“What the…?” was my first thought when I opened the small manila package last week, unmarked save the NY return address. Inside I found a Wagner compilation CD set from an unknown label- not the obscure Spanish opera I had ordered online the week before. Although I saw no accompanying invoice, I assumed an Amazon partner had screwed up and sent me the wrong CD. Four precious days later my boyfriend calmly suggested that this Wagner CD set could be “from that blog site thing” that I mentioned, a possible way to feed my CD collecting addiction while making an extra buck. 

This collection (Profil – Edition Günter Hänssler PRF 07058), volume 23 of a series released by the Staatskapelle in Dresden, consists of Act I of Die Walküre on CD 1 and Wagner excerpts on CD 2, recorded in September and December of 1944. The accompanying booklet, in both German and English, offers a reason for the bizarre mix- the Walküre and Tannhäuser excerpts were the last recordings made in the old Semperoper before it was shut down by the authorities, and the remaining excerpts on disc 2 were the sole surviving fragments from the December recording session at the Steinsaal at the Hygiene Museum. (I know, I thought the same thing- Hygiene Museum? It was actually a museum of hygiene, and is one of the institutions that helped shape the Nazi ideals of race and health.)

The recording balance in the orchestra on Disc 1 isn’t ideal: the Walküre prelude is woofy, and sounds like one of the microphones was crammed in the middle of the string basses. The upper strings also sound tinny in this mono recording. Together, these ensure a lack of balance that continues throughout most of the act, so if you want to be swept away by the glorious orchestral sound, this recording is not for you. However, Margarete Teschemacher pleases the ear with her simple and beautiful Sieglinde. I love the way she utilizes her easy chest voice, which lends her interpretation a directness other popular Sieglindes don’t find. One can hear a stifled woman who must be stoic to protect herself. When Sieglinde is free from Hunding, her vocal line becomes more agitated and Teschemacher’s powerful instrument proves its worth.

The Hunding, Kurt Böhme, is everything I want in a German bass- an impressive command of the language delivered with buckets of color. Max Lorenz has a clear heldentenor voice, sounding desperate and hopeless as the defeated Siegfried. It’s amazing how, even in his middle range, he was already blowing out the microphones. It’s another little annoyance that most of his singing is accompanied by this recording rattle. Beginning with his “Winterstürme” he opens up, almost reckless in his delivery as a swelling passion overtakes the brother/lover.

The pacing of disc 1 is brilliant, taking off at “Der Männer Sippe” and racing to a glorious finish. I gave the conductor, Bayreuth regular Karl Elmendorff, two points, both of which I immediately took away when I listened to the sluggish disc 2, a smattering of excerpts from the Ring, Tannhäuser, Dutchman and Meistersinger. Elmendorff conducts half of these excerpts, the other half being conducted by Kurt Striegler, a Dresden native who worked with the Semperoper throughout his career.

Disc 2 opens with Wotan’s farewell, sung by Joseph Hermann. The majestic beginning of this scene is marred by the overindulgent tempo and phrasing. Hermann has a leaner sound than I expected for a Wotan- I guess ever since I heard George London’s beefy god, I expect a voice with more color. He sings brightly in high passages, and his is an intelligent interpretation despite some not-so-stylistic portamenti. Occasionally he makes that gurgly bad-Melchior sound. The slow tempo set at the beginning remains relaxed throughout, and I wonder what was Elmendorff’s motivation for this. It doesn’t sound justified by the interpretation; it just sounds slow. The only revelation I experienced was the playful magic fire music. At a slower tempo it came alive as I have never heard, as if the flames were dancing their way down from the heavens.

The second track on Disc 2 is “Dich teure Halle” sung by a 30 year old Marianne Schech. Although she sings piano with a beautiful bloom, she has a tendency to sing sharp in her upper register. Still, I would have loved to hear her Elisabeth live. The next track, “Allmächtige Jungfrau” is taken at such a slow tempo that it’s a disaster. Schech sounds shaky and insecure, I assume because there’s no feeling of movement whatsoever. It’s interesting to note that these Walküre and Tannhäuser excerpts were all recorded in one take.

From here on the recording quality is severely diminished. These excerpts were recorded in December at the Hygiene Museum, then copied onto extremely fragile acetate or shellac discs. It’s too bad that the master tapes were destroyed, since we could have had a cleaner sound from them. The first of these is the Dutchman/Daland duet sung by Hermann and Böhme, and conducted by Striegler. Though Hermann gives a fussy performance, Böhme’s characterization is clean and good-humored. It’s funny how some of Dutchman sounds like Donizetti.

The second Dutchman duet, “Wie aus der Ferne”, is a fragment in which Hermann sounds like a tenor, especially in his upper range. The “duet” then unexpectedly cuts off right before Senta comes in. This is one of the tracks lasting less than four minutes due to the media they re-recorded on. Hermann sounds better in the following track, singing Hans Sachs’ “Was duftet doch der Flieder” with an attention to language that one rarely hears today- all the short vowels are actually short, a feat he accomplishes by singing on ending consonants. Who says you always have to sing legato?

The last two tracks from Siegfried and Götterdämmerung seem even poorer in quality, and are so strangely cut that they reveal nothing to me about the singers or the music. Overall I think this recording is mostly interesting due to its history. Though there were some exciting moments, I didn’t find enough pleasure to warrant adding it to my collection.