Description:

Pros:

• Conductor Franz Konwitschny is the clear star of this evening, extracting beautiful playing the from the players of the Berlin State Opera and making space for singers to take the kind of breaths one needs when singing Wagner.
• Erich Witte’s muscular Walther von Stolzing doesn’t have the lyrical ease of others, but he copes admirably with the tessitura and brings an impressive vocal presence to the role.
• A young Theo Adam makes quite an impression as Veit Pogner (he would later go on to become the reigning Hans Sachs of his day.)
• If you want a lesson in diction and commitment to text, keep your ear on the phenomenal ensemble of the Berlin State Opera Chorus.

Cons:

• Josef Herrmann sings with sensitivity but at times sounds a bit pinched and the tone never really manages to ever bloom. That said, he makes it to the end with his voice more or less intact which is more I can say for many of the Hans Sachs I have heard.

OD 11921-4