Dip Your Ears, No. 177 (Frankfurt Liebesverbot)
  R.Wagner, Das Liebesverbot S.Weigle / Frankfurt O&M Orch. & Chorus / M.Nagy, C.Libor et al. Oehms     |
Riccardo Wagner & Elliot Spitzer
Less Wagner in Wagner is impossible. If Wagner’s Rienzi is “Meyebeer’s best Opera” (von Bülow), Das Liebesverbot might be ‘Bellini’s worst’—in ludicrous German translation. But at its best “The Ban on Love” is entertaining Italianate grand German opera with a subject (think “Elliot Spitzer, the Opera”) that exposes Wagner’s youthful psyche. Wagner himself set the bar so high for his own work, it might relegate Das Liebesverbot—for all its musical merit—to Wagner-completists’ interest. The performance, headed by Michael Nagy and Christiane Libor, though, gives the work all it can be given and constitutes a rare bon-bon for Wagner-explorers. Oehms’ delivers with libretto (German only) and exemplary liner notes (German and English)!
