Paul Wagner

James Levine's is a more recent entry in the realm of Dutchman recordings, and sonically the recording is absolutely stunning, with great attention having been paid to the recording process. The casting for this Metropolitan Opera effort is also uniformly first rate, even in the less grateful roles of the hapless Erik, sung by the impressive Ben Heppner, and the scolding nurse, Mary, sung by Birgitta Svendén. Morris's brooding Dutchman is hard to match on any other available recording, and Deborah Voigt is a ravishing Senta. The chorus work is quite good, though not quite as rich as that heard in the Solti/Chicago recording. Overall, Levine does a workmanlike job of conducting these impressive forces, though there are passages in which his tempi seem to drag. This recording is a must for anyone who needs a completely up to date version of Wagner's first major opera.

Wagner's stage festival in the recording of a production from the Metropolitain Opera New York. The title role is brilliantly starred by Siegfried Jerusalem, and as Kundry you can experience Waltraud Meier, who is outstanding in her performance and singing. Bernd Weikl, Kurt Moll and Franz Mazura stand by the two main roles and make this DVD - one of the few recordings of the opera on this medium - a must for every opera lover.

Wagner at The Met is the first authorized release of Richard Wagner's operatic masterpieces, including the complete Ring Cycle, captured live in historic broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera.

Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Karl Böhm (1944) {4CD Set Preiser 90234 rel 1994}
XLD rip | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 678 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 586 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1944, 1994 Preiser Records | 90234 | Mono
Classical / Opera

This is the greatest operatic recording ever made, and one of the reasons is the astounding difficulty of doing even a good performance of this opera, which in all other recordings fails to sustain, throughout the work's 4+ hours, a continuity of tension and of a sense of forward-motion. Karl Bohm was unsurpassed at achieving such archetectonic unity; and he surpassed even himself in this recording, which was the second and last complete studio recording he made of this joyous masterwork, and much better than either his Bayreuth or Metropolitan Opera live recording of the complete opera. It's also better than his first studio recording of the work, which he made in Dresden in 1938.