Walter Meyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>As a sort of warm-up, videos were played of Toscanini's March 20, 1948,
>telecast, and Levine's 1982 Metropolitan Opera telecast, of the overture
>and Venusberg music.  We were supposed to note the differences in tempi,
>specifically, as I understood it, at the slowness of Levine's.  I didn't
>know about Levine's reputation for playing this music more slowly, but I
>had heard of Toscanini's reputation (notoriety?) for seemingly fast tempi.
>Well, despite what I had heard about Toscanini in the past, and Levine that
>evening, it was Levine, whose tempo seemed to me the faster paced.  But who
>was I to argue!

As a matter of fact, Wagners music is too often performed all to slowly -
with Levines notorious 17,5 hour Nibelungering just the most horrifying
example.  Wagner complains himself in his book "On Conducting", that his
works are taken all to slowly, and mentions that his own conducting of the
prelude to Meistersinger Akt I takes a little over eight (!) minutes.
Norrington and others have made recordings of parts of Wagners operas to
give their idea of what tempi shall be.

When it comes to Toscanini: if he took a fast tempo that was probably the
only good he did.:-)

>Most of the evening was devoted to comparisons of scenes from Levine's
>performance and a performance by the Bavarian State Opera, conducted by
>Mehta. The Bavarian, Rene Kollo (Tannhaeuser), Waltraud Meier (Venus),
>and Nadine Secunde (Elisabeth).

Kollo was very successful in Karahjans Meistersinger IMO. How is Kollo as
Tannhaeuser?

Mats Norrman
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