Cheap Wagner: Rienzi (Music) (Richard Wagner, Sir Edward Downes, BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, Adrian de Peyer, David Ward, Elizabeth Gale, John Mitchinson, Lois McDonall, Lorna Haywood, Michael Langdon) Price

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Customer Reviews of Wagner: Rienzi

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Richard Wagner's third opera, Rienzi, der Letzte Tribun, was never given complete in the composer's lifetime. Even the overture has three sections that never made it into print. This performance includes the first of those cuts, and absolutely everything else from the rise of the curtain on. That's why it is 4 cds at a more than reasonable price. <
> Past recordings have either been composites of two or more performances or the EMI recording. There aren't others to choose from. EMI had Rene Kollo as Rienzi. He's in good form, as are all of the other singers (except Siv Wennberg, who tries but ultimately ends up painfully sliding through some high tessitura). The performance "sounds" good, but it is just too studio bound. Everyone was giving a good recital of what they had learned, but they don't have much of a clue as to what is going on dramatically. Hollreiser is the conductor of that, and it's on his shoulders that the problem lies. Everyone needed a stronger hand because the opera is, frankly, never given. The recording follows the Eulenberg score. That score may be long, but it has many cuts, and the recording made a couple of more besides. <
> That recording was already passe when it came out because this performance had already taken place. It includes so much more music! And it is delivered with so much more understanding and panache! John Mitchinson is incredible as Rienzi - and the role makes Siegfried look desirable. He is noble, angry, loving and, ultimately fatalistic. He is surrounded by singers who, if less well known than those on the EMI, have done their homework. They shape phrases to great effect and the whole builds to a great fifth act. Act one runs over an hour, act two just at 90 minutes, act three and four at 50 minutes each, and act five tags in at around 15 minutes. This is Wagner trying to outdo Meyerbeer. Heard cut, the opera does this in the most banal way. Heard uncut, as here, the opera unfolds with some indication of the powerful music Wagner would write soon - Flying Dutchman was next. All Wagner lovers should be standing in line for this one. <
> (This review is based on an earlier, pirated tape copy. A few minor sound problems encountered on that tape are presumably rectified here.)