James Rutherford sings Wagner

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WAGNER
James Rutherford sings Wagner
James Rutherford (baritone) / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton

[ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD ]

Release Date: Saturday 22 March 2014

This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.

From pillars of society to shunned outcasts, the baritone and bass-baritone roles in Richard Wagner's operas span from Hans Sachs, shoemaker/poet and Nuremberg's voice-of-reason, to the Flying Dutchman, tortured forever by past sins. Whether their function in the over-all drama is as a foil to the main character - like the knight Wolfram von Eschenbach, Tannhäuser's eternally loyal supporter - or, like Wotan in the Ring, as a linchpin of the entire dramatic argument, they are all memorable as individuals, and have as such been endowed by their creator with music of great individuality and expressivity. Following his acclaimed recital of English songs, Most Grand to Die (BIS-1610), James Rutherford now gives us a grand tour of Wagner-land, ranging from the three operas that 'made' Wagner - Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin - to Parsifal, the composer's final work, described by himself as 'the last card' he had to play. Winner of the first Seattle Opera International Wagner competition in 2006, Rutherford has since performed in a number of Wagner productions, and is something of the Hans Sachs of our day, having sung the part at the Bayreuth Festival (in 2010 and 2011), as well as at the Wiener Staatsoper, the Graz, Hamburg and Cologne Operas, the Budapest Wagner Festival and at the Glyndebourne Festival. He here receives the support of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under their music director Andrew Litton, himself a regular guest conductor at leading opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera Covent Garden and Deutsche Oper Berlin.

"The Norfolk-born bass-baritone's voice, on this showing, is close to ideal - chocolate-dark and rich in tone, with a deceptive effortlessness and security that shows up many more famous exponent. He approaches Hans Hotter's 'bel canto Wagner' ideal, but with incisively clear diction. His expressiveness isn't overdone or showy" (BBC Music Five Stars)

"[Rutherford] remains virtually unknown in Britain's opera houses. This recital shows what we are missing...Best of all are the Nuremberg cobbler's two great monologues from Meistersinger, which sum up the character's dignified warmth and humanity." (Financial Times)

"Rutherford's baritone, almost a bass-baritone, is dark, nutty brown in colour, and broad in its phrasing. He could afford to lighten his touch sometimes; but the deep seriousness of his Sachs, his warmth and generosity, come across impressively from his stage experience." (Gramophone)

Tracks:

Der fliegende Holländer: Overture
Die Frist ist um (from Der fliegende Holländer)
Blick ich umher in diesem edlen Kreise (from Tannhäuser)
Wie Todesahnung...O du, mein holder Abendstern (from Tannhäuser)
Du fürchterliches Weib! (from Lohengrin)
Was duftet doch der Flieder (from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act 3
Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn! (from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg)
Ja, wehe! Wehe! Weh über mich! (from Parsifal)
Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind! (from Die Walküre)