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itself". (The choice of two such radically different sopranos for the roles was among the album's points of distinction from
Karajan's, which had employed the same singer for both.) As the children's parents, Siegmund Nimsgern was "jovial" and unusually youthful sounding, Christa Ludwig somewhat shrill in her portrayal of her character's weary irritation. Elisabeth Söderström was "the best interpreter of the I have ever heard", presenting a "picture of crazy malevolence" not by "the constant hamminess to which others resort" but by "touches of caricature allied to odious wheedling and horrid glee". The children's chorus had timbres sufficiently like von Stade's and Cotrubaș's to help listeners suspend their disbelief that the soloists were children too. The playing of the Bayreuth-scale orchestra was "sensitive to every nuance in Humperdinck's entrancing score, whose elaborate contrapuntal texture is presented with the utmost lucidity". John Pritchard's conducting was the only element of the album that was open to serious criticism. His reading was one of "meticulousness and lyricism", but his preference for a "relaxed, leisurely pace" meant that his album was not as exciting as Karajan's or, especially, Solti's. CBS's engineering was almost perfect, with voices and instruments ideally balanced and the illusion of a theatrical performance convincingly maintained - such technical challenges as a cuckoo, echo effects, spilling milk and the father's approach to his home were all negotiated satisfactorily. The producer's only mistakes were an unduly distant violin solo and putting the parents too far apart on the stereo soundstage. All in all, no other recording of the opera had come closer to usurping Karajan's place at the pinnacle of its discography.
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concerned that
Cotrubaș's contribution might be marred by her increasingly conspicuous vibrato could be reassured that on this album, it was scarcely noticeable. As the Sandman. offering some of the album's "most ravishing singing of all", Kiri Te Kanawa brought a golden tone to set long side the silver of Ruth Welting's Dew Fairy. Elisabeth Söderström's Witch crossed the dividing line between acting and caricature, but at least fell short of frank grotesqueness. The "element of rawness" in Christa Ludwig's account of the Mother could be forgiven as dramatically appropriate. Siegmund Nimsgern's "upstanding" Father was notably younger sounding than the middle-aged norm. The playing of the orchestra was "beautifully pointed" and sounded like the work of musicians who had performed the work in the pit of a theatre. Greenfield shared Salter's and Steane's perception that John Pritchard's
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and as the Dew Fairy, Ruth
Welting provided "another impressive display of the high-flying, ethereal 'fairy music' that seems to be her speciality". Elisabeth Söderström built her witch from nicely measured rations of malice and nasality rather than from a mess of tasteless exaggerations. Siegmund Nimsgern was a "hearty, energetic Father", virile and adept, outclassing a Christa Ludwig "not in her best voice" as his wife. The chorus and orchestra were both "good, if perhaps slightly below virtuoso calibre". John Pritchard accompanied his singers sensitively but was unduly cautious at the opera's climaxes. The album's audio was somewhat recessed and congested and not always ideally balanced, although not to the extent of disqualifying the recording from being "superb".
674:, an essay in French by Marcel Marnat, an essay in German by Karl Dietrich Gräwe, an essay in Italian by Franco Soprano, synopses in English, French and German and libretti in English, French, German and Italian. It is illustrated with photographs of Nimsgern, Ludwig, von Stade, Cotrubaș, Te Kanawa, Welting, Söderström, Pritchard and the children's chorus, four photographs taken during recording, a drawing and two photographs of Humperdinck and five vintage images of scenes from the story.
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were just two examples of how von Stade and
Cotrubaș infused their parts with imagination. As the Sandman, Kiri Te Kanawa was "irresistibly soothing", "the falling fourths and fifths at the end of hir first phrases most seductively sung". As the Dew Fairy, Ruth Welting was "as sparkling bright as dew
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in
December 2002. Frederica von Stade, he wrote, was "full-hearted and keen in tone" but sometimes failed to project her words clearly. Ileana Cotrubaș was "sympathetic and unforced", her idiosyncratic timbre coaxing the ear's affection. The "arch" contrivances that Elisabeth Söderström deployed as
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were on the slow side, but felt that his "genial, ... winning" way with the score was a plus rather than a minus, even in the macabre thrills of the Witch's Ride. Reversing what had been the case in the vinyl era, the audio quality of CBS's CDs was better than Decca's, with "warmth, ... bloom and a
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in
January 1980. Frederica von Stade's and Ileana Cotrubaș's children, he wrote, "should certainly be their parents' pride and joy, a charming couple, put to sleep by a particularly charming Sandman, Te Kanawa". While enjoying the "delightful" Elisabeth Söderström's Witch, he thought that she had
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in
December 1979. Frederica von Stade and Ileana Cotrubaș, he wrote, offered the most "ear-caressing concord of female voices in one opera" that he had heard for twenty years. They were "both youthful sounding, both lively, believable and enchanting". Kiri Te Kanawa was "ravishing" as the Sandman,
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had been on
Karajan's album (which, although a quarter of a century old, still held "an unshakeable place in the gramophone Pantheon"). As singers, they blended beautifully. As actors, they were "very distinctive and completely inside their characters", von Stade "headstrong and boyish", Cotrubaș
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in
November 1988, comparing it with the recently released CD version of Solti's recording of the opera. Frederica von Stade and Ileana Cotrubaș characterized the children "delicately", he wrote, conveying "freshness and childish innocence" with technique of the utmost expertise. Readers who were
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In 1988, CBS Masterworks issued the album as a double CD (catalogue number M2K 79217 in the UK, M2K 35898 in the USA) in a clamshell box with a 160-page booklet. The booklet, printed in gingerbread-coloured ink, includes essays in
English by Barrymore Laurence Scherer and
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In 1979, CBS Masterworks issued the album as a double LP (catalogue number 79321 in the UK, M2 35898 in the USA) and a double cassette (catalogue number 40-79127), both with notes, texts and translations.
377:. John Pritchard's conducting was the polar opposite of Georg Solti's on Decca's rival album. Where Solti's was "prompt, sometimes hard-hearted", Pritchard's was "easy-going, sometimes stodgy".
235:
The cover of the CD version of the album, designed under the art direction of Allen Weinberg, features a design by Henrietta Condak using art created by Renate Ross and photographed by
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been miscast, as had Christa Ludwig as the Mother, on other occasions a "brilliant" Witch herself. John Pritchard's conducting disappointed him, with
286:"gently feminine", both animating their words with emotion and meaning. Hänsel's bravery in the darkling forest and Gretel's wonder at the
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erring on the slow side and a wan orchestral palette. The album offered many pleasures, but was in general "a little muted".
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named the album one of the best Recordings of the Month. Also in December 1979, Lionel Salter included the album in his
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277:. In the title roles, he wrote, Frederica von Stade and Ileana Cotrubaș were as successful as
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The album was recorded using analogue technology in June 1978 in the concert hall of the
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the Witch were less appropriate to "old Rosina Scrummychops" than to the Rossinian
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552:"Vater! Mutter!" (Hänsel, Gretel, Mother, Father, Gingerbread Children) (2:18)
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549:"Erlöst, befreit" (Gingerbread Children, Gretel, Hänsel, Father) (4:36)
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Dance / "Da sieh nur die artigen Kinderlein!" (Gretel, Hänsel) (2:51)
492:"Der kleine Sandmann bin ich" (Little Sandman, Hänsel, Gretel) (2:59)
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in October 1979, comparing it with earlier recordings conducted by
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mentioned the album in a survey of the opera's discography in
457:"Doch halt, wo bleiben die Kinder?" (Father, Mother) (3:12)
704:, cond. John Pritchard, CBS Masterworks CD M2K 79127, 1988
528:"Knusper, knusper Häuschen" (Witch, Hänsel, Gretel) (4:53)
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very natural balance, mirroring the performance itself".
298:
Hänsel and Gretel meet the Witch, in a 1909 painting by
531:"Kommt, kleine Mäuslein" (Witch, Hänsel, Gretel) (3:23)
495:"Abends will ich schlafen gehn" (Gretel, Hänsel) (3:15)
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Critic's Choice list of the best records of the year.
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516:"Der kleine Taumann heiss ich" (Little Dewman) (2:07)
574:), Peter, a broom-maker, father of Hänsel and Gretel
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543:"Auf, wach' auf" (Witch, Gretel, Hänsel) (4:06)
797:, cond. Georg Solti, Decca CD, 421 111 2, 1988
525:"Bleib' stehn!" (Gretel, Hänsel, Witch) (4:46)
717:, cond. Herbert von Karajan, EMI LP, SLS 5145
522:"Sieh' da, der faule" (Gretel, Hänsel) (4:08)
460:"Eine Hex', steinalt" (Father, Mother) (2:39)
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613:(soprano), the Little Dewman (the Dew Fairy)
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656:Vivienne H. Taylor, production co-ordinator
537:"Nun Gretel" (Witch, Gretel, Hänsel) (5:35)
498:Pantomime: the descent of the angels (5:22)
489:"Kuckuck, Kuckuck" (Hänsel, Gretel) (7:25)
441:"Suse, liebe Suse" (Gretel, Hänsel) (5:54)
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451:"Holla!" (Mother, Hänsel, Gretel) (3:54)
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584:), Gertrud, mother of Hänsel and Gretel
416:(Fairy play in three tableaux), with a
223:chemical company: the Erholungshaus at
16:1979 studio album by John Pritchard
454:"Ral-la-la-la" (Father, Mother) (6:28)
730:, cond. Georg Solti, Decca LP, D131D2
540:"Hurr hopp hopp hopp" (Witch) (1:50)
534:"Halt!... Hokus pokus" (Witch) (1:39)
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519:"Wo bin ich?" (Gretel) (1:52)
508:Act 3 – The gingerbread house
446:Brüderchen, komm tanz mit mir
256:Engelbert Humperdinck in 1854
143:CBS Masterworks CD: M2K 79217
413:Märchenspiel in drei Bildern
344:reviewed the album on CD in
329:reviewed the album on LP in
308:reviewed the album on LP in
629:Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne
477:Ein Männlein steht im Walde
211:. It was released in 1979.
207:under the direction of Sir
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833:, December 2002, pp. 36–40
653:Mike Ross-Trevor, engineer
650:Hartwig Paulsen, engineer
486:" (Gretel, Hänsel) (3:27)
448:" (Gretel, Hänsel) (3:47)
420:by Humperdinck's sister,
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227:near Cologne in Germany.
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700:Humperdinck, Engelbert:
847:, December 1979, p. 980
815:, November 1988, p. 858
784:, January 1980, p. 1122
647:David Mottley, producer
590:(mezzo-soprano), Hänsel
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885:1970s classical albums
766:, December 1979, p. 92
748:, October 1979, p. 703
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169:opera of the same name
622:Children's Chorus of
465:Act 2 – In the forest
402:Engelbert Humperdinck
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283:Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
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165:Engelbert Humperdinck
617:Elisabeth Söderström
189:Elisabeth Söderström
588:Frederica von Stade
427:Grimms' Fairy Tales
271:Herbert von Karajan
205:Gürzenich Orchestra
193:Frederica von Stade
807:Greenfield, Edward
762:Jellinek, George,
503:Track listing: CD2
397:Track listing: CD1
385:In December 1979,
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243:Critical reception
795:Hänsel und Gretel
728:Hänsel und Gretel
715:Hänsel und Gretel
702:Hänsel und Gretel
568:Siegmund Nimsgern
407:Hänsel und Gretel
361:Siegmund Nimsgern
342:Edward Greenfield
288:gingerbread house
279:Elisabeth Grümmer
185:Siegmund Nimsgern
160:Hänsel und Gretel
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128:Alternative cover
22:Hänsel und Gretel
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275:Georg Solti
879:Categories
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830:Gramophone
812:Gramophone
781:Gramophone
745:Gramophone
678:References
637:(conductor
391:Gramophone
370:Gramophone
366:Alan Blyth
346:Gramophone
331:Gramophone
266:Gramophone
225:Leverkusen
63:Leverkusen
600:), Gretel
557:Personnel
381:Accolades
231:Packaging
215:Recording
65:, Germany
424:, after
418:libretto
410:(1893),
375:Cat Duet
273:and Sir
203:and the
167:'s 1893
115:Producer
96:Language
50:Released
42: by
598:soprano
562:Musical
248:Reviews
175:, Dame
855:Portal
99:German
80:Length
58:Studio
869:Opera
642:Other
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351:tempi
336:tempi
221:Bayer
105:Label
75:Opera
71:Genre
633:Sir
281:and
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