Wagner

Siegfried

Aldenhoff, Varnay, Hotter, Kuen, Neidlinger, Böhme, Streich; Keilberth
Bayreuth, 1952

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Siegfried

One of the more poignant losses of the 1950s was the untimely death of Heldentenor Bernd Aldenhoff from food poisoning. Heard here in this performance of Siegfried, one can make a strong case for his place among the finest exponents of the role. He meets the considerable vocal demands with power and security, yet it is the finesse in the more introspective passages that truly distinguishes his interpretation, most notably in a Waldweben scene of exceptional beauty and sensitivity. Hans Hotter brings both gravitas and a strikingly youthful vocal color to the Wanderer, while Astrid Varnay makes her brief appearance at the end count, unleashing waves of radiant sound with impressive confidence. As Mime, Paul Kuen deserves recognition, particularly in his compelling Act II exchange with the formidable Gustav Neidlinger as Alberich. Rita Streich offers a notable cameo as the Waldvogel.

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David R.✓ Top Reviewer

United States

Overall rating

Excellent Performance in Excellent Sound!

Aldenhoff played both Siegfrieds at the previous Bayreuth Festival (1951). For whatever reason he only sang the first one in 1952. His vibrato was always noisy and, like Kuën, he tended to sing sharp a lot of the time. However, his top notes ring out at the end of Act 1 (as do Kuën's) and his ability to sing thoughtfully and sensitively give us some truly lovely moments in Acts 2 and 3. His final scene with Brünnhilde is one of the best I've heard. Varnay is in superb voice with some thrilling top Bs and Cs. She is one of the few Brünnhildes who sings the written trill in "Ewig war Ich".Hotter continues to be in great voice; his confrontation with Erda in Act 3 is one of the highlights of the performance, especially with Bugarinovic's fine contralto. Neidlinger and Kuën are terrific as the Nibelung siblings. I wish Kuën would sing more and shout less, but there we are. Böhme only sings Fafner in this opera and his deep bass and cranky roars are very convincing. Streich is a delight as the Waldvogel. Keilberth leads a well-paced performance of the Scherzo of the Ring.Great sound (the drum roll at the very beginning of Act 1 is missing and someone edited out the applause at the end of the acts)!Onto Götterdämmerung!
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