Recordings of Tristan und Isolde

Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Posted by George S. Roland (A) on October 22, 2016 at 20:14:33

My wife and I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton sing Tristan und Isolde at the Met a week or so ago. I don't know if it would be possible today to hear a stronger cast in this work and Sir Simon Rattle's conducting was sublime.
After I came home, I longed to listen some more to this extraordinary work. I have the Solti London LP version with Nilsson and the DG version, again with Nilsson, conducted by Bohm.
My NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music recommends the DG set with Bohm and the Furtwangler EMI version with Flagstad.
I find the voices on the DG version, on CD, to be rather shrill and hard to listen to, but I like its balance of singers-to-orchestra better than the London recording, where, I think, the orchestra is a bit overwhelming.
I would appreciate hearing especially from those who have heard the DG version on LP and CD as to the relative recording quality--whether the LP is any less shrill than the CD.
I would also like to hear from those who have the Furtwangler version for their degree of satisfaction with it.
Are there any newer recordings than these I ought to consider?

Many thanks,

George Roland

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Topic - Recordings of Tristan und Isolde - George S. Roland 20:14:33 10/22/16 (13)

RE: Recordings of Tristan und Isolde - fstein 17:27:53 10/24/16 (0)

RE: Recordings of Tristan und Isolde - Tadlo 15:24:21 10/24/16 (0)

RE: Recordings of Tristan und Isolde - learsfool 13:38:42 10/23/16 (4)

RE: Recordings of Tristan und Isolde - Kas 13:56:21 10/24/16 (3)

Reiner's Tristan... - kuma 22:52:44 10/24/16 (0)

Man, it's hard to imagine Suthaus's voice being even more attractive - jdaniel@jps.net 22:32:52 10/24/16 (1)

RE: Man, it's hard to imagine Suthaus's voice being even more attractive - Kas 07:50:57 10/25/16 (0)

Carlos Kleiber - andy evans 08:06:14 10/23/16 (2)

Does the CD sound any better? - kuma 12:42:02 10/23/16 (0)

His was my first exposure, Price has a beautiful voice--wish she recorded more Wagner! - jdaniel@jps.net 08:53:21 10/23/16 (0)

I've got Bohm and Furty LPs... - kuma 01:21:06 10/23/16 (0)

Between Bohm/Nilsson and Furt/Flagstad, I prefer the latter - jdaniel@jps.net 21:50:26 10/22/16 (0)

Can't help you with the relative merits of the LP and CD versions of the Böhm recording, but. . . - Chris from Lafayette 21:24:50 10/22/16 (0)

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