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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Radiant warmth and majesty, October 15, 2000
This review is from: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Audio CD)
This is a stunning recording. Made in June 1952, it must be one of the greatest recordings of anything ever made. With a peerless Wagner conducter, the queen of heroic sopranos, an exceptional tenor and a magnificent orchestra, how could it be anything but that? The Wagner conducting of Wilhelm Furtwängler has never been remotely approached, and here he is at his greatest. He has a command of Wagner's music, structure and emotion that are unbelievable. He allows the Philharmonia Orchestra, in incandescent form, its full dominance, but never drowns out the singers, as does, for instance, Karajan. Furtwängler is on the slow side in this opera, but he invests his conducting with such emotion that even the slowest tempi sound exactly right. Anyone looking for supreme Wagner conducting need look no further than Furtwängler. Fortunately, Furtwängler has access to a pair of magnificent singers. The greatest Wagner soprano of the century, Kirsten Flagstad, sings a glorious Isolde. Her voice is immediately recognizable for its enormous size and sumptuous beauty, and is captured here in more than adequate sound. Only her top notes, which are no longer as effortless as in her prime, indicate that she is 57 years old (the three or four highest notes are sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf). Dramatically, she lives the role, bringing an intensity to the Narration matched only by Birgit Nilsson. But the highlight of her performance, as it should be, is the Liebestod. Reducing her voice to a thread of sound for the opening, she and Furtwängler build up raptly to the incandescent climax, "Heller schallend." Here we realize the astounding size of her voice. She is riding the huge waves of sound, singing with unforced, opulent beauty, clear diction, perfect legato, and all in a way that makes falling off a log seem difficult. Barring an unlikely discovery of a complete performance from her prime in listenable sound, this performance will never be surpassed. Ludwig Suthaus, her Tristan, is a very underrated heldentenor. He has a voice of darkly powerful beauty, the essential voice for Tristan. Like Flagstad, he was ending his career when this recording was made, so he is not perfect, particularly because of some hoarseness in Act I; however, he lives Tristan in a way equal to Flagstad's Isolde, and in his mad scene in Act III, he is magnificent: desparate, frenzied, tragic and jubilant, singing beautifully all the while. He falls short of Melchior in his prime - but who doesn't? The only flaws in this recording are the sound and the supporting cast, in particular the Brangäne of Blanche Thebom. Her voice is beautiful, in its way, but her German is distorted (she changes her first line from "Blaue Streifen steigen im Osten auf" to "Blaue Streife stiegen im Westen auf"), her interpretation is indifferent and she is cruelly taxed by her big outbursts (e.g. "Wehe! weh! unabwendbar ew'ge Not" at the end of Act I). Margarete Klose should have been cast, it being too early for Christa Ludwig (masterful for Böhm and Karajan). Josef Greindl is intelligent and has a satisfying dark resonance, but is too unsteady in places to even approach the magnificent Martti Talvela for Böhm. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is the exception, singing with intelligence and lustrous richness. Edgar Evans is very rough and unsteady as Melot, but Rudolf Schock, an excellent Walther in Kempe's "Die Meistersinger," sings ardently as the Sailor and Shepherd. Rhoderick Davies sings the Steuermann's four lines resonantly. The mono sound is admirably clear and full, a tribute to Walter Legge's skill, but Flagstad has a tendency to fade in and out in Act I, particularly in high-climbing passages. EMI continues its recent practices with a skimpy booklet with tiny print, which in addition to being hardly legible lists the wrong tracks in the booklet. The breaks between discs are as well placed as they can be. I have heard from EMI that this will be reissued next year as a "Great Recording of the Century"; if EMI is up to its usual high standard for this series, the sound and booklet skimpiness should be greatly improved. EMI's current packaging and sound, however, are not even close to ruining the impact of this indisputably great performance. It overcomes Thebom, Greindl and Evans to reach dizzying, ecstatic heights unapproached on any other recording. While I will occasionally listen to the Böhm (for Ludwig, Talvela and Wächter) and Karajan (for Vickers' Tristan), this will remain, for me, the only adequate recording of Wagner's masterpiece.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There isn't only one Isolde, but Flagstad's is so important!, July 15, 2002
This review is from: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Audio CD)
Yes, yes, yes, there are better sounding recordings BUT this one sounds better than some say it does. And Flagstad, though not in her prime when this recording was done, was still fabulous and beyond nearly all other Isoldes. She is an immortal! Heavens! Hers is such an important voice for this role that you really can't have a collection of this opera without it. This is a FABULOUS record of a tremendous voice and it really is one of the best performances we have of this work. Some may quibble about which is THE recording, but who cares? This recording belongs in your collection - period. Plus there is Fischer-Dieskau and other wonderful singers and all conducted by Furtwaengler, whom everyone agrees understood this opera deeply. This recording should never be out of print and should be in your collection. Honestly, this is such and important opera and had such a profound impact on the development of music and this is such an important recording of an important voice that you really should have this in your collection. You won't regret it. Feel free to email me with your thoughts once you have heard it.
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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
YES, IT'S GREAT ----- BUT THERE ARE OTHERS TOO!, November 30, 1999
This review is from: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Audio CD)
This outstanding performance of "Tristan" has long had classic status, and for good and valid reasons. Surely this must be considered to be Wilhelm Furtwangler's greatest recording. He creates a "Tristan" here full of magic, compulsion, and sheer genus. The 1952 EMI studio sound, especially since it's digital remastering, is never less than satisfactory. For many, this is THE "Tristan" recording. However, I have some reservations about it. To begin with, there's Kirsten Flagstad, without question she was without peer at any given time in the history of Wagnerian opera. Her voice in its best days was so awesome that she reigned over some of the greatest Wagnerian singers of the time ---- including Helen Traubel and Marjorie Lawrence, both great sopranos in their own rights.But by the time this "Tristan" was recorded in 1952, Flagstad was, sorry to say, several years past her best vocal days. Of course a Flagstad past her prime was still better than anyone else, and much of her work here is still very fine, but her Isolde had by this time, to my ears anyway, taken on a matronly and staid quality. Her interpretation is fine, but in a very generalized sort of way. Ludwig Suthaus may not have had the sheer vocal mass of Lauritz Melchior, but he is actually pretty good here. His Tristan has stature and is compelling throughout. The long Act II love duet is a real highlight of this recording ----- in fact, the best I've ever heard.Both Flagstad and Suthaus are tonally rapturous here and Furtwangler achieves orchestral effects here that border on a transfiguration ----- very beautiful indeed. There are many wonderful things to hear on this recording, but would I recommend it as a first choice? Maybe so, but I certainly wouldn't want to be without Karl Bohm's recording with Birgit Nilsson and Wolfgang Windgassen, with the benefit of stereo sound. Nilsson is a savage and searing Isolde and Windgassen is a towering Tristan. Bohm conducts a slashingly taut performance, and it's a thrill a minute. But the thrills to be heard on this EMI recording are also to be savored, but they are very different. A true Wagnerian will want to own both recordings, and possibly a third as well. But you certainly won't go wrong with this one.
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