Fanfare Magazine Sept/Oct 2009
James Miller schrieb im Fanfare Magazine Folgendes über diese Cd:
"Four of the more celebrated dramatic sopranos of the 20th century died within a few years of each other as the next century began: Martha Mödl, in 2001, Eileen Farrell, in 2002, Birgit Nilsson, in 2005, and Astrid Varnay, in 2006. They were also born within a decade of each other: Mödl, in 1912 (but she didn’t start singing until 1930), Nilsson and Varnay, in 1918 (only three weeks apart), and Farrell, in 1920. Farrell, who, for better or worse, preferred the concert hall to the opera house, is the odd woman out, but Wagner’s operas were the bread and butter of the other three. Varnay, who was little more than a talented, if well coached, amateur at the time, made her unscheduled debut at the Metropolitan Opera in December 1941 when Lotte Lehmann was taken ill and unable to sing her Sieglinde that afternoon. Fortunately for Varnay, she had forgotten that the performance was being broadcast nationally so she was spared that trauma! She scored a similar success a week later when she replaced an indisposed Helen Traubel as Brünnhilde and her career was launched—right at the top. Signed to a seasonal contract, she sang various roles for a decade until Rudolf Bing, an apparent Wagner skeptic and unconvinced by Varnay in other roles, became manager of the company and her workload shrank. Ironic that a star soprano who was brought up in Brooklyn and Jersey City found her Met career curtailed. Fortunately for Varnay, she had begun a European career by then and eventually left the Met and became a permanent guest artist. Although she made frequent appearances in German houses, especially those of Munich and Dusseldorf, she was never again permanently affiliated with any company. She was also a valued Bayreuth fixture for many years—in fact, the only major role I heard her sing was Ortud, at the 1960 Bayreuth Festival. One had no trouble hearing her and she was a striking figure on stage, even in what was a generally static production. Later in her career, partly by choice and partly by necessity, she dropped down into lower roles, where she continued to be successful. Since her voice already had a certain dark quality to it, she didn’t have to fake a mezzo-soprano sound.
On this Wagner recital, though, there’s no question that she’s a soprano and a powerful one, both vocally and dramatically. Some people do not respond favorably to her voice; others, while conceding that she lacks the sheer brilliance of Flagstad and Nilsson or the creamy richness of, say, Helen Traubel, find her dramatically compelling as an artist. For me, the epitome of Varnay’s art can be heard in the long excerpt from act III, scene 3 of Siegfried, which begins on this recital as Brünnhilde awakens from her long sleep. We are accustomed to hearing the scene belted out gloriously, at least on studio recordings, by the likes of Flagstad/Svanholm or Farrell/Svanholm. Remarkably, Varnay and Windgassen turn the scene into a conversation, however impassioned, between the now mortal Brünnhilde and the dazzled young hero, Siegfried. They actually seem to react to each other. Of course, it will occur to the more cynical among us that this may have been as much a matter of necessity as one of artistry, since neither of them could compete, vocally, on the Flagstad, Farrell, Svanholm level, but, based on other recordings of theirs, I doubt it, and for me, it gives the performance a fascination of its own. Unfortunately, in this excerpt and the Immolation Scene, the distant recording perspective diminishes the orchestra’s presence, and whether willingly or not, Hermann Weigert, Varnay’s husband and vocal coach, is reduced to the level of discreet, dutiful accompanist. In the Wesendonck Lieder, where Varnay’s somewhat melancholy, ruminative approach is effective, Leopold Ludwig is allowed to be an equal participant. All the recordings were executed by DGG in 1954 (the Ring excerpts) and 1956."