Wagner Tristan und Isolde - Flagstad/Furtwangler 1952

[Beef Oven]

Presto are showing two CDs on different labels but the cast etc seem the same. One is on EMI and the other Brilliant. Can anyone please shed any light before I go and buy the wrong one!

I went with the Naxos release and I am very pleased with it.

[amateur51]

I went with the Naxos release and I am very pleased with it.

Do you get a libretto or a summary Beefy?

[Beef Oven]

Do you get a libretto or a summary Beefy?

Just a summary.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just a summary.

Same with the EMI.

(There is a GRoC version, which is considerably more expensive. Buying the cheaper version and a copy of the ENO booklet is less costly.)

[makropulos]

Same with the EMI.

(There is a GRoC version, which is considerably more expensive. Buying the cheaper version and a copy of the ENO booklet is less costly.)

Or there's a parallel German-English libretto free online starting here: http://www.rwagner.net/libretti/tris...stan-a1s1.html

I agree with all the previous comments about this extraordinary performance - and that either EMI or Naxos (both good) are the transfers to go for.

[Beef Oven]

Same with the EMI.

(There is a GRoC version, which is considerably more expensive. Buying the cheaper version and a copy of the ENO booklet is less costly.)

I never use the Librettos (acceptable plural these days!) that come with CDs anyway. For example, Spencer & millington's Ring companion is what I use for Der Ring and Andrew Porter's brilliant translation for The Ring. I have ENO guides for Parsifal, Tristan etc etc.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Bed Wetter Green, BeefO: and booklets in CD issues are terribly fragile - after the third reading, the spine breaks and all the pages drop to the floor.

Andrew MacG's mantra moaning about "no texts or translations" is always a plus for me!

[Beef Oven]

All this talk of Tristan has sent for scrambling on the shelves for....... Tosca!

Now playing - La Scala, Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi et al, Victor De Sabata 1953.

[AmpH]

I am thinking of dipping my toes into the murky world of Wagner Opera and as ' Tristan ' would seem like a good place to begin I have been following this thread with interest. In the course of my opera listening to date, one thing I have developed a serious aversion to is excessive ' stage noise ' on live recordings - sometimes it can sound like you are listening to a herd of elephants on stage which for me at least renders the performance almost irrelevant.

Is this 1952 Furtwangler recording a live one ? and if so is there significant stage noise that can be heard ? Any guidance on this would be most welcome.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is this 1952 Furtwangler recording a live one ? and if so is there significant stage noise that can be heard ? Any guidance on this would be most welcome.

No; it's a Studio recording (supervised by Walter Legge) - buy in confidence!

[AmpH]

No; it's a Studio recording (supervised by Walter Legge) - buy in confidence!

Great ! Thats what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for the info

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

[umslopogaas]

AmpH #24, I'm delighted to hear of anyone wanting to give Wagner's operas a try and dont let me discourage you from Tristan, its wonderful, and the love duet in act 2 is so passionate it practically melts the speakers. The Flagstad/Furtwangler is a classic, but it is old and in mono (they may have doctored it for stereo, of course, but I'm a bit dubious about some of those engineering tricks). For a great and more modern stereo version, go for Nilsson/Bohm on DG. It is a 1966 live recording from Bayreuth, but I didnt find the stage noises anything to bother about.

However, I'm not sure that if I was starting out in Wagner,Tristan is the best place to begin. I think I would recommend The Flying Dutchman or Das Rheingold as better introductions. They are both (relatively) short, at least by Wagnerian standards, and the action moves along briskly. And of course, Rheingold is the prelude to the ring cycle, and given the complexities of the plot, it is a good idea to start at the beginning. I'd save Parsifal for later, its great stuff but it is awfully SLOW.

Incidentally, the Nilsson/Bohm version of Tristan was my introduction to the work. I ordered the discs (back in the days of vinyl, quite a weighty box) and sat down the same evening and played right through it. I dont think I've ever played right through a Wagner opera since! I love the music, but dont quite have the stamina.

[Richard Tarleton]

The Flagstad/Furtwangler is a classic, but it is old and in mono (they may have doctored it for stereo, of course, but I'm a bit dubious about some of those engineering tricks).

My EMI version is mono - I don't think they've doctored it since? - but it's so superb you soon forget. The one engineering trick that was employed was that Flagstad didn't feel up to the couple of high C's at the start of the love duet in Act 2, so Schwarzkopf sang those for her.

For a great and more modern stereo version, go for Nilsson/Bohm on DG. It is a 1966 live recording from Bayreuth, but I didnt find the stage noises anything to bother about.

Excellent advice - both versions are essential, IMV. The Bohm is a pleasing hybrid of live and studio - recorded in Bayreuth in front of a less than capacity audience, over 3 nights, an act a night, so the singers weren't knackered by Act 3. Audience on its best behaviour, and stage noise nil or nearly so.

However, I'm not sure that if I was starting out in Wagner,Tristan is the best place to begin. I think I would recommend The Flying Dutchman or Das Rheingold as better introductions. They are both (relatively) short, at least by Wagnerian standards, and the action moves along briskly. And of course, Rheingold is the prelude to the ring cycle, and given the complexities of the plot, it is a good idea to start at the beginning. I'd save Parsifal for later, its great stuff but it is awfully SLOW.

Again, . Wagner went on such a journey between each, er, music drama that it's worth getting to know them in something like their original order - bearing in mind that he knocked off Tristan and Mastersingers between writing the music for Acts 2 and 3 of Siegfried (a gap of several years ). And yes, definitely leave Parsifal till last

[Rowan Tree]

There always has to be one...... So I shall grab me tin hat, start off at a brisk trot and say... I have been listening to Act 1 of the Flagstad/ Furtwanger on the 1986 re-mastering ( don't know how later re-issues have improved the sound) and for me one can enjoy this performance only if your ideal artist to play Isolde would be a musically gifted Hyacinth Buckett. For heaven's sake Isolde is a very young woman! Flagstad sounds too "matronly" to sing Erda and that lady is no spring chicken.
My favourite Isolda is Stemme in the wonderful 2007(?) Glyndebourne production.