COATES, BLECH Wagner: The Potted Ring, Vol. 1 (1926-32) - PACO107

A standard Fanfare headnote would be nonsensical for this release; it would have to come with a Captain Marvel De-Coding Ring (yes, the “Ring” pun was intended, and no, I’m not sorry). Instead, I will list the contents here in a format that should be simpler. I will use last names only, and abbreviations that should be obvious to Wagnerians, which is the presumed audience for this set. (B St Op = Berlin State Opera Orch). I am also condensing the complete listing of singers, which is not included in a booklet but available easily online from Pristine.

At the dawn of electrical recording, from 1926 through 1932, HMV recorded a series of albums featuring excerpts from Wagner’s Ring cycle, which came to be called The Potted Ring. HMV focused on Frida Leider and Friedrich Schorr as the greatest Brünnhilde and Wotan of that era, and of course Melchior as well. But because the recordings were made in different places with different orchestras and conductors, the casts were not kept consistent either. So we hear a good deal of Walter Widdop’s fine Siegmund; given the wide exposure of Melchior in that music it is refreshing to rediscover just how good Widdop was. Listening to this set one is reminded again of the importance of Frida Leider—who sings the music with tonal beauty and an enormous sense of authority and power—and of Friedrich Schorr, a baritone whose legato was as even and firmly bound as the greatest bel canto singers such as Battistini, but who also brought Wotan to life through his vivid articulation of texts and specificity of inflection. Every inner feeling of Wotan is expressed vocally in the Farewell, which is as heartbreaking here as I have ever encountered it. (Blech’s conducting is a big part of that too). Having so much of their singing in one well-transferred set is of enormous importance.

These were landmark recordings, preserving for future generations the finest Wagner singing of the day (and some very fine Wagnerian conducting as well). It was beyond either the ability or imagination of recording company executives at that time to conceive of a truly complete Ring; that had to wait for John Culshaw and Decca to produce the Solti cycle. It makes me feel very old to remember, from having been there, the historic nature of that first Ring and to know that Arkivmusic lists 53 cycles now!

So, what we have here is no substitute for a complete Ring, nor is it a substitute for some of the live complete Wagner recordings from this era restored by the Immortal Performances label. However, one should not minimize the value of this set, which Pristine says is the first of three sets which will bring together all 122 78-rpm sides from HMV’s Potted Ring series! What HMV’s recordings give us is a series of professionally made studio recordings, rather than haphazardly made live broadcasts from this era. The control that the engineers had guaranteed a certain minimum standard of balances and overall sound quality that cannot be found in the broadcasts, though it must be admitted that HMV’s engineers were not driven by a consistent philosophy or approach. Thus the quality here varies, and Mark Obert-Thorn, who oversaw the superb transfers, has some helpful observations about that.

There was a prior CD release of these recordings on the Pearl label, also overseen by Obert-Thorn, and they were wonderful for their time (1995). However, technology and the estimable Mr. Obert-Thorn have both made gains in the 20 years since then, and these are significantly more vivid and colorful than the Pearl set. (Another prior release, on the Claremont label, provided first-rate booklet notes but even muddier recorded sound.)

The downside of these recordings is obvious: the lack of continuity, the incompleteness, the jumping around in casting and conductors. All of those are limitations. But for anyone who knows and loves this music, what we have here is an invaluable experience. This is how the music sounded in the golden era of great Wagnerian singing, largely between the two world wars. Some of these singers have been perhaps equaled but never surpassed (Leider, Schorr), and some have not even been equaled (Melchior). As good as the work that Obert-Thorn did for the Pearl set was, this is definitely at a significantly higher level. The degree of color and the vividness of the orchestra and the voices in, for example, the scene with all the Valkyries in the third act, before the big Brünnhilde-Wotan scene, is stunning for a recording that dates from 1927.

I do wish that Pristine would make the details available in a booklet. Yes one can easily find it on its web site (which provides specific instructions), but unless you are a whiz with printers, you wind up with something that doesn’t fit in the box and takes up too much room on your shelves. If Pristine offered a version of the CDs with a real booklet for an extra $2.00, I know I would happily pay it. Do not, however, let that stand in your way. This is a Wagnerian feast of the highest order.

Henry Fogel
This article originally appeared in Issue 38:3 (Jan/Feb 2015) of Fanfare Magazine.