Wagner - Greatest Recordings

[Barbirollians]

I am ambivalent about Wagner tending to agree with Klemperer’s remark that he developed backwards . I am much fonder of Tannhauser and Lohengrin than the Ring cycle but Tristan is an obvious exception to that rule .

My favourite Wagner recording however displacing the Kempe Lohengrin ,Sawallisch Tannhauser and Furtwangler Tristan and not to forget Baker and Ludwig in the Wesendonck Lieder is undoubtedly Bruno Walter’s Act 1 of Walkure from the 1930s with Lehmann and Melchior - much the most intense conducting of Wagner I know and can imagine - it astonished me when I first heard it and it never loses its power to do so . What is your idea of the greatest Wagner recordings ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I played my recordings of Parsifal over the Easter period, and decided that the Karajan studio recording is my own preferred performance. Kubelik comes close, but he is let down by some vinegary voices amongst the Flower Maidens, and some rather uninspiring bells. Knappertsbusch in 1951 is remarkable - how he keeps the momentum at such slow speeds so much so that thy don't feel slow at all - the very opposite of Levine at Bayreuth, who is just so intolerably sluggish; following with the score, I was reminded of what Stravinsky once said about, turning the pages before the performance got there. How refreshing Boulez's swift urgency is - sometimes it appears too swift, but it is a real antidote to Levine. Karajan's Live Vienna performance is very, very fine, too - and with a better Kundry (well, two better Kundries to be accurate).

I'm hoping to expand my collection with the later Knappertsbusch, the Barenboim, and (a recording I've never heard, but which has been recommended on the forum before) the Solti.

Tristan? Furtwangler, Karajan, Kleiber --- and Böhm and Bernstein as radically different alternative performances. And anyone quite rightly enthralled by Walter's Walkure Act One should also indulge in the experience of Flagstad and Melchior with Reiner, recorded at around the same time. (As, indeed, they should of Tennstedt's recording of the Walkure Act One with the LPO - incendiary performance, immaculately captured; it's such a shame that there isn't a venue in London where this sort of sumptuously analytical aural quality can be found )

The Ring? They're all flawed in some way or other - Furtwangler with cuts, and recorded sound that demands a lot of tolerance (if only he'd had another five years to complete that studio recording: the Walkure is astonishing). Solti's legendary set is ruined by ... Solti (if only Karajan had had his cast!); Karajan's by the variable quality of the singers; Böhm's is let down by Theo Adam; Sawallisch conducts and the orchestra plays superbly, but his singers are well past their sing-by date, and they're shouting hoarsely in the conclusion to Act Three of [I]Siegfried[/I.] Janowski is one of the most reliable overall (Theo Adam, nearly 20 years after his recording with Böhm, is in much better voice), but lacks that final oomph that's needed. Barenboim's is an excellent video choice.

Leinsdorf's magnificent Walkure is as good as it gets, though - George London the perfect Wotan - even Birgit Nilsson sounds cowed by his furious snarl in Act 3 (doddery old Hotter on the Solti on the other hand sounds scared of her; and who can blame him!) Criminal that a full cycle wasn't then produced - so many weaker sets around. And, as I've been rotten about Solti, his Act 3 of Gotterdammerung on Testament shows that he could really produce the goods.

Meistersinger? Karajan in Bayreuth and Dresden, Kubelik in Munich - and I'm very fond of the Jurowski Glyndebourne DVD. (I'm actually also quite fond of the Jochum when I want to hear the work presented as an oratorio.)

Just one from these? Don't be ridiculous!

[Keraulophone]

I'm actually also quite fond of the Jochum when I want to hear the work presented as an oratorio.

Fischer-Dieskau’s unique Sachs and Domingo’s ringing Iberian Walter are reasons enough for loving or loathing this set. I’m firmly of the former persuasion. It’s more like lieder than oratorio though.

Either or both of the Keilberth 1955 Bayreuth Ring cycles on Testament are certainly worth a place in one’s library, as is Clemens Krauss’s from Bayreuth two years before, when Hotter was in slightly better voice, but the recording quality isn’t nearly as good.

[verismissimo]

My go-to Ring used to be Karajan, but these days it's the live stereo Keilberth at Bayreuth in 1955 with Varnay, Brouwenstein, Vinay, Neidlinger, Greindl, Hotter etc.

Magical performances and superb sound. Keilberth was so underrated in his lifetime.

[gradus]

Bohm's Tristan recorded live at Bayreuth for it's extraordinary dramatic intensity eg Tristan's entrance in Act 1.
Parsifal conducted by Boulez or Karajan especially Act 3.
The Keilberth Meistersinger recorded live at Munich in1963 taught me the work and it remains dearest to me.

[Pianorak]

Bohm's Tristan recorded live at Bayreuth for it's extraordinary dramatic intensity eg Tristan's entrance in Act 1.

Big tick! - I find the 13 August 66 live broadcast on Italian Radio (same production and cast) takes this Tristan to another level altogether. I completely agree with the five-star reviews on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tristano-Is.../dp/B000VKBR4W

[Stanfordian]

I have friend, a Wagner devotee, who especially in The Ring cycle, insists that it must be Knappertsbusch, Knappertsbusch and nobody but Knappertsbusch!

[Conchis]

Appropriate that I should see this thread on the day I bought a (spare copy) Solti Ring for only £8.99!

I would agree with Barbirollans that the Walter/Melchior/Lehmann/List Walkure Act 1 is self-recommending and probably in a class of its own, not least as a rare and charitable example of Walter as an opera conductor. As far as I know, only one person (John Culshaw) has ever been overtly critical of it (he felt that Melchior 'took liberties with the score', but then Culshaw may have had a bit of an axe to grind and one of his avowed missions was to make 'old recordings' obsolete).

There are several good recordings of Der Fleigender Hollander but I've yet to hear an outstanding one. The best one I know of is the live Met broadcast from 1950, conducted by Reiner and featuring Hotter as the Dutchman. The sound is obviously mono but few apologies need to be made for it.

The only two recommendable recordings of Tannhauser are Solti and Sinopoli, as they feature tenors who can make a reasonable stab at the title role, even if neither Kollo nor Domingo are what Wagner might have ordered. But better them than the decidedly workmanlike Hans Hopf on Konwtischny's otherwise excellent 1960 recording. The Solti in particular features a superb stereo production and a genuine 'Knab' as the shepherd boy!

For Lohengrin, it's a straight toss-up between Solti and Kempe. Most would opt for Kempe was he has more idiomatic singers, but I prefer Solti's cast. Domingo can put his Italianate German to good use her, as it helps in making Lohengrin sound like a being from another world. I prefer Jessye Norman's full-blooded (if, at times, overpowering) Elsa to Elisabeth Grummer's more vulnerable interpretation. But the 'baddies' are better on Kempe - DFD and Ludwig against Nimsgern and Randova? It's no contest.

Plenty of recommendable recordings of Tristan, but the essentials are Furtwangler (unparalleled intensity, if with a rather elderly Isolde), Karajan (mainly for Vickers - unusual to hear a Tristan in which Tristan gives the outstanding performance) and Kleiber (my personal favourite, a superlative account of the score, even if Kleiber himself disliked the recording).

As others have said, there is no such thing as a completely satisfactory Ring, but you might have something like it if you combined the virtues of Solti and Karajan. The Solti set is somewhat torpedoed by choppy speeds from the maestro, a rushed Siegfried (we know why) and a past-it Hotter in Walkure; but some may feel that the sound and Culshaw's stereo production makes up for the shortfall. Personally, I think the Gotterdammerung deserves all the praise it's ever received and it may (just!) be the greatest operatic recording ever made.

Karajan collected small-voiced singers like a lepidopterist collects butterflies - and voices like Janowitz and Stewart make this a 'chamber Ring'. That said, I think it mostly works and Karajan's approach is more consistent than Solti's, even if he does serve up the Karajan soup at times. His Ring is seriously deficient in the Brunnhilde and Siegfried departments, though....

Rings you should listen to but need not own: Bohm (far too fast and hobbled by Adam's casting as Wotan), Janowski (a good entry level Ring but not a keeper). I don't think the Keilberth entirely justifies the praise lavished on it: there are some horrendous mistakes in the finale of Die Walkure.

Die Meistersinger is best represented by Kubelik's little-known 1967 recording, which features the best Sachs on record (Stewart - so virile that you can understand Eva's crush on him) and an excellent Walter in Sandor Konya. Both of Solti's recordings are disappointing and Karajan's, which might have matched Kubelik's) is let down by the casting of Adam (not von K's fault, as Adam was wished on him by the East German authorities).

For Parsifal, I'd say it's a tie between Karajan, Kubelik and Solti. On balance, Kubelik has a stronger cast (King and Minton are better than Hofmann and Vejovic) but Solti has the best Kundry (in Ludwig). Both of Knappertsbusch's recordings should be heard, though.

[Braunschlag]

Lohengrin- might I suggest Erich Leinsdorf? For any Sandor Konya fans, I found it a real discovery and an excellent pairing for Erich’s matchless Walkure.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have all Solti’s Vienna Wagner recordings, plus Dohnanyi’s Flying Dutchman with the same orchestra.
Also:-
Pappano & Furtwangler in Tristan
Goodall & Furtwangler in Die Meistersinger
Furtwangler’s Rome Ring cycle

Highlights - Pappano’s Tristan, Solti’s Ring & Tannhauser, Solti’s Meistersinger, Furtwangler’s Tristan

[BBMmk2]

I love all of Wagner’s operas from Lohengrin onwards. It’s having time to listen to them!

[gurnemanz]

The first Wagner recording I bought was the 1962 Knappertsbusch Parsifal on LP. Still, of course a classic (with the marvellous Hans Hotter playing my namesake). I followed this up with standing in the arena for the Boulez Prom done over two evenings in 1972. I now also have the 1951 Kna version - an essential listen, also historically, being the performance with which the Bayreuth Festival re-opened post-war.

[Barbirollians]

I have enjoyed the Klemperer bleeding chunks in the Klemperer Strauss and Wagner box including the Act 1 of Walkure and Act 3 Wotan's farewell - although Deryck Cooke in Gramophone found it far too slow back in 1973. There is something about the way Klemperer conducts the music that makes it seem much less clotted and overblown than some Wagner I have heard.

[Conchis]

I have enjoyed the Klemperer bleeding chunks in the Klemperer Strauss and Wagner box including the Act 1 of Walkure and Act 3 Wotan's farewell - although Deryck Cooke in Gramophone found it far too slow back in 1973. There is something about the way Klemperer conducts the music that makes it seem much less clotted and overblown than some Wagner I have heard.

That was the first Klemperer recording I ever heard. I was not impressed. It seemed hopelessly slow: ammunition for those who claim Ok 'lost it' toward the end of his life.

I've listened to it again more recently and liked it a lot more. Still not one of the greatest Act 1s, though.

[Barbirollians]

That was the first Klemperer recording I ever heard. I was not impressed. It seemed hopelessly slow: ammunition for those who claim Ok 'lost it' toward the end of his life.

I've listened to it again more recently and liked it a lot more. Still not one of the greatest Act 1s, though.

It is a slow burn - unlike the incandescent Walter which made my hair stand on end when I first heard it ! And still has a similar effect on me .