Customer Reviews

Wagner: Orchestral Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Klaus Tennstedt definitely had a great feel for the complex and emotional music of Richard Wagner, and this recording shows this sensitivity. The Berlin Philharmonic, as usual, plays exquisitely well under Tennstedt's direction. There are other recordings of Wagner pieces out there that are equally as good as this, but this recording is the one that I would recommend the most. The performance of "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla" is especially earth-shattering, while the Act I prelude to Lohengrin is absolute musical beauty at its best. If you're a Wagner lover or are just being introduced to his great music, this recording is definitely worth listening to.

Klaus Tennstedt's recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic of the great Wagner overtures and preludes is quite good. The Berlin Philharmonic, as always, sounds wonderful, especially the amazing brass playing. The recorded sound is, for the most part, very clear. Tennstedt's interpretations are good. His tempos are appropriate, the orchestral is well balanced and rehearsed, and the overall quality is quite high. However, he also has a welcomed level of control over the Philharmonic. Never does he let the music run out of his hands. Often times, conductors get over-involved in the histrionics of Wagner. Rather, as mentioned before, Tennstendt's balance keeps the works from becoming bombastic. But the performances are still electrifying. A very good CD.

I bought this CD as a gift to my brother who I know would LOVE Wagner's music, but he won't go anywhere NEAR opera. For die hard opera and Wagner fans this is not the way to go, but for my brother and people like him who don't care for the singing, this is perfect. Although many apparently consider it a gross injustice to Wagner to cut fragments from his operas and throw them together, I was actually delighted when I came across this (and I adore his operas). These CDs allow a greater amount of people to enjoy Wagner's absolutely gorgeous music. The interpretation and balance of the orchestra is overall great. I'd say this was money very well spent and recommend it.

Klaus Tennstedt was chosen as EMI's replacement for Otto Klemperer, or perhaps it was as rival to Gunther Wand on RCA. He was positioned, like Wand, as the house traditionalist from the Central European tradition. In practice Tennstedt turned out to be erratic, in great part due to his bad health and nerves. At his best he had greatness in him. Some of his Mahler cycle and Beethoven symphonies are all they could be in terms of sponaneous inspiration, with more sparks than one gets from Klemperer and more imagination that one gets from the straight-ahead Wand.

At other times Tennstedt could be ponderously slow, as in his recording of the Beethoven violin concerto with Nigel Kennedy, or coarse and brusque, as on these Wagner excerpts with the Berlin Phil. If you expect that nothing could hurt Berlin's gleaming sound, wait until you hear the brash, blatty brass in the Ring excerpts--try Siegfried's funeraml March--or the wiry string sound and rough ensemble in the Magic Fire Music. The second CD, which represents another recording session of overtures and preludes, is consieralby better and contains flashes of the Tennstedt who is still beloved in London.

(For what it's worth, Tennstedt's pairing with Jessye Norman in what could have been a splendid Wanger recital of arias and scene sounds just as coarse to me.)