friedrich, Four Pages)
10. Scene 4: Gesegnet soll sie schreiten (Chorus)
11. Scene 4: Zuruck, Elsa! Nicht langer will ich dulden (Ortrud, Chorus, Elsa, The King, Lohengrin)
12. Scene 4: O Konig! Trugbetorte Fursten! Haltet ein! (Friedrich, The King, Chorus, Lohengrin)
13. Scene 4: Welch ein Geheimnis muss der Held Bewahren? (The King, Chorus, Ortrud, Friedrich, Lohengrin, Elsa)
14. Scene 4: Mein Held entgeg’ne kuhn dem Ungetreuen! (The King, Chorus, Lohengrin, Friedrich, Elsa)
CD 03
Act III
01. Prelude
02. Scene 1: Treulich gefuhrt, ziehet dahin (Wedding March) (Ladies, Men, Women)
03. Scene 2: Das susse Lied verhallt; wir sind allein (Lohengrin, Elsa)
04. Scene 2: Fuhl’ ich zu dir so suss mein Herz entbrennen (Elsa, Lohengrin)
05. Scene 2: Atmest du nicht mit mir die sussen Dufte? (Lohengrin, Elsa)
06. Scene 2: Hochstes Vertrau’n hast du mir schon zu danken (Lohengrin, Elsa)
07. Scene 2: Weh’, nun ist all’ unser Gluck dahin! (Lohengrin, Elsa)
08. Scene 3: Heil, Konig Heinrich! (All The Men, The King, Four Nobles)
09. Scene 3: Macht Platz, macht Platz dem Helden von Brabant! (Chorus, The King, Lohengrin, The King’s Men, Ladies)
10. Scene 3: Tale of the Grail: In fernem Land, unnahbar euren Schritten …(Lohengrin, The King, Men, Women)
11. Scene 3: Mein lieber Schwan! (Lohengrin, The King, Men, Women, Ortrud, Elsa)
The latest release in this unique Wagner edition. Previously, Parsifal was BBC Music Magazine’s recording of the Month; “… spontaneity of something which has sunk so deeply into the performers’ minds and souls that they can throw caution to the wind.”
This live 2011 recording is the fourth installment in Pentatone’s ambitious Wagner cycle, set to be completed in 2013 to celebrate the bicentennial of the composer’s birth, featuring Marek Janowski leading Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Rundfunkchor Berlin. Janowski’s reading, which is in general snappier than the average, wisely leans toward emphasizing the extremes in the score; the slow sections are ethereally serene and the fast have a buoyant, sometimes almost reckless energy. It makes for an exciting and propulsive performance, and the orchestra plays with agility and rich, sensuous tone. This is a concert performance, but everyone involved performs with urgency and strong sense of drama.
Günther Groissböck as Heinrich stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. His oaken, ringing, authoritative bass rivets attention whenever he sings; he’s entirely persuasive as a powerful medieval monarch. As Telramund, Gerd Grochowski has less commanding vocal equipment, but he’s a terrifically engaging singing actor and his scenes with Susanne Resmark as Ortrud crackle with energy and are among the highlights of the performance. The romantic leads are overall less effective. Klaus Florian Vogt as Lohengrin sings with musicality but has a relatively light tenor that sounds like he would be more at ease in bel canto and Mozart; he just doesn’t have the heroic timbre and bearing this role requires. Annette Dasch sounds somewhat out of her comfort zone as Elsa, particularly in the first act and when she is called on to sing at full volume. Their voices are beautifully suited to the third act duet, though; its more intimate emotions and more delicate orchestration give them a chance to shine without strain, and they have real chemistry as their tender lovers’ conversation devolves into a nightmarish confrontation of broken trust. The sound of the hybrid SACD is wonderfully clear and is as clean and well-balanced as a studio recording.