Wagner (Die) Meistersinger von Nurnberg
If you’re averse to boat-rocking this beautifully paced Meistersinger will suit
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
DVD
Label: Unitel Classica
Magazine Review Date: 13/2008
Media Format: Digital Versatile Disc
Media Runtime: 274
Catalogue Number: 2072358

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(Die) Meistersinger von Nürnberg, '(The) Masters |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Bayreuth Festival Chorus Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Emily Magee, Eva, Soprano Peter Seiffert, Walther, Tenor Richard Wagner, Composer Robert Holl, Hans Sachs, Bass |
Author: Mike Ashman
Onstage then, this is the operatic equivalent of what publishers of detective fiction call a “cosy”. Everyone does what you expect them to do in the “right” historical period, while there’s a lot of well honed detail and few (if any) surprises – except, perhaps for 1999, in the constantly beautiful and lyrical singing of Andreas Schmidt’s Beckmesser who is left in the position of being neither villain nor victim nor (as in Bayreuth’s current production) hero. Stronger direction might have helped Robert Holl achieve a better-rounded physical portrayal of Sachs (he remains, aside from his “Hat man mit dem Schuhwerk” outburst, an amiable, middle-aged buffer whose ending can be plainly seen in his first appearance) and encouraged Peter Seiffert to risk more in his delineation of Walther’s passions. The wonderful women, Mesdames Magee and Svendén, however, get there on their own and their dignity and detail are worth watching.
Apart from them, and the sexy aeroplane choreography of the “girls from Fürth” (who Endrik Wottrich’s David finds understandably alluring), the main attractions of the release lie in Daniel Barenboim’s beautifully limned and paced account of the score. He is continually alert to the music’s darker side – of which Wagner spoke (or warned) so eloquently in his correspondence with his patron Ludwig – and produces a decidedly Tristan-ised Meistersinger. Sadly, little of these colours are echoed in the staging.
At the moment the most satisfying Meistersinger for home viewing is Götz Friedrich’s Deutsche Oper production well conducted by Frühbeck de Burgos with outstandingly well presented male leads in Wolfgang Brendel and Gösta Winbergh (ArtHaus, 4/01). But beware the ides of November when the DVD appearance of Katharina Wagner’s trenchantly iconoclastic Bayreuth staging should truly set the cat among the pigeons.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.

Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.