Your favourite historical Wagner recordings?

[Karafan]

I seem to be getting keener than ever on historical Wagner recordings these days.

The fantastic singers in their prime (I am thinking here, principally, of Paul Schöffler, Traxl, Greindl, Grümmer etc) coupled with great conductors, sometimes astonishingly good sound and the frisson of performances caught on the wing make for quite exhilarating listening. Maybe it's an age thing, but I never thought I would tolerate, let alone enjoy, less than hifi sound, but I am becoming quite besotted with some of these.

The wartime ones are excellent: the 1944 Ariadne under Böhm (with Reining, Lorenz, Seefried et al) is superb, in wonderful sound for the period and I also adore the WF Meistersinger from 1943, despite its numerous shortcomings among the cast!

Any views out there on either of the following pair of recordings/editions please:-

1943 Bayreuth - Meistersinger under Abendroth (Myto or Preiser preferred?)
1944 VPO - Meistersinger under Böhm (Preiser)

Cheers,
K.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Do the 1950s Furtwangler recordings count?

[Karafan]

Ha! Yes, which did you have in mind EA? The Rings, and Fidelio/Walküre with Mödl ?

I do find the wartime ones especially interesting, though.... I am always amazed at the sound quality the German engineers were getting on tape at that time.

[Petrushka]

Act 1 of Die Walkure VPO/Walter 1935

You would be excused for taking this to be a live recording instead of one set down in 4 minute segments. A classic.

Can anyone comment on an Act 3 Meistersinger from 1941 with the Dresden Staatskapelle/Bohm on the Profil label?

[makropulos]

Act 1 of Die Walkure VPO/Walter 1935

You would be excused for taking this to be a live recording instead of one set down in 4 minute segments. A classic.

Can anyone comment on an Act 3 Meistersinger from 1941 with the Dresden Staatskapelle/Bohm on the Profil label?

The Bruno Walter Walküre Act 1 would have to be my favourite too.
Among others...
Fritz Reiner's Meistersinger (on Orfeo)
Does the Kempe/Ferdinand Frantz Meistersinger on EMI/Pristine/others count? (it's mono...)

As for Strauss, I love that Böhm Ariadne too. Another favourite would be the wartime recordings of the closing scene from Salome with Welitsch and Lovro von Matacic.

[Karafan]

Does the Kempe/Ferdinand Frantz Meistersinger on EMI/Pristine/others count? (it's mono...)

Most certainly Makropulos! What a cracking record that is!

Petrushka - haven't heard that Böhm Act III recording - is it 1941 or 1938, though? Opinions seem to differ...

[Chris Newman]

I suspect they are both far too young to be historical but I am very very fond of Rafael Kubelik's Die Meistersinger with Thomas Stewart, Sandor Konya, Gundula Janowitz, Thomas Hemsley
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Reginald Goodall's Sadler's Wells version with Norman Bailey, Margaret Curphey, Alberto Remedios and Derek Hammond-Stroud.

For snippets I have (somewhere?) a fabulous old LP of Hans Reinmar singing the main Sachs set pieces just after WW2. What a voice!

[Richard Tarleton]

Act 1 of Die Walkure VPO/Walter 1935

Beecham Scenes from Gotterdammerung, with Leider, Thorburg, Melchior, Covent Garden 1936. ...Preiser 90266. Amazing glimpse into a distant past....

Walkure Act ll, San Francisco 1936 - a radio broadcast cond. Reiner with Flagstad, Melchior, Schorr etc - brutally crammed into a 1 hour radio broadcast with a radio announder over the last few bars () but an amazing document nevertheless. Music and Arts 1048

[gurnemanz]

I bought this Membran historical compilation on spec a while ago. There are lots of classic gems. The documentation is fairly abysmal (only barest details are included) and I had to do bit of internet trawling to find out more. At £9.99 for 10CDs you can't really go wrong. I like Kipnis as Gurnemanz, Hotter as the Dutchman and much else.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Great-Singers-Sing-Wag/dp/B0007SMGAM/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320859627&sr=8-1-spell

[ARBurton]

My favourites?

Hollander - Kraus Bayreuth 1942 or Sawallisch Bayreuth 1961
Tannhauser - Szell Met 1942
Lohengrin - Cluytens Bayreuth 1958
Meistersinger - Jochum Munich 1949
Tristan - Karajan Bayreuth 1952
Ring - Krauss Bayreuth 1953 with special mention to Elmendorff Gotterdammerung Bayreuth 1942. And if ever anyone releases the 1937 Furtwangler Covent Garden Ring I`ll sella kdiney to buy it.
Parsifal - Cluytens Bayreuth 1965

[Karafan]

Interesting list "ARB" - I'l look into some of those I'm not familiar with: thanks.

Petrushka: I have ordered the Meistersinger Act III from Dresden with Böhm (it is 1938, BTW) featuring Nissen et al, on the Profil label (not bad for a tenner). I'll post my thoughts shortly. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know about it?

K.

[Petrushka]

Interesting list "ARB" - I'l look into some of those I'm not familiar with: thanks.

Petrushka: I have ordered the Meistersinger Act III from Dresden with Böhm (it is 1938, BTW) featuring Nissen et al, on the Profil label (not bad for a tenner). I'll post my thoughts shortly. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know about it?

K.

Really wanted to know if the sound is acceptable. Not expecting miracles, of course, and other Dresden/Bohm recordings of similar vintage sound OK so hope this does too.

Where from for a tenner,K? Amazon have it as download only while MDT offer it at £15 and Presto at £17!

[Karafan]

I got it from a 3rd party seller on Amazon, so it was probably a one-off. There's a few listed still - the German seller (Music-overstocks) is pretty good I have used them before and they list it on there for under £9, with your £1.26 postage on top, of course. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...seller=&colid=

There are audio samples on there as well, naturally. I thank the sound holds up very well indeed - not crumbly or indistinct at all.

Confession time: I shelled out a king's ransom today for the Böhm 1944 (Preiser) complete Meistersinger with Schöffler from Vienna (nla). You can buy it as a download on Amazon for £6, but you cannot put a price on "fondling the goods", to borrow a phrase from a pal of mine.

Looking forward to that one - it is said to be even finer than his 1968 Bayreuth recording on Orfeo (which is also good). The sound, for its age, is spectacular. I'd be interested to hear if there are other admirers of that set on the board.

K.

[Petrushka]

Confession time: I shelled out a king's ransom today for the Böhm 1944 (Preiser) complete Meistersinger with Schöffler from Vienna (nla). You can buy it as a download on Amazon for £6, but you cannot put a price on "fondling the goods", to borrow a phrase from a pal of mine.

Looking forward to that one - it is said to be even finer than his 1968 Bayreuth recording on Orfeo (which is also good). The sound, for its age, is spectacular. I'd be interested to hear if there are other admirers of that set on the board.

K.

This one? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Die-M...1396918&sr=1-5

[Karafan]

Gulp, yes.

K.