Fritz Reiner - Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Title: Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Artist: Fritz Reiner Release Date: 2005 Label: Orfeo D'Or Duration: 257:48 Album Type(s): live, Special essay (music history, styles, etc.), composition (work) description, Plot synopsis/story UPCs: 675754876722, 4011790667423 Genre: Opera Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 0 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 4

1. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opera, WWV 96
   - Vorspiel
2. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opera, WWV 96
   - Act 1. Scene 1. Da zu dir der Heiland kam
3. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opera, WWV 96
   - Act 1. Scene 1. Verweilt! Ein Wort - Ein einzig Wort!
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   - Act 1. Scene 2. David! was stehst'?
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   - Act 1. Scene 2. Fanget an!
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   - Act 1. Scene 3. Seid meiner Treue wohl versehen
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   - Act 1. Scene 3. Zu einer Freiung und Zunftberatung
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   - Act 1. Scene 3. Das schöne Fest, Johannistag
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   - Act 1. Scene 3. Wohl, Meister! Zur Tagesordnung kehrt
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    - Act 1. Scene 3. Am stillen Herd in Winterszeit
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    - Act 1. Scene 3. Nun, Meister! Wenn's gefällt

1. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opera, WWV 96
   - Act 1. Scene 3. "Fanget an!" - So rief der Lenz
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   - Act 1. Scene 3. Halt, Meister! Nicht so geeilt!
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   - Act 2. Vorspiel / Scene 1. Johannistag! Johannistag!
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   - Act 2. Scene 2. Laß sehn, ob Meister Sachs zu Haus? / Scene 3. Zeig her!
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   - Act 2. Scene 3. Was duftet doch der Flieder
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   - Act 2. Scene 4. Gut'n Abend, Meister!
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   - Act 2. Scene 4. Das dacht' ich wohl
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   - Act 2. Scene 5. Da ist er!
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   - Act 2. Scene 5. Üble Dinge, die ich da merk' / Scene 6. Wie? Sachs? Auch er?
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    - Act 2. Scene 6. Jerum! Jerum!
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    - Act 2. Scene 6. "Den Tag seh' ich erscheinen"
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    - Act 2. Scene 6. Seid ihr nun fertig? / Scene 7. Zum Teufel mit dir, verdammter Kerl!

1. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opera, WWV 96
   - Act 3. Vorspiel
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   - Act 3. Scene 1. Gleich, Meister! Hier!
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   - Act 3. Scene 1. Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!
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   - Act 3. Scene 2. Grüß Gott, mein Junker!
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   - Act 3. Scene 2. "Morgenlich leuchtend"
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   - Act 3. Scene 3. Ein werbelied!
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   - Act 3. Scene 4. Sieh, Evchen!
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   - Act 3. Scene 4. "Weilten die Sterne"
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   - Act 3. Scene 4. Hat man mit dem Schuhwerk nicht seine Not!

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   - Act 3. Scene 4. Ein Kind ward hier geboren
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   - Act 3. Scene 4. Die "selige Morgentraum-Deutweise"
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   - Act 3. Scene 4. Zwischenspiel / Scene 5. Sankt Krispin, lobet ihn!
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   - Act 3. Scene 5. Ihr tanzt? Was werden die Meister sagen?
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   - Act 3. Scene 5. "Wach' auf"
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   - Act 3. Scene 5. Euch macht ihr's leicht
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   - Act 3. Scene 5. Zum Teufel! Wie wackelig!
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   - Act 3. Scene 5. "Morgen ich leuchte in rosigem Schein"
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   - Act 3. Scene 5. Verdammter Schuster, das dank' ich dir!
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    - Act 3. Scene 5. "Morgenlich leuchtend"
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    - Act 3. Scene 5. Verachtet mir die Meister nicht

Is this arguably the greatest recorded performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg of all time? No, the conductor is probably too individualistic for some tastes and the Walter is surely too pathetic for most tastes. Is this Meistersinger nevertheless still well worth hearing by fans of Wagner's comedy who already know and love the work? Under those conditions, yes, because this is, after all, a historically significant recording with a number of extremely attractive features. It is, after all, the first performance of the work given by the Wiener Staatsoper after the war -- on November 14, 1955, to be exact -- and it returned to the Viennese their favorite festival opera under festival conditions. The enthusiasm of the audience is palpable and the warm applause in Act Three is so prolonged it almost halts the opera . Among the performance's most attractive features is Paul Schöffler's deeply considered interpretation of the central role of Hans Sachs. Also superb are Gottlob Frick's Pogner, Eberhard Waechter's Nachtigall, Erich Kunz's Beckmesser, and especially the beautiful Irmgard Seefried's Eva. It's too bad that Hans Beirer is such a weak-voiced and knock-kneed Walter; in nearly every other respect, this is a supremely well-sung performance.

For some fans of Meistersinger, however, the conducting might be too disturbingly different from the standard mittle Europa approach. With the brilliant Vienna Philharmonic, Fritz Reiner, the Hungarian conductor who left Europe for the Americas in 1922 and who had been recently appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony in 1953, leads a more accented, more linear, more driven, and far less sentimental performance. This doesn't mean Reiner's finale to Act Three doesn't glow with heartwarming emotion -- it most certainly does -- but that the teary-eyed sentimentalities and comfortably overweight sonorities of Bayreuth performances from the same period are here replaced by refreshing emotional honesty and textural clarity. While not for everyone, anyone who has more or less memorized Meistersinger will surely enjoy listening to this performance. Orfeo's sound is a bit hard, but still very vivid and very realistic. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide

Name Credits Adolf Vogel Vocals Christine Delank Booklet Editor Christoph Schamm Booklet Editor Erich Kunz Vocals Erich Majkut Vocals Frederick Guthrie Vocals Fritz Reiner Conductor Fritz Sperlbauer Vocals Gottfried Kraus Art Supervisor, Liner Notes Gottlob Frick Vocals Hans Beirer Vocals Hans Braun Vocals Harald Huber Digital Remastering Harald Proglhoff Vocals Hughes Mousseau Liner Note Translation Irmgard Seefried Vocals Karl Terkal Vocals Ljubomir Pantscheff Vocals Murray Dickie Vocals Othmar Eichinger Digital Remastering Paul Schöffler Vocals Richard Wagner Librettist Rosette Anday Vocals Stewart Spencer Liner Note Translation Vienna State Opera Chorus Choir, Chorus Vienna State Opera Orchestra Orchestra William Wernigk Vocals