Post by m***@gmail.comPost by REPI'm just now listening to Karajan's Ring for the first time after years of primarily listening to the Solti. I still have a ways to go, but after finishing Die Walkure last night, I think I've heard enough to say -- they're not that different. Karajan's approach is so similar to Solti's that I can't fathom where the "Chamber Wagner" pejorative came from.
Do the differences come out more in the later operas, or am I missing something?
REP
Comparing the two Walkures (for me the strongest segment of the Karajan Ring) Solti tends to highlight emotional and musical elements where Karajan esp in the last two acts tends to look at the whole picture downplaying individual moments in exchange for the long view (This all a big generalization of course) Both orchestras are wonderful and totally responsive to the wishes of the respective conductors. I think the chamber music approach idea for Karajan was a bit overblown, certainly by the time he got to Gotterdammerung it was pretty much large scale. I enjoy going back to the Karajan from time to time for the real beauty of the orchestral playing (the first scene of Rheingold and prelude to Gotterdammerung just float) but you gotta have the voices for this music and here for me the scales tip towards Solti
I agree about the first scene of Rheingold: Karajan is the clear winner there. The orchestral colors are just so well blended, perfectly fitting the aquatic setting. And his Walkure is definitely very strong, but that has more to do with the singers than the conducting for me.
But to elaborate on my original post, I've always heard that the Solti and Karajan Rings were polar opposites, so I was expecting to feel a little jostled by the experience. I've had big shocks like that before going from one familiar recording to a new one (the Krauss Dutchman to the Solti, for example), but that wasn't the case here. So far, the Karajan Ring feels like the same old familiar Ring I'm used to, just with different singers.
REP