Wagner: Siegfried - Aldenhoff, Varnay, Hotter, Kuen, Neidlinger, Greindl; Knappertsbusch. Bayreuth, 1957

$10.17

Listen to a Sample:

The number one challenge for a Heldentenor singing the title role in Siegfried is pacing yourself throughout this long evening without getting covered by the orchestra. That said, a close second is the challenge of conveying the wide-eyed wonder of a teenager experiencing the world for the first time and in this respect Bernd Aldenhoff does better than any tenor I have ever heard in this role. His forging scene is virile and impressive, but his Act II monologue during the Forest Murmurs makes you fall in love with a character that can easily come off as bratty and unsympathetic. (If you are wondering why you don't know more about this tenor, it is because he tragically died of food poisoning, while still at the peak of his career, only two years after this performance.)
Hans Hotter seems much more at ease with the vocal and acting demands of the Wanderer.
Astrid Varnay is stunning as Brünnhilde.