INKPOT -- Frida LEIDER -- A Vocal Portrait - Historical Recordings 1921-43 (2CDs)

This invaluable collection of recordings featuring that indestructible voice that was Frida Leider (1888-1975) is a must-buy to anyone interested in great singing in general, but in particular that of Wagner. Anyone's list of great female Wagnerians will include Kirsten Flagstad, but many consider Leider's Isolde (together with Helen Traubel's) characterization superior.

Certainly she was more dramatic and the voice more pliable, as the excerpts from Tristan und Isolde, first the Narrative and Curse, here with Elfriede Marherr-Wagner as Brangaene, then the Liebesnacht, with Lauritz Melchior, and finally the Liebestod, demonstrate. The Narrative and Curse shows her in admirable form, the voice agile in a way that Flagstad could only aspire to, expressivity foremost in her interpretation while showing no signs of strain whatsoever. Leo Blech and the Berlin State Opera Orchestra are her able, if straightforward, accompanists.
(right: Leider as Isolde)

Albert Coates conducts the same orchestra in the "confrontation" scene in Act II. Melchior is here in as healthy a voice as he would ever be (this in 1929) and it fairly explodes with passion. In O sink hernieder the two lovers sing tenderly but powerfully, Leider's bel canto training (in this sense she is like Maria Callas, who was best known in bel canto, but could sing heavy Wagner roles like Brünnhilde) allows her to float with ease and beauty in the high registers. The scene takes a cut and we hear the lovers again in Soll ich lauschen -- presumably the producers at the time didn't think the middle bits important enough to record -- and the tension and passion again is a thing of marvel, as is the sheer visceral power of their voices.

The Liebestod doesn't have the degree of repose or sheer beauty as Flagstad, but makes up for it with the purity of voice. Barbirolli provides an adequate accompaniment but ultimately this performance doesn't inhabit the same plane as Wilhelm Furtwangler and Flagstad.

The Immolation Scene again features a dramatic performance, but in this music Flagstad's regality is the thing that sticks in the mind, while Varnay's impassioned performances sweep all before them. Leo Blech's swift choice of tempi here has the unfortunate result of robbing the music of some its grandeur and conclusion. Worse still is the huge cut after Leider's final declamation which makes rubbish of Wagner's music (we hear only the final bars after).

The other significant Wagner we have here is her Wesendonck-Lieder, with an unspecified orchestra and conductor, a finely controlled reading. Stehe Still! is missing but what remains is beautiful and touching, her plush tone without strain whatsoever. Im Treibhaus is appropriately dark and lamenting.

Ritorna Vincitor! (CD1 track 14)

Als Sieger kehre heim! Auch meinem Mund
Entfloh das Wort, so ruchlos! Kehr als Sieger
Meines Vaters, der nur für mich die Waffen
Ergriff, mir neu zu geben
Die Heimat, Macht und Ehren und einen Namen,
Den hier ich muss verbergen! - Kehr als Sieger
Meiner Brüder, dass ich gerötet
Von ihrem Blute dich sehe, im Triumph gefeiert
Von Ägyptens Volke! Am Siegeswagen
Ein Fürst, mein Vater, schwer gebeugt in Ketten!
Die Worte der Törin,
O Götter, schlagt nieder,
Der Liebe des Vaters
Die Tochter gebt wieder;
Die Horden vernichtet,
Zerstreuet den Feind!

Ach! Unglückselige, was sagt' ich? und meine Liebe?
Ach, kann ich es je vergessen,
Dies Liebesglühen, das die Verhärmte,
Die Sklavin wie ein Strahl der Sonne wärmte? -
Ich muss den Tod dir wünschen,
Radames, so heiss ich dich auch liebe!
Ach! niemals litt auf Erden
Ein Weib so namenlose Qualen!

Ach, Vater, Geliebter, o heilige Namen,
Hier darf ich keinen nennen, gedenken nicht.
Um eins, ums andere möcht' traurig ich weinen,
Für beide mahnt zu beten mich die Pflicht.
Doch mein Gebet wird sich als Fluch erfüllen,
Mein Weinen und mein Seufzen wird zur Schuld;
Nur Nacht und Schwermut den Geist mir umhüllen,
Das Sterben wär' mir die höchste Huld!

Götter, erbarmt huldvoll euch mein,
Hoffnung ist nicht für meinen Schmerz,
Trostlose Lieb' bricht mir das Herz,
Bringt mir den Tod durch ihre Pein!

O patria mia (CD1 track 15)

Bald kommt Radames! Was wird er wollen?
Ich bebe! Ach, wenn du kämest
Zum Abschied, zum letzten Lebewohl,
Des Niles dunkle Tiefe wird
Dann mein Grab sein, Ruhe mir geben,
Frieden und Vergessen.
O Vaterland, ich seh' dich nimmerdar!
Azurne Bläue, o heimatliche Lüfte,
Wo hell der Morgen schien auf mich herab,
O grüne Hügel, Strand du voll Blumendüfte,
Mein Vaterland, dich seh' ich nimmerdar.
Niemals, nein, o nimmermehr!
O kühle Täler, Asyl einst meinen Tagen,
Das von der Liebe mir verheissen war,
Der Liebe Traum, er ist zu Grab' getragen,
Mein Vaterland, dich seh' ich nimmerdar.

Taken from Welt der Oper

Other significant roles Leider undertook were as Leonore/Fidelio and some of the great Verdi roles - Aida, Leonora from Trovatore.

In Abscheulicher she sings with great commitment, experiencing some strain at her top notes. Still the expressiveness and passion is undeniable. Barbirolli conducts an unknown studio orchestra, with uneven results in the playing and equally variable accuracy, but such were the bad old times!

The Verdi arias are interesting but ultimately has only curiousity value and it adds little value to the existing extensive catalogue of Verdi singing on record. Still, one can discern the drama in her interpretation and find some pleasure therein.

Other highlights of the set are Schubert's Erlkonig (The Erl King), sung with great characterization, and Auf dem Wasser zu singen, made much later, in 1943 but still in very good voice (she was past fifty then) and with excellent understanding of the text, as is only to be expected. Michael Raucheisen's playing is rather too rough-and-ready for my liking but it doesn't get in the way of Leider's singing. The Schumann songs - Widmung, from Myrten, Marienwurmchen (a charming song from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, amiably sung here) and Meine Rose are equally successful, bringing to mind Lehmann.

The recordings on the first disc are acoustic and are from the German Grammophon recordings of 1921 to 1926, and are therefore in poorer sound. The Electrola and HMV recordings on the second disc are electrical; the sound is better and more listenable. Excellent transfers as usual from Ward Marston - overall the sound is very good for its time.

The only quibble I have with the set is that there isn't any commentary at all about the selections we hear (though a short biography is included) and the circumstances in which they were made - certainly something that collectors and newbies to Leider's art alike would appreciate. Text and translation would also be a huge advantage. Otherwise, my highest recommendations and commendations to Naxos for making this rare material available so inexpensively.

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