Siegfried Wagner - Die heilige Linde - Albert, Schellenberger, Trekel - Cologne 20013CDs - DDD - 149'08
CPO 999844, released 2003
Performed by Cologne WDR Sinfonie Orchester
with Soon-Dong Kwon, Katalin Halmai, Dagmar Schellenberger, John Wegner, Josef Otten, Adam Kruzel, Hein Heidbuchel, Mechthild Georg, Roman Trekel, Volker Horn, Thorsten Scharnke, Ksenja Lukic
Conducted by Werner Andreas Albert
... This is not to say that the work is a washout, and this performance, taped in October, 2001 and coinciding with the work's world premiere, is fine (with certain reservations). The stars are the orchestra and its conductor, Werner Andrea Albert, who gets all the colors and moods from his players and does what he can with the singers, who, while sincere and involved, are mostly strapped with unattractive voices. The Philo, Volker Horn, is a good character tenor and he inflects well, Dagmar Schellenberger as the noble doormat Hildegard has the only nice sound and is effective, and John Wegner uses his good-sized baritone well as Abrogast. But the Fritigern is nasal and rarely are our ears caressed by anyone else in the cast. All that being said, this is a very good performance of a real rarity. Wagner's other operas (at least that I've heard) seem to be finer works, but for the curious, this one certainly is worth hearing despite its shortcomings.
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