Perfection in Wagner performance is a rare achievement. It's unheard of these days, and whilst critics are often accused of harking back to the good old days of Wagner singing and recounting such performances with misty-eyed nostalgia, once in a lifetime a recording comes along that simply blows all the others out of the water – such is the case with Testament's release of this live recording from the 1955 Bayreuth Festival of Die Walküre (second cycle). I've heard many recordings of this opera over the last twenty-odd years, but this overshadows all of them.
Back in 1955 the Decca engineers set out to record the first ever stereo recording of the complete Ring Cycle. They did this at Bayreuth, but for contractual reasons the tapes lay in the Decca vaults for over half a century and Solti's Ring was accorded the accolade of being the first ever stereo recording, which Decca eventually recorded under studio conditions. Testament released the 1955 Bayreuth Ring (first cycle) in 2006/7 for the first time ever, conducted by Joseph Keilberth, and it immediately left critics grasping for superlatives, and quickly became the Ring recording of preference for many aficionados. With a Walküre cast including Astrid Varnay (Brünnhilde), Hans Hotter (Wotan), Ramón Vinay (Siegmund) and Gré Brouwenstijn (Sieglinde) it's not hard to see why (Testament SBT4 1391).
As a precaution, the Decca engineers also recorded the performance of Die Walküre from the second cycle which Testament have just released (SBT4 1432) and incredibly, the results are even better than the recording from the first cycle. It's hard to know where to begin, but in fairness you have to begin with Keilberth as his conducting is the lynchpin to the set's success. From a tempestuous Act One Prelude, the pace never slackens and although for the day his tempi were deemed excessively fast, he finds the right pulse for the work – always essential to making this opera work - and the playing of the orchestra is beyond reproach.
What makes this recording essential listening however is the fact that Astrid Varnay passed her horned helmet to Martha Mödl and assumed the role of Sieglinde for the only time on disc. There's a white hot intensity to Varnay's singing throughout, yet she achieves a melting sense of lyricism when required. Her impetuous ‘Du bist der lenz' in Act One is a case in point and whilst many Sieglindes are stretched by the ecstatic outpouring of joy in Act Three ‘O hehrstes Wunder!' here Varnay is steady as a rock, indeed her encounter with Mödl's Brünnhilde in this scene is one of the greatest moments in this recording.
Similarly Mödl is unbeatable as a resilient Brünnhilde – full voiced where required yet having the inestimable benefit of having started her career as a mezzo, and as the role lies fairly low for a soprano she has a warmth in the lower reaches of the role that I've not heard equalled by any other Brünnhilde. The Todesverkundigung is heart-stopping.
No one has sung the role of Wotan better than Hans Hotter and here he is caught at the peak of his considerable powers (much better than for Solti) and gives the defining performance of his career. With Vinay as a superlative baritonal-Siegmund, Josel Greindl as a black-voiced Hunding, Georgine von Milinkovic as a silver-voiced Fricka and a terrifying line up of Walküren, this set is essential listening not only for Wagner fans, but anyone who believes in the greatness of the human voice. For me this is the finest recording of Die Walküre currently available and is a must-buy.
