Wagner Zubin Metha

This 1928 recording–with several cuts, particularly in the last act, which is cut in half–is a great curiosity. (As a bonus, the third CD, after the abbreviated last act, contains about 40 minutes of the last act in an excellent 1927 performance starring Walter Widdop and Gota Ljungberg and a brief but enlightening discussion of Wagner's leitmotifs and their uses by scholar Ernest Newman.) The two leads, Gunnar Graarud as Tristan and Nanny Larsen-Todsen as Isolde, are more lyric-voiced singers than we're used to in this music, and so the performance seems somehow more intimate (I doubt they would have been as effective in the theater as they are on this recording). Anny Helm is a thrilling Brangaene, and the others are good.

An enemy of fashion and glitz who shunned cocktails and society dinners, Wolfgang Sawallisch was a humble, retiring man whose life was wholly dedicated to music and music alone. Behind what might seem like a well-worn cliché of the "honest man", he was surely one of the greatest artists of his generation. An exceptional pianist, he would sometimes accompany his friend Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau through memorable nights dedicated to Schubert's great cycles. A conductor, he knew the whole repertoire by heart, not only working with an orchestra but also taking to the piano with all the singers. He was a Kapellmeister in the most elevated sense of the term.

Georg Solti’s readings of Wagner’s great operas are among the most thrilling experiences on record. The evenness and strength of the cast is balanced with the brilliance of the Wiener Philharmoniker and recorded with the renowned Decca clarity and richness with productions given the revered Decca/Minshull touch.

Leading dramatic soprano Susan Bullock offers a stunning recording for Avie’s innovative Crear Classics series with a recital of songs which are linked by the theme of love and aspects of love. Covering a vast period from 1880 to the 1950s, the 19th century is represented by Richard Strauss in his youthful and flirtatious three early Lieder, and Wagner in his mature romance with Mathilde Wesendonck which resulted in the songs bearing her name. Prokofiev’s wistful and woebegone love songs are a fascinating complement to Britten’s Pushkin settings. Selections by the quintessential song composers Roger Quilter and Ned Rorem round out the eclectic programme.

Bailey's … is the most rounded portrayal to date … the set as a whole is a considerable achievement, a worthy addition to the Decca/Solti Wagner discograohy.

Sir George Solti's renditions of Wagner's operas often defined the standard interpretation practice in the post-World War II musical world, and he is at his best in this late 1980s digitally mastered recording partnered with his long-time collaborators, the Vienna Philharmonic–perhaps the most emotionally satisfying orchestra in the world for these challenging scores. Domingo, in the title role, shows himself as a true Heldentenor (i.e. a baritone with high notes), and his earlier weakness in German diction is not apparent. Norman's Elsa is musically perfect though at times a bit chilly and distant. The mature compassion of the role of Henry the Fowler is admirably captured by Sotin.

Die aufnahmetechnisch hervorragendste, die erste digitale 'Ring'-Produktion: Dynamische Expansion, Brillanz des Klangbildes, instrumentale Qualität und Präzision des Zusammenspiels sind vermutlich nicht zu übertreffen. Die Staatskapelle Dresden erweist sich etwa den Wiener und Berliner Philharmonikern bei Wagner als gleichwertig. Janowski, ein vorzüglicher Musiker, ist als Koordinator von Orchester und Sängern, als Disponent des Gesamtklanges außergewöhnlich gut. Gleiches gilt für Schreiers Loge, die auffallendste Einzelleistung.

Richard Hickox was renowned primarily for his unparalleled service to British music, with a vast discography covering not just the obvious Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Delius but composers whose output seldom gets an airing in the concert hall. I make no comment on the worth of much of the music revealed to us-but if we don’t get to hear it we cannot judge at all!

The Hallé completes its highly regarded Ring cycle, with the live recording of its acclaimed Bridgewater Hall performance under Sir Mark Elder. Roaring jubilation and radiant beauty from Elder and the Halle. Elder is a superb Wagnerian, acutely conscious of the complex relationship between tempo and pace, and immaculate in his judgment both of the span of each act and the ebb and flow of detail within it. Thrilling climaxes alternated with moments of astonishing beauty and quiet, almost exquisite terror. (The Guardian on the Halles performance of Siegfried) The third element of Wagners Ring cycle contains humor, drama and a concluding ecstasy as the eponymous hero meets his heroine Brünnhilde, setting up the explosive finale of the concluding opera.

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.