I am not sure that Ralph Moore in comparing the singing of Jenufa Gleich with that of Jessye Norman is not setting the bar overly high when talking about a singer whose Wagnerian career is clearly in its early stages. I yield to none in my admiration for Ms Norman, and indeed reviewed for this site the very recording that Ralph Moore has now posted back in 2014 -although in the course of a generally favourable discussion I commented that the role of Senta was not ideally suited to her. I note that Hugh Canning, reviewing the same recording for IRR at the time of its original release in 2001, went further describing her performance as "particularly disappointing" and describing her interpretation as "self-consciously arty". Which just goes to show how differently critics can view the same performance. For instance I similarly totally disagree with Ralph Moore's description of Marianne Schech's Senta in his comparative reviews of the opera as "brilliant [and] steady...with ringing top notes." In my 2013 review of the selfsame recording I described her performance as being "generally unpleasant" with "prominent wobble" and "matronly tone" which meant that "she sounds like the Dutchman's mother". Variety of opinion is the spice of life, and it is clear that Ralph Moore and myself are at the opposite ends of the spectrum when we are looking at interpretations of a difficult and demanding role.
At all events Ms Norman never (so far as I know) ever performed the role of Senta complete. But I would welcome hearing such a performance from Ms Gleich in due course. As I noted in my original review, her recording of the Third Norn in the Naxos Götterdämmerung a couple of years ago had not made much of an impression on me, but I certainly found that her command of the Wagnerian repertoire had advanced in the intervening period. I do agree with Ralph Moore that the voice at present lacks resonance in its lower reaches, which is why I commented that she is not yet ready for a role such as Brünnhilde. We shall see how her career continues to develop; there is nothing wrong in principle with singers who have made a reputation in bel canto roles moving into Wagner - one thinks of singers such as Lehmann, Studer and even Sutherland and Callas who have made such a leap in one or the other direction! But this is opening up another hugely complicated can of worms...
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