Frankly no worse than Measha
For the most part Maestro Welser-Most’s conducting is assured and revealing. The only misfire is a rather perfunctory reading of the “Lohengrin” Act 3 Prelude. Otherwise he shapes these well-known excerpts with a loving attention to detail that never gets in the way of their inherent lyricism and theatricality. I wish I could say the same for Measha Brueggergosman!
Ms. Brueggergosman has forged quite a career in concert and recital while also landing what appears to be an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Based on this CD, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Her voice is pretty enough, in an ordinary kind of way, but for most of this CD she sings at a rather tremulous sounding mezzo-piano that I can’t believe was audible past the third row.
It is only during the rare moments when she sings loud enough to be heard that the voice takes on a darker more interesting color and what sounds like a nice amount of heft and ring. I suspect she has aiming for intimate and meaningful but only got as far as fussy and under sung. Even here Maestro Welser-Most proves himself an excellent technician and supportive colleague, holding down the orchestra to a whisper while still giving shape, direction and support to Ms. Brueggergosman’s uninspired singing.
So here is a short list of the many superior recordings
To sum it all up, is the CD worth buying for just the orchestral excerpts? Probably not.
I heard this Product before and after the makeover. Whatever she had is largely gone. The pitch problems have stayed.
DG’s latest fraud. I’m not sure even the French and Germans will fall for this Wannabe Classical Bricktop.
Sad.
On a completely different note – watching the NYC PBS broadcast of Armida and I am enjoying this so much more than I did than when I saw it live. I caught the prima and in this performance Renee is a lot less “tentative” than she was in that performance. I guess she settled into role over the run. What did they have like 9 or 10 performances or something like that? It was funny to see Larry Brownlee do the countdown to the last performance as each performance ticked by on Facebook.
Keep in mind though that any recording medium masks some of RF’s current deficiencies, especially at the Met. I saw two performances of Armida, the prima and one of the later ones, and in both she was merely meowing out most of her lines and whispering, swooping, etc. All of that gets very much tempered by recording since audibility is not an issue. I watched some of the telecast too and it was much prettier than I remember. More even sounding and smooth, as opposed to the roller-coaster roulades she gave us in the house.
Scifisci, I agree. I don’t catch many of the movie theatre simulcast or usually watch Live From The Met PBS broadcasts. one of the pleasures of living in NYC and being able to catch everything live at the Met. But her recorded performance was like 10 times better than what I heard in the house and we must admit that she looks good and her “acting” goes over well. Also, I guess I am one of the few Zimmerman fans on this site. Loved the Lucia and I have been fan of her since I saw her production of Metamorphoses at Lincoln Center. Armida is not Rossini’s best dramatic opera and I think the production was a good one.
NYCOQ – Count me as another who has enjoyed the Zimmerman Met productions – I feel that one can acknowledge specific flaws while still having an overall positive reaction.
I don’t think she had bypass surgery.
I saw her twice with SFS: January, 2005 in the Janacek Mass, then in 2006 in some Schoenberg cabaret songs. She was terrific both times; sorry to hear of the apparent decline.
Another great Wesendonck, with piano, from Frida Leider.
MB did eventually admit to gastric bypass, after first claiming she lost the weight only through yoga. She also had heart surgery so the last few years have been rough on her body.
Ah, thanks, PG. Sorry to hear that.
btw LOVE YOU la cieca for the donate to pakistan banner!!!
Measha B. is singing Jenny in Madrid’s new production of Mahagonny at the end of next month (I’m tentatively going). The production is by La Fura dels Baus.
Note to UK (and possibly continental Europe) members: that opening performance is going to be transmitted live to select movie theaters on September 30th). AFAIK it won’t be shown in the U.S.
“As long as I’m singing well, my relationships with my musical partners are good and my languages are good, I don’t care who’s there. Because nobody could possibly be more critical of myself than I am, honest to God. I have serious inner dialogue issues – I’m constantly talking myself off the ledge, putting out these mental fires. So if I read something critical it doesn’t upset me, especially if it’s true. As long as it isn’t personal, and you can’t do anything about that. In the end, you run your own race.”
Measha Brueggergosman, _Gramophone_, August 2007
Wedendonck-Lieder?
Eileen Farrell, NYCO, Leonard Bernstein. Basta.
Probably the best ever IMHO.
Measha who?
NYP, not NYCO, of course.
CerquettiFarrell:
I find myself strongly disagreeing with some of your assessments of singing, recordings and singers, but you are spot on here.
Farrell’s Wesendonck has a range of tonal variety lacking in Flagstad. A sense of fantasy equaled only by Crespin and Norman, but Farrell was a more secure singer than either of those marvelous artists.
I would put in a recommendation for a recording made by a soprano named Elizabeth something. It came out on contrapunkt or some other import label about 15 years ago. The soprano was hailed as the next great jugend but it never happened. I have the recording and will give the correct info as soon as I find it.
Some of the singing on that recording is stunning and the sound is great.
Geez, you people sure know how to spend my money.
The Farrell recording comes with the Immolation Scene (the greatest on record by a goodly margin) and some wonderful orchestral excerpts conducted by an inspired Bernstein.
Another sublime Immolation can be found on the very cheap Naxos recording featuring Margaret Jane Wray. Now that her top is gone for good, it’s clear that Brunnhilde and Isolde are out of her reach forever, but I love her supreme technical accomplishment in this music.
MJW is just about the only singer who sounds like a 16 year old as Isolde. Even Margaret Price fails to match the lyricism that MJM finds in the role.
I would encourage all of you to get the Gertrud GP recordings on Gebhart and Walhall (1. the Moralt Ring – fabulous all the way round; 2. the Tristan with Lustig – he is terrible, but GPG sings Isolde like NO OTHER SOPRANO. The top is sooooo amazing; and 3. The Walkure from Geneva. The cast is marvelous and GPG is the most virtuosic Brunnhilde since Gadski)
There, Kashie, now you really won’t have any mone left!!!!!
I know what you mean regarding a 16 year old sounding Isolde, an icy Irish princess consumed by passion. I thought MP was practically very impressive and iconic in that respect (if rather shallow on the whole, without any stage experience in the role – of course). But I absolutely love the way the sound intertwines with the Staatskapelle string and winds!!
I must add my praise for the remarkable recording of Farrell and Bernstein…..best versions of the Wesendonck and Immolation Scene I’ve yet heard. Simply stunning.
Another amazing Immolation Scene I discovered last year: Helene Wildbrunn. I have not heard all of them, but hers immediately became my favorite.
Not on youtube, alas, but on a Preiser CD:
http://www.preiserrecords.at/album.php?ean=717281890977
Can it perchance be the Dane Elisabeth Meyer-Topsoe? I remember her from a documentary about an Aix Euryanthe in which she sang the title role. She sounded magnificent in the TV excertps. I always wondered what became of her.
Disagreement is fun. Elaborating can be even more fun, in my experience ?:)
Best
Precisely.
EMT started as a mezzo, as I recall now, and the top came late and went early, if you catch my drift. She had about 5 good years as a soprano and then the top imploded.
When will sopranos learn that carrying a lot of weight into the upper register is a recipe for disaster. Too many singers, EMT being a very apt example, Tebaldi was another, fail to understand (or choose not to) how to access the head register. Yes, it reduces the dramatic force of the top (unless you are Birgit or Gertrud GP), but without that basic technical ability a soprano is a disaster waiting to happen.
Damn that verismo! I hope all those responsible for the singing style the arose from it are roasting on a spit designed, owned and operated by Mathilde Marchesi (who is only visiting Hell on a divine mission – to punish technically incomplete singers).
Damn that Verismo indeed, and chief offenders and “beacons of style” like Bianca Scacciati, Maria Caniglia and others. (Bruna Rasa I sorta like, and verismo Mezzos are a different species).
Farrell’s biography mentions the recording of this album, I believe – they worked on the Wesendonck Lieder all day, and then at the end realized they were supposed to record the Immolation also….Farrell said something like “I unbuttoned my collar, looked at Lenny, and said, “OK, let’s go.”
They apparently did it in one take – and the orchestra applauded…
Thanks, Wendy, for a great review. MB was audible throughout the hall, but the performances live were as lacking in immediacy as on the recording. Her voice has the same fluttery, unsupported middle as Jessye Norman, though not quite to the same extreme. And her German is a bit more natural. On the whole, though, her performance of these songs came across as very calculated and “important.” (I never heard Jessye live, but I think that I would feel the same way about her.) I will say that she did some really fine work in the Janacek Glagolithic Mass a few weeks later. Perhaps she’s better when she’s not required to play the diva.
Jessye’s middle was neither fluttery nor unsupported.
You gotta provide some examples for that opinion.
Jessye Norman’s “unsupported middle.” What on earth? I don’t think you’ll hear any argument from folks if you called out her penchant to sing flat as she got older (to tie it into the other part of the thread, she provides a host of bad examples of that on her Wagner Scenes disc, especially the immolation). But a rich, sonorous middle was a huge part of what made Norman, Norman.
I so agree. Mock her all you want for hailing from “Ow-goo-sta” (which to me is simply endearingly camp – makes me love her more!), but please, her middle was insanely rich and huge.
Eva-Maria Westbroek will sing the Wesendonck songs with Mariss Jansons and the Concertgebouw Orchestra for their Christmas Matinee. Should be on TV.
More piano versions exist by Christine Brewer (Roger Vignolles) and Margaret Price (Graham Johnson). Have not heard Brewer, but Price was recorded too late, I would say, on one of those Forlane records she kept making in the nineties: the Romantic Lied one.
I also would like to hear Pretre/Marjana Lipovsek – live from Salzburg. Or the later Sawallisch studio recording she did. Very glad Lipovsek is still singing, by the way, later this year she will tour with a Dvorak song recital – with orchestra!
Eva-Maria Westbroek is always good news. I love the Flagstad / Moore piano version and would love to hear the Nazi Lemnitz at it. Lipovsek is a singer I adore for her intelligence, verbal acuity and sheer common sense as a musician. The voice has deteriorated to a great extent, unfortunately. As can well be witnessed in her Vienna Contes d’Hoffmann, in which she sings the voice of the mother.
Well, she is approaching 65 – so it will be probably the last chance to hear her in Amsterdam. It is at least 15 years ago I last heard her there – in recital. Her Walkure Fricka at the Lyric was great too – following in the footsteps of Tatiana Troyanos, who only got to do the Rheingold Fricka, unfortunately.
Sawallisch uses the beautiful Henze arrangement:
here is Tiana Lemnitz in 1936
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3liGtCgMMU