For me, the list is very small one. One needs either perfect casting
and conducting - or a recording with some weaker elements but others
so strong they define the work.
In the first category I would put
Tosca EMI 1953 - which has all the prinicpals in the best forms of
their short primes under a superb conductor who recorded too little.
Gotterdammerung Decca 1964 - wonderful casting from top to bottom at a
time which was not known for great Wagner singing in stupendous sound
under a conductor who may not be my favorite but is dramatic and
exciting.
Walkure Act One EMI 1935 - better than other Walkure Act One I have
heard recoerded or live - Wagner singing at which one can only shake
one's head in wonder today under a great Wagner conductor and the
prewar Vienna Philharmonic.
In the second category I would put
Tristan und Isolde EMI 1952- the subsidiary casting could be better
and the Tristan as well but the combination of Flagstad and
Furtwangler brings us for pages here and there the essence of this
work.
Nozze - a weak Count but the whole ensemble represents a now gone
Vienna tradition under one of the great Mozart conductors.
Any other ideas???? Wagner Fan
For me, the list is very small one. One needs either perfect casting
and conducting - or a recording with some weaker elements but others
so strong they define the work.
In the first category I would put
Tosca EMI 1953 - which has all the prinicpals in the best forms of
their short primes under a superb conductor who recorded too little.
Gotterdammerung Decca 1964 - wonderful casting from top to bottom at a
time which was not known for great Wagner singing in stupendous sound
under a conductor who may not be my favorite but is dramatic and
exciting.
Walkure Act One EMI 1935 - better than other Walkure Act One I have
heard recoerded or live - Wagner singing at which one can only shake
one's head in wonder today under a great Wagner conductor and the
prewar Vienna Philharmonic.
In the second category I would put
Tristan und Isolde EMI 1952- the subsidiary casting could be better
and the Tristan as well but the combination of Flagstad and
Furtwangler brings us for pages here and there the essence of this
work.
Nozze - a weak Count but the whole ensemble represents a now gone
Vienna tradition under one of the great Mozart conductors.
Any other ideas???? Wagner Fan
For me, the list is very small one. One needs either perfect casting
and conducting - or a recording with some weaker elements but others
so strong they define the work.
In the first category I would put
Tosca EMI 1953 - which has all the prinicpals in the best forms of
their short primes under a superb conductor who recorded too little.
Gotterdammerung Decca 1964 - wonderful casting from top to bottom at a
time which was not known for great Wagner singing in stupendous sound
under a conductor who may not be my favorite but is dramatic and
exciting.
Walkure Act One EMI 1935 - better than other Walkure Act One I have
heard recoerded or live - Wagner singing at which one can only shake
one's head in wonder today under a great Wagner conductor and the
prewar Vienna Philharmonic.
In the second category I would put
Tristan und Isolde EMI 1952- the subsidiary casting could be better
and the Tristan as well but the combination of Flagstad and
Furtwangler brings us for pages here and there the essence of this
work.
Nozze - a weak Count but the whole ensemble represents a now gone
Vienna tradition under one of the great Mozart conductors.
Any other ideas???? Wagner Fan
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