Flagstad and Furtwangler - Gotterdammerung, part 1

[SamSolo88]

Is there a Flagstad version of Gotterdammerung from 1932?

[chepin85]

There are many fine recordings of the Immolation Scene but this is the definitive version.

[Iskander0027]

@eddiechilvers You should get your mitts on "Wagner: Opera Arias [Import]". Check it out on Amazon. I think it's the correct recording. It is EMI's References, with a blue cover, and a b&w photo of KF clasping her hands together.

[eddiechilvers]

@Iskander0027 Thankyou very much, i just bought it. Nothing compares to this.

[dieselheart001]

No insult or pun intended but whenever I hear her sing I imagine this would be the definitive "fat lady singing"- fat, as applied to the sheer ponderosity and inescapability of the power of her voice. If the angel Gabriel ever lost his trumpet, she could appropriate the heralding task with aplomb! What a voice... No one today can appproach her vocal majesty.

And yes. I still think "Furtwangler" sounds like "Fart Wrangler" or "Fart Knocker".

[Johnny1206]

Flagstad and Furtwängler, the best partnership in the History of Music!

[whizbang47]

She was the best ever recorded; maybe the best ever. This takes away nothing from other greats.

[shellac1925]

The audio seems to be quite sharp on this. If this is the 1949 studio recording on EMI as I suspect, then it should be about half a minute longer.

[violinthief]

You're correct - it's about a quarter tone high. The blame here lies with EMI. The correct year is 1948.

[violinthief]

This version was recorded on March 26, 1948. The recording you have was made on June 23, 1952. You're going to have to up your game if you want to beat the violinthief on Flagstad trivia.

[violinthief]

Score another one for the violinthief. It's always amusing to have little classical music aficionados come to my channel and tell me that I don't know what I'm posting. Some other youtubers played the same game as you in the part 2 comments. They lost as well. Egg on all your faces. By the way, your sense of pitch is good, but that's it. I knew this was a different recording the first time I heard it. No two performances are exactly the same, especially when Furtwangler is the conductor.

[RVP57]

Varnay, Traubel, Nilsson, and this magnificent woman. Who today can hold a candle (or a spear!) to these REAL singers?

[raigekimaru]

a voice as powerful as the demigoddess she portrays.

[Quincypop]

The clarity fits the bronze bell comment.

Thank you, Violinthief!

[maxlorenz24]

Extraordinary.

Her voice has being described as a Big Bronze Bell...

[xwsftassell]

Tip top.

[Johnny1206]

No one will ever match Flagstad in the german repertoire! Her voice is glorious, sublime, unique and beautiful!

[JohnBarnesHelper]

Marvellous performance by Kirsten Flagstad !

(Call me a luddite, but I prefer Hildegard Behrens as Brunnhilde ).

[AulicExclusiva]

I wouldn't call you a Luddite. I would call you deaf.

[albertthrelkeld]

This is glorious singing. Flagstad's steadiness and consistency of tone from bottom to top is breathtaking. She soars over the great orchestra with ease. Does anyone have a recording of Flagstad and Melchior in Parsifal?

[violinthief]

I have posted the Flagstad/Melchior duets from Gotterdammerung and Tristan. Both were recorded in 1939 with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. That same session yielded duets from Lohengrin and Parsifal - the Parsifal duet is over 30 minutes long! I may post it as some point - I haven't because I would have to break it into 3 or 4 parts. Youtube's 10 minute limit can be very annoying at times!

[albertthrelkeld]

Thanks.

[jonsaintgermain]

How wonderful. Kirstin was the best.

[violinthief]

Update - I got several emails from "Julian" threatening to get me banned from youtube for calling him a sockpuppet. He said he would never compare Gerer to Flagstad or Nilsson. At the same time, "karfreit" removed the comments by "Blackjack" comparing Gerer to Flagstad and Nilsson. Verdict - still a sockpuppet. But at least the incredibly stupid comparisons are gone.

[violinthief]

Hmm - "Julian" tried to leave 3 more comments disputing his sockpuppet status. I simple did the math - one account puts up the recordings, second account leaves comments on them, third account leaves comments here. All of this done in one hour, and all three accounts have ISPs in Switzerland.

[violinthief]

Anyway, "Julian", I went and listened to Gerer. She sounds about the level of a grad student at a university with an opera theater. Comparing her favorably to history's greatest Wagnerian is a joke. I'd delete your spam comment, but instead I encourage everyone to go to Gerer's Immolation, for a laugh.

[Julian19041989]

For sure, Flagstad was a great Brünnhilde but also was Birgit Nilsson. But I know a new amazing Brünnhilde- Edeltraud Gerer. She is at the very beginnig of her career but she sounds great.

[violinthief]

You're hilarious, sockpuppet! First, you post several Gerer recordings with account karfreitagszauber, then you immediately leave comments calling her batter than Flagstad with account Blackjackcaptain, then you spam my comments, calling Gerer the next Flagstad.

[Lohengrin]

Flagstad is a Legend but no-one can beat Astrid Varnay in 1957 under Knappersbusch in the Immolation scene.

[Aventao]

Varnay was, is great; Kna were fine. But this is unsurpassable. Only a younger Flagstad (with the same skill) and a stereo recording can beat this.

[violinthief]

I agree that Varnay/Kna is a great recording. So is Traubel/Toscanini. Still, I prefer Flagstad/Furtwangler, especially in this 1948 recording. (Several people have argued with me that this is the 1952 recording - it isn't.)

[grig035]

Do you have a preference between Varnay/Kna '56 versus Varnay/Kna '57?

[VivaRenata]

Dear violinthief. Thanks for many great postings!. Above all, I would like to get some recordings of Set Svanholm out on Youtube. Just listening casually, this is the recording of 1948 (Flagstad, Furtwängler), which I have on an LP . There's one point where she gets a word wrong - who cares? - but it helps to identify the recording. Anyway,thanks a lot. I subscribe to your videos. Obviously not 1952 - are they thinking of Tristan? or that last performance with her brother conducting?

[Biggonces]

Love it tremendously. Such warmth and beauty from this wonderful singer of yesteryear. None can compare to her amazing Brunnhilde. Thank you for sharing Ms. Flagstad with us.

[weepingforbrunnhilde]

Does the rest of this performance exist? 

I have the Furtwangler La Scala, but this isn't it. Where and when is this recording from?

It sounds later in her career.

[Johnny1206]

Best singer ever !!!

[Manya1759]

I can't find words to describe this video... Absolutely wonderful.

[jjcapello]

Just magnificant! Is this music available?

[SINGINGOPERAFAN]

eine Edelstimme!!!

[55nina]

Such warm, trumpeting, inspiring, simple truth of delivery she shares with the listener. It's what it is all about. I am rarely so mesmerized by a singer.

[weepingforbrunnhilde]

Yup.

[nimby909]

best ever

[dj8n]

We hope, that you put here the rest of the götterdämmerung, wonderful, many thanks.