DIE WALKÜRE - Poul Elming & Cheryl Studer in the complete Act I Scene 3

[@DimitrisRebelYell]

I adore these "lighter" Sieglinges: Lehmann, Reining, Janowitz, Studer. I never understood the fuss with Rysanek, sorry. A great performance!

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Ditto. With Rysanek one had to have a strong stomach against seasickness (her pitch was all over the waves) or tolerate the affront by turning a deaf ear.

[@wewper]

A lighter Sieglinde serves as the perfect foil against a necessarily big-voiced Brunnhilde. Their big scene becomes all the more powerful, as against just loud.

[@DimitrisRebelYell]

@@wewper Exactly. I never liked this aspect in the late 1980s MET Walkure in which Jessye Norman obliterated Hildegard Behrens in Act 3. (I love both singers individually)

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

@@DimitrisRebelYellObliterated is right. I did not get a sense of a Sieglinde from Norman. Impressive voice for sure but her characterizations (or, rather, lack of) were nearly always centered on The Voice, nearly always about The Voice and little else. I know others think and hear differently.

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

@@DimitrisRebelYell Another way of putting what I wrote is encapsulated in this review by Marc Bridle of a recent Richard Strauss release featuring Jessye Norman and Klaus Tennstedt on the LPO (London Philharmonic) label, published April 2022 in “MusicWeb-International”. I will post the link following this post but I am not sure it will become visible (KZbin often blocks comments containing web links, even links to its own service). “In 1991 she [Studer] gave a concert performance of this very piece in Dresden [Error: it wasn't in Dresden but in Salzburg] with Sinopoli that was just outrageous - Sinopoli pushed Studer with such power and force she ended up giving a vision of Salome that was more chilling and more decadent and terrifying than any I have heard; by the end of it her voice was all but shattered. Perhaps this is exactly the kind of cruelty that Strauss expected of his Salome - but which no soprano dares to give. It is certainly not the one that Jessye Norman dares to give here. As impressive as the voice is, her vocal cords do not sound that stretched - the performance could be considered just a little safe. Norman doesn’t fall into the Studer category in any sense, and nor give us what Strauss really intended. But what we do get is a performance of such power and virtuosity it delivers a real punch. In a sense this is not uncomplicated music; it is a straightforward narrative and Norman doesn’t make life difficult for herself. You’ll be swept away by it, but it isn’t blood-curdling, it isn’t decadent and nor is it chilling. One could imagine Studer entirely embracing the head of John the Baptist to kiss his lips; I think Norman probably recoiled at the prospect of doing so. Where Studer might almost spit her words out towards the latter half of this long monologue, Norman is more modest. Only one of these two great sopranos drips in the blood of her venom and poison.”

[@davidedevoti5823]

best Siegliende

[@andreastorsten8691]

Wow the lower register of Studer sounds very beautiful, makes up for the troubles she got with her top notes. She could have been the best Isolde if it worked better for her voice, but it is like it is: the overall stress of this singer-life style pays tribute!..not sure about my english, but i suppose you know what i mean! In these days they sacrifice the talents of another real star...Netrebko, what got politics to do with opera? I just miss the church involved in that mess!

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Not sure I quite understand. I don’t hear any trouble with her top notes. And Studer sang Isolde, first in France and then in Münster, Germany. Unless someone taped any of those and makes it public we will never know how she did in the role. I do agree that the rotten business of opera administration did willfully sacrifice Studer’s talents after she had the courage to sue the Bavarian State Opera for their abject abuse against her. But Netrebko? Netrebko is an opportunist and hypocrite, one associated with Gergiev, Putin and who knows which other criminals. She is no match for Studer, both in talent and in humanity. Last, what does “I just miss the church involved in that mess” mean?