Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1988 TV Movie) User Reviews

A wonderful performance

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 11 October 2011]

Having loved the 1984 and 2001 productions beforehand, I was recommended this production. And it is as good as I had heard it was. I did notice some criticisms of the sound quality, although it could have been more vivid I thought in general it was fine. The orchestra play wonderfully and Charles McKerras give a suitably lively reading as conductor.

Production-values-wise the production is great. The costumes and sets give a sunny and traditional feeling to the proceedings, the picture quality is of good clarity and the video directing is interesting. Wagner's music is sparkling and a whole load of fun, in fact Meistersinger is one of Wagner's longer operas it is one of my favourites of his.

The performances range from good to absolutely great. The good ones come from Paul Frey and Helen Doese. Frey sings truly beautifully, his Prize song is a sheer delight. And he is very charming. His acting isn't as impressive, coming across as one-dimensional and lost sometimes. Doese also sings beautifully. I found her scenes with Sachs much stronger than those with Walther, with her and Sachs you have a lot of warmth, with her and Walther you have two handsome singers giving their all vocally but one can't help think their chemistry could've been more convincing.

Donald McIntyre and especially John Pringle are absolutely great. McIntyre mayn't be the best Sachs vocally, but he does have some impressive moments. The joy of his performance is in his acting, you can tell by his facial expressions and body language that he is having a whale of a time. Pringle fares even better. He has a great voice, but like McIntyre his acting is what makes his performance so good. With Pringle as Beckmesser, you are guaranteed prissy manners, pedantic hand gestures and the appropriately uncomfortable facial expressions, Pringle excels brilliantly at every single one of these.

Lastly, of the three productions, this Meistersinger has the best final scene, at least in my view. Overall, a wonderful performance. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Despite flaws, perhaps the best version.

[standardmetal · 9/10 · 3 October 2005]

This performance was recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, October 14th, 1988. Sir Charles Mackerras is the splendid conductor and the occasional bobbles, most noticeably in the trumpets, should only remind us of the hazards of live performance.

In the taxing leading role of Hans Sachs (a historical German composer and, yes, cobbler.), Donald Mcintyre does not always get away without his own occasional vocal failures but he mostly acquits himself admirably, especially as an actor. Bernd Weikl, on another performance is younger and perhaps better on the whole but this other staging cannot compare with the liveliness of this Australian one. And Hermann Prey's Beckmesser simply doesn't have the spitefulness of John Pringle who owns the part as far as I'm concerned, even vocally.

Eva and Walther are quite adequately sung and more than adequately acted by Helena Doese and Paul Frey but I think if I remember correctly, that Siegfried Jerusalem was probably somewhat better vocally. The Eva on that video recording was probably MariAnne Häggander who was famous for the part but whose acting was rather risible, particularly in the first scene.

The final scene in the meadow though, blows the other production away. The marches, processions and dancing are way ahead of the other version which is stodgy by comparison.

Despite some drawbacks, on balance, this is possibly the best video production of Die Meistersinger.

Excellent despite a couple of small flaws

[ColonelPuntridge · 8/10 · 6 August 2019]

The cast quality of this MEISTERSINGER, performed by the Australian Opera, covers the whole range from deathly dull to outstanding. Deathly dull are David and Fritz Kothner; not much more to say about them. In the middling range Paul Frey as Walther and Helena Doese as Eva sing their lines but they're both kind of boring; also, Donald Shanks does a nice, workmanlike job as Pogner but no more than that. to outstanding (Jonathan Pringle's hilarious Beckmesser and Donald McIntyre's character-defining Hans Sachs).

Overall, the production seems to lack polish and professionalism, and the supporting ensembles - the chorus and the incidental characters - are pretty obviously under-rehearsed. The female singers in the chorus of apprentices who mock David do not look like boys at all. And when Paul Frey rushes off after being rejected by the masters at the end of Act 1, he snags a large part of the scenery and knocks it over. The visual aspects of some of the singers are wrong: David should not tower over Walther as he does, and Eva should not be so ... well, maybe "abundant" is the polite word; she looks more like a matron than like a desired object.

Really, I'd rate this video much lower than 8 out of 10, if not for McIntyre's definitive portrayal of Sachs and Pringle's engaging Beckmesser. McIntyre may be the only Hans Sachs on video who correctly portrays Sachs visually, and in spite of a few occasional moments of vocal uncertainty he sounds commanding and multi-dimensional: wise, sympathetic, avuncular, funny, and wistful. Other Sachses such as Bernd Weikl, Wolfgang Brendl, Jose van Dam, and James Morris, play him as lively and energetic, moving around the stage with rapid gait; only McIntyre seems to understand that Sachs is a craggy, very-late-middle-aged man, still spry enough to hammer the soles of shoes late at night, but definitely in the emeritus phase of life. He has loved, and suffered the loss of his wife and children, and slowed down; now he's passing the torch to the young lovers, and gracefully accepting his twilight like the Wanderer in SIEGFRIED. McIntyre has this aspect of the character nailed. But he also gives Sachs a lively sense of humor and keen insight.

Jonathan Pringle's approach to the role of Beckmesser seems light-weight by contrast with some of the virtuoso Beckmessers available on video. I'm thinking of long-time lyric master-crooner Hermann Prey, and, the great Eike-Wilm Schulte whose beautiful, free, penetrating, connected precision instrument is a miracle of nature (IMHO). Pringle is, by contrast, a clown, but he's a great clown, comical in every gesture, a laugh riot from beginning to end. His discomfited facial expressions and disdainful gestures reminded of the British comedic actor Rowan Atkinson playing "Blackadder".