Richard Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Morris, Allen, Heppner - Levine 2001Performer: James Morris, René Pape, Thomas Allen, Matthew Polenzani, Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Jill Grove, John Relyea
Conductor: James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
My favorite of those four performances was in 1995, a cast that included Heppner and Mattila, but with Bernd Weikl as Sachs and the late Hermann Prey as Beckmesser. But this December 2001 iteration runs a close second. James Morris, for decades the Met’s leading Wotan and Dutchman, only undertook the role of Hans Sachs when he was well past 50, and that series of Meistersingers was his first at the Metropolitan. Though some could prefer a plusher voice for Sachs, there can be no faulting Morris on musical or dramatic grounds, as his performance embodies all the traits of that wonderful character—the wisdom, humor, humility, and moral authority that define Wagner’s greatest “hero.” Morris’s “Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!” is as deeply considered an appraisal of human nature as any of Wotan’s more introspective soliloquies. In act III, he deals, in turn, with David, Walther, Beckmesser, and Eva as they appear in his workshop like a knowing psychotherapist, listening and offering cogent advice and support to all, but never with an overbearing manner.
Ben Heppner’s Walther is lyrically and eloquently sung, though his voice has plenty of power. (At the 2001 performance I heard, I recall Heppner’s voice cracking once as he worked with Sachs on the Prize Song and there’s a fairly apparent overdub at this point on the DVD.) The Canadian impressively develops Walther as a person over the course of the work—always appealing, but evolving from an arrogant, if charmingly love-struck, outsider to a man enamored of both a woman and an artistic tradition.
Thomas Allen is a terrific Beckmesser, a scowling sourpuss who stops just short of buffoonery (though there is some heavy-duty rolling of eyes as he sneaks into Sachs’s place.) His two extended scenes with Morris, in acts II and III, are very funny. René Pape is unquestionably the finest Wagnerian bass of his generation, bringing gravitas at a remarkably young age to the roles of King Marke and Gurnamanz, as he does to Pogner here. Mattila sings beautifully, though she’s a success without even opening her mouth, looking, in this production, as if she has stepped out of a Vermeer; a mature woman opera singer convincingly representing girlish innocence and vulnerability. --Arkivmusic
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