Recordings Review: The World's Strongest Man

Marek Janowski's second take on Siegfried.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

What mutters most: Stephen Gould in Siegfried.
Photo by Michael Pöhl © Vienna State Opera.

Starting in 1958, the Decca engineer John Culshaw and his team of technicians took six years to record all four parts of Wagner's Ring cycle in a converted ball room in Vienna. By contrast the conductor Marek Janowski and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra moved on to Siegfried, the third part of the cycle with astonishing speed. This recording was made in March of 2013, just five months after the same forces made their Die Walküre. Its release as the penultimate chapter in both the Ring and the conductor's survey of the ten Wagner operas is a marvel of efficiency, as is the label's decision to lower costs by squeezing the opera onto three discs. As before, Mr. Janowski made a live recording (on March 1, 2013) in the Berlin Philharmonie, the storied and pentagonal hall that is home to the Berlin Philharmonic.

Recordings Review: Dark Wings, Dark Words

Marek Janowski's Berlin Die Walküre.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Fraternization: Melanie Diener and Robert Dean Smith in Die Walküre.

Photo © PentaTone Recordings, courtesy Naxos Classics.

This Die Walküre was recorded in one day (November 24, 2012) at the Berlin Philharmonie. The second part of Marek Janowski's second complete Ring Cycle, it is a searing, exciting performance that has all the benefits of a live recording, within controlled conditions that are similar to the studio environment. The sound is sweeping and crystal clear, swooping through the stereo sound-picture like a host of warrior maidens on flying horseback.

Recordings Review: Meet the New Gods

Marek Janowski records his second Das Rheingold.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Second time around: Marek Janowski conducted his second recording of the Ring 
in Berlin. Photo by Felix Bored for PentaTone.

(Note: This is an updated version of a 2013 Superconductor review, republished in advance of coming reviews of the rest of the cycle in the next week.)

Any recording of Das Rheingold, the "preliminary evening" to Wagner's mighty tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen must, in the course of review be compared to the classic Decca recording made in 1958 with Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic. So let's do that first. No, this new recording from Marek Janowski and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra  (released in 2013 on the PentaTone label) doesn't have much similarity to the Solti. Nor is it the "new standard", "the best" or even the "best-sounding" recording of this four-scene prelude to the main action of the Ring. However, as a document capturing some interesting young artists and a snapshot of the current state of international Wagner singing, it certainly has value.

Recordings Review: Sail of the Century

Marek Janowski's new Der Fliegende Holländer.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The legendary Flying Dutchman sits down for a meal on SpongeBob SquarePants.
Promotional image for Ship O Ghouls, © 1999 United Plankton Pictures/Nickelodeon Studios.

The second installment of Marek Janowski's Wagner project for Pentatone Classics--a plan to record new concert versions of the ten "main sequence" Wagner operas is Der Fliegende Holländer. Again, this recording features the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Mr. Janowski. This recording was made at one performance: on November 13, 2010.

Recordings Review: Jogging through Nuremberg

Marek Janowski's brisk new Meistersinger.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

It's a concert recording, so you'll just have to imagine Ye Olde Nuremberg.

This live recording of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was made in Berlin at a June 3, 2011 concert performance by the talented, underrated Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Led by veteran Wagnerian Marek Janowski, it is the first of a 10-opera project to preserve new digital version of the composer's mature operas over two years.