Hans Hotter sings "Wotan`s Farewell and Magic Fire Music" from Die Walküre by Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival Hans Knappertsbusch, conductor Bayreuth 14.VIII.1956
Genius- greatest music written. None surpasses Wagner for how he charged the world of music into a life force. Hans Hotter is the definitive Wotan, majestic and proud, wise and loving
"None surpasses Wagner for how he charged the world of music into a life force"... Richard Allen, you express it in beautiful words worthy of Wagner's poetry!
I first met Hans Hotter when I was about 14 years old. We used to pay very little for "standing only" tickets in the gods. I know, that he had some difficulty with the voice for a relatively short time, but he was THE WOTAN of his time. The tears still try to well up when .i listen to him.
Hotter is great, but the true glory of this recording is surely Knappertsbusch's inspired conducting. He truly sets the orchestra on fire. I wonder how Brünnhilde can get any sleep after this rousing performance!
Precisely.....The balance is sensational. I would trust Knapper with my life, and this is what Artists do all the time when they get up in front of an audience. This is simply gorgeous, and I have played enough Cycles to know.
Wow! Yes! With Wagner, tempo is everything, and this is amazing! He lets all the gravitas boom without letting go of the bright momentum. I heard Edo de Waart's Ring in San Francisco, and have always felt that as the standard, but this guy swings!
jackal59: It is available on many labels, inexpensive (GALA) to very expensive (PRISTINE AUDIO) with several in between (MUSIC AND ARTS.). But the best of the lot, with restored sound, commentary, libretto is on the TESTAMENT label which accessed the tapes that DECCA planned to release but decided against doing robbing people of the opportunity to hear Astrid Varnay in her prime. Get the entire cycle on TESTAMENT conducted by Keilberth (1955) and this one with Kna (1956) on Orfeo. Then Solti, Karajan etc.
Unbelievable performance of the Farewell by the unforgettable Hans Hotter, truly the most refined Wotan of all time. Utterly beautiful singing, lyrically done, with total impact. I was moved to tears. Thank you for posting!
from the balcony circle in San Francisco, Wotan Thomas Stewart didn't have the vocal force of Hotter, but this girl cried: after all, it is grand and mythical, the judgement of Brunhilde. You are not the same as other humans, if you have experienced it.
I grew up on the 1965 version and loved it for what it was. The surprise here is not that the great voice itself is in so much better shape but rather the revelation is in the overwhelming expressivity of his interpretation. This is a performance that would melt a heart of stone.
Knappertsbusch's tempi feel rapid, after the trend for dragging everything out in the "slow = meaningful" fashion... It's great to hear so much ENERGY, as well as beauty.
And yet he lets the deep sound resound even as he drives it through. I love, love it! For just a little fast, Ormondy. For, will you live long enough, Furtwangler. Did Wagner himself have a clue, that the twitch of a baton, the very hearbeat of any given fool down through the decades would lift up or grind down the soul of an audience?
Kna paces it perfectly for him to muster every bit of force he can put into each part of the last phrase. In most recordings you hear the singer has to clip some parts of it to gather breath along the way. Exceptional conducting as well as singing.
The Best, i have heard. I agree with all comments written. The beauty and force given by both, the conducter and the singer is so beautiful that I remain breath less. Thanks for given part and the information for CD .
Der unvergessliche Hans Hotter. Nicht nur dass er wunderbar sang, schon seine Imposante Gestalt. Wie er sich an der Sperspitze anhielt. Er war wirklich ein Gott! Mein Gott, was waren das damals für Vorstellungen. So etwas sieht und hört man heute leider nicht mehr!!!
This is BY FAR SUPERIOR to Hotter's studio performance for Solti. Wow this is a Wotan on FIRE! Love Stewart Thomas for Karajan (and even G London under Leinsdorf) but in both voice and this remarkable "natural balance recorded sound" Hotter leaves them pale and lacking depth. What's the rest of the cast like? Thanks for putting it out.
I know that I'm 4 years late but here is the cast: www.wagnerdiscography.com/reviews/rin/rin56kna.htm This is a truly amazing recording, even though I prefer 1955 with a very similar cast (a notable exception being Ramon Vinay as Siegmund) and a much superior sound quality. It is conducted by Keilberth rather than Knappertsbusch though.
Hotter despite frequent unsteadiness remains for interpretation, timbre, & sonority the greatest that I have yet to experience in this role. What some like the late Mr. Steane tend to forget is how steady his tone could be maintained, at least, prior to 1955 in other repertoire. ICH HABE GENUG & Lieder recorded in 1949-50 especially that gem AM BACH IM FRÜHLING have for me never been surpassed. I have cherished this artist since I started private vocal study.
Orfeo uses the house tapes and it has been restored at s reasonable (Leontyne) price. The Pristine Audio is quite expensive. Hotter and Keilberth conducting from 1955 on Testsment (which initially recorded and was going to release) is also very good.
I don't wanna sound cliché... but... after listening again just a few lines... Before the War there were the superb Rudolf Bockelmann and Friedrich Schorr, perhaps even better than Hotter, but recorded in mediocre sound towards the end of their careers. After the War, there is no other Wotan, only Hotter. Period. It's one of those rare cases: Callas in Norma, Vishnevskaya in Onegin, Welitsch in Salome, Gigli in Chénier, Flagstad in Die Walkure, Crespin in Les Nuits d' Ete, Chaliapin in Boris, Schwarzkopf in Der Rosenkavalier... they "forbid" the role for anyone else!
+Dimitris L > John B is right. That Kipnis recording in 1926 is astounding. Don't get me wrong but nearly everyone at this level is a God-given talent. I was not familiar with the Kipnis recording and am adding it to Hotter, Frantz, and a few others for its excellence.
+Boris Badenovisback - Thanks, Boris ... the Kipnis types of Wagnerian recordings are somewhat RARE, these days ... but this, exceptional bass was one of the GREATEST of all, in any repertoire. Some of us will RETAIN a, certain favorable opinion of Hotter and others (Bockelmann?) in certain parts of the lower-voiced, Wagnerian singing, but Alexander K has a most-SOLID place ... in any place, way or any form/content.
Not everyone takes to Hotter's rather woolly sound. Also, he saw Wotan as more conventionally noble than we do these days, so it's an interpretation that's of its time rather than one for all time. He had a wonderful top, the bottom was solid and resonant, but at times the middle of the voice let him down, making him sound very strained. When he wasn't at his best he could be hard to listen to, and he often struggled with asthma and hay fever during his career, which didn't help. John Tomlinson was an equally great Wotan, but of a very different style. It's an impossible role to truly 'own' because there is so much there that can't be contained in one single reading, but JT's awesome bass voice and acting ability get as close as we can reasonably hope for.
Wow! Whatever happened to orchestral playing and a conductor to inspire( terrify?) like this? They play as if they actually love music. Orchestra playing sounds so routine and bored now, with a few notable exceptions. Wish Knapp had held the last chord a bit longer though!!!
Yea. It tells me that you are a racist, anti-Semitic nincompoop. At least Wagner had the good sense to acknowledge the brilliance of Halevy's "La Juive."
KatytheBard If you think Wagner was a Christian, then you need to go and study his life intensively, including reading Cosima's diaries from cover to cover. As things stand, you do not know what you are talking about.
Not really all that good. Morris is better. Orchestra too seems coarse and unsubtle. Strange balances. Misses the atmosphere completely. The magic fire at the end doesn't "sparkle" as it should
