The
new Opera House at Glyndebourne, which opened in 1994, allowed
Glyndebourne to entertain the possibility of staging a Wagner opera for
the first time in their 60 year history.
Tristan und Isolde was
first in 2003, followed by the staging of this production of Die
Meistersinger in 2011. The largest production ever to appear on the
Glyndebourne stage.
Glyndebourne's founder Sir John Christie
(1882-1962) had a life-long passion for Wagner and staged an amateur
performance of Act III of Die Meistersinger (casting himself as
Beckmesser) on June 3rd 1928 … well before the Festival was established
in 1932.
On this recording, Gerald Finley makes his debut as Hans
Sachs, portraying Sach's character sensitively and sympathetically; his
voice nothing short of glorious. Johannes Martin Kränzle as Beckmesser
beautifully handles this insecure and second-rate talent with a first
rate performance.
Marco Jentzsch as Walther is extremely
impressive, his Heldentenor voice wonderfully warm yet assertive.
Conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, he clearly understands the soul and
humanity in this opera. With Jurowski at the helm, orchestral textures
and colours are kept light and alive, resulting in a sound world
somewhat different to most other available recordings. His reading
remaining true to score and, most importantly, to the meaning of the
opera.
This recording draws the listener in from the first note
to the last, leaving one with music ringing in their ears for some time
afterwards. 4 hours flies by!
Glyndebourne's
summer season has expanded far beyond its 1930s beginnings as an
all-Mozart festival in a rural Sussex opera house. But, as this live
recording of Wagner's only comic opera from 2011 shows, the upside of
Glyndebourne's still-intimate setup is how vividly this portrayal of a
local community comes across in the small-ish theatre. Set in medieval
Nuremberg, the story centres round a midsummer contest held by the town s
guild of master-singers, with the goldsmith's daughter as the prize to
the winner (as long as she herself agrees). Talented upstart Walther von
Stolzing finally wins the hand of the adoring Eva, as both their
romance and the outcome of the singing contest are happily engineered by
local poet and cobbler Hans Sachs. Besides the large cast, there's much
bustling chorus activity, with matching onstage noise that can annoy
without the visuals. In every other way this recording as about as good
as you can get. Besides beautiful orchestral playing under Jurowski, the
chorus has a field-day. In the ultra-long role of Hans Sachs, Gerald
Finley is both likeable and seemingly tireless: can his final monologue
ever have been sung with such strength, after literally hours on the
stage? Johannes Martin Kränzle entertains as Eva-smitten pedant
Beckmesser, while Marco Jentzsch is a personable Walther. As Eva, Anna
Gabler's style is a touch precious, but winsome nonetheless; and
Alastair Miles contributes a warmly memorable cameo as her goldsmith
father, Veit Pogner. **** --Sinfini Music,5/12/13
Finley is fine throughout. --Gramophone, Jan'14
I was glad to encounter this performance again, above all for Finley and Kranzle and the Orchestra and chorus. --IRR, Jan'14