Search - Richard Wagner, Artur Rother, Bruno Seidler-Winkler :: Max Lorenz - Wagner Recital 1937-43

Hitler's favourite tenor - but don't hold that against him

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 01/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc appears to be identical to the much cheaper Preiser issue, and is a recital featuring recordings from Lorenz's prime between 1937 and 1943.



I came to Max Lorenz late, having long known and admired many great tenors such as Melchior in the German repertoire but somehow having neglected him. That was my loss; he possesses an extraordinary ease of production which is less individual, vibrant and sheerly powerful than Melchior, but is also without the latter's metallic tone which bothers some. His was an extraordinarily long and successful career; he survived the dubious distinction of being Hitler's favourite tenor and a potential target for his homosexuality (a characteristic he had in common with many of the upper echelons of the Nazi party - a fact not widely known!) to sing well into the late 50's. He even defied Hitler by cancelling a "command performance" in outrage, when the SS tried to arrest his part-Jewish wife and mother-in-law, prevented only by Winifred Wagner making a personal call to Goebbels. But to the singing: he has exemplary diction and an admirable command of legato, and although he is primarily famous as a great exponent of the big Wagner roles such as Tannhäuser, he was also a famous Otello and Radames. His height and stage presence made him a commanding Wagnerian and something of that authority comes through these clear and affecting recordings. Maria Reining makes a more than competent and sympathetic partner and if the long extract concluding Act 1 of "Die Walküre" is surpassed in excitement, fervour and vocal splendour by the famous Melchior/Lehmann recording conducted by Bruno Walter, it is still a valuable and very enjoyable document. You can hear in this selection of Wagnerian "great moments" why so Lorenz's voice is held in such affectionate esteem by older generations of Germans and Wagnerians in general. We have no one of his quality today."