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In Reply to: RE: Recordings of Tristan und Isolde posted by George S. Roland on October 22, 2016 at 20:14:33
Interesting discussion here of the Tristan recordings. One aspect that needs a little more attention is the orchestra, especially in Wagner. There are complaints about the balance sometimes on the Solti recording, and he himself wanted to redo it later in his career, as he wanted to change his interpretation in places, especially the second and third acts. However, despite some issues, this is one of the finest played recordings by the orchestra, which has just as important a role in Wagner as any of the principals. In this way, it realizes Wagner's intention more than some of the others mentioned. Culshaw also fixed some of the balance issues in their later Wagner recordings.
The knock on the Bohm one with Nilsson singing Isolde is that the orchestra is much shabbier. Many people think this is Nilsson's better performance, though, and she was a great Isolde.
The Furtwangler one is great, and yes, it did have Dennis Brain leading the horn section. For you fans of older recordings, you can find records with Flagstad and Melchior singing some of the duets. They were great together. The orchestra sounds terrible on many of these, however.
There are some other "live" Bayreuth recordings by both Furtwangler and Karajan that are worth seeking out.
I have the Kleiber recording, and although I love Margaret Price in general, I think the over-miking here in an attempt to make her voice heavier doesn't quite work. I am also not the biggest fan of Kollo. The orchestra, however, sounds quite good.
As far as current Tristan's go, I would like to put in a good word for Jay Hunter Morris, who some of you may have heard as Met's latest Siegfried. He is also very good as Tristan - I have heard him live doing it. As far as I know he has not recorded it yet, though.
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There are five commercially available recordings that I turn to most often for T&I.
I hear nothing "shabby" about the Bayreuth orchestra on the Bohm recording for DG, and the Bayreuth acoustic allows me to hear every nuance. One could argue that Bohm races through the score a bit too quickly and superficially, but it's undeniably exciting at moments, and there's something to be said for fitting each act on its own disc. On balance, the cast is perhaps the best on record in stereo (a little late for Windgassen, though).
The Furtwangler is essential, although compared to excerpts recorded in 1947 in Dresden, his conducting is rather muted. The live 1947 Act 3, also with Suthaus, has an unbelievable intensity. Still on the studio recording the orchestra plays beautifully, and the sound, although monaural, is excellent. Flagstad sings beautifully, but she is past her best years and sounds a bit matronly. Suthaus is a solid Tristan, although I'd like more brilliance to the sound. The biggest casting blot is probably Greindl's Mark.
The live 1952 Bayreuth, with Karajan, Moedl, and Vinay is superb in every way - but be sure to buy the Orfeo issue, which sounds vastly better than any other release of this performance. Karajan's conducting here is much more direct and less fussy than his later studio recording, which is otherwise one of the better Tristans. Dernesch is a bit overparted, but the rest of the cast is superb, with Vickers pretty much the only modern Tristan who manages to sing the role with any degree of comfort.
Finally, there's the Covent Garden Tristan from 1937 with Reiner. The orchestral contribution has to be taken on faith, but you really haven't heard the title roles sung properly until you've heard Flagstad and Melchior in their primes.
Others mentioned here have their points, but on balance, aren't really competitive. I love Margaret Price's Isolde, but Kollo is terrible (and Fischer-Dieskau worse), and the entire production sounds studio-sound and sterile. I also love Bernstein's way with the score, but it sounds as though he's desperately trying to drown out (and for good reason) Behrens and Hoffman.
Thanks for mentioning. I wasn't aware of that. Sounds like a must listen for me. ( Flagstad fan )
Even in his "compromised" old age state, I find his voice far more preferable to the usual late 20th C suspects.
I agree - we've suffered some pretty abysmal singers of this role in the past few decades.
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