Despite the marvels to be heard in this live, May 16, 1965 performance, it is still to be placed below the glorious Kempe-led 1964 recording on EMI with Jess Thomas in the title role, Christa Ludwig as Ortrud, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Telramund, and Elisabeth Grümmer as Elsa. By turns thrilling, beautiful, and heart-breaking, Kempe’s conception of the opera is a brilliant piece of story-telling, and the singing is remarkable. Other available sets may feature a singer or two in the same class—the Lohengrins of Konya or Botha for Leinsdorf or Bychkov; Gundula Janowitz’s Elsa under Kubelik; a terrifying Varnay with Keilberth—but the Kempe has them all.
I’ve always wondered what the intense Karl Böhm would do with this opera—he never recorded it commercially—since his other Wagner is invariably gripping and insightful. In fact, he’s marvelous, and his decision to cut some of the second- and third-act choruses is not a crime. Böhm is less speedy here than in either his Ring or Tristan, but the action and drama never flag and the echt-Romanticism and lyricism of the score are underlined at every turn. He treats the work wisely—as if he didn’t know what came after in Wagner’s oeuvre—and the Italianate leanings are very clear. The orchestra and phenomenal chorus react to him with virtuosity and enthusiasm.
And so do his soloists.
As in the Kempe, Lohengrin is Jess Thomas, singing here with more drama and the same security. Claire Watson is lovely, but Grümmer is unbeatable as Elsa, from her sad opening statement (“Mein arme Brüder’) through the airy “Euch luften” and her tragic Bridal Chamber hysterics. Watson touches them all but does not touch the listener quite as much. Christa Ludwig again is the Ortrud, and again she is miraculously evil. From her whispered, “loving”, cajoling in Act 2 to her demonic “Entweihte Götter”, certainly the most demanding 75 seconds of mezzo singing in all of opera and beyond, she is towering. Walter Berry, whose voice one might think too soft-grained for Telramund, pulls out all the stops—we get the sniveling, the arrogance, the sheer rotten-ness of the character, all sung with clear, fresh tone. Rounding out the cast are Martti Talvela as the King—surely the most potent on disc—and Eberhard Waechter as a mediocre Herald. Yes, this is a great Lohengrin, but it comes in at second or third place.
