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Wagner : Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Full Operas - Released May 18, 2018 | Orfeo

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An enemy of fashion and glitz who shunned cocktails and society dinners, Wolfgang Sawallisch was a humble, retiring man whose life was wholly dedicated to music and music alone. Behind what might seem like a well-worn cliché of the "honest man", he was surely one of the greatest artists of his generation. An exceptional pianist, he would sometimes accompany his friend Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau through memorable nights dedicated to Schubert's great cycles. A conductor, he knew the whole repertoire by heart, not only working with an orchestra but also taking to the piano with all the singers. He was a Kapellmeister in the most elevated sense of the term. Between 1971 and 1992 he made his hometown’s Munich Opera (Bayerische Staatsoper) one of the greatest stages in the world, offering performances of an utterly exceptional standard. The gradual seizure of power by producers would put an end to a collaboration which had produced so many unforgettable nights. Sawallisch went on to enjoy a kind of Indian summer as a conductor in his final years, at the head of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he encountered huge success. First and foremost a performer of Wagner, Wolfgang Sawallisch first made his mark on Bayreuth in his youth, when, in 1962, he conducted landmark performances. The archives of the festival are full of recordings which are slowly being released, whose almost-identical distributions on different dates have sown confusion. Sawallisch conducted Tristan and Isolde with the legendary couple Birgit Nilsson/Wolfgang Windgassen several times, for the festivals in 1957, 1958 and 1959, well before the sensational version conducted by Karl Böhm. This new release covers the night of 26 July 1958 (so it is not a cover of the version released by MYTO of the show on 21 August of the same year). The doomed lovers are given an exceptional treatment under the electrifying baton of a young Sawallisch. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Richard Wagner

Opera - Released January 1, 1999 | Opera d'Oro

This live recording of Tristan und Isolde, from the 1974 Bayreuth Festival, conducted by Carlos Kleiber, is notable for its energy and impetuosity, and its occasionally astonishing speed. Moments that in many performances can sound ponderously momentous here have a fleet recklessness that seems far more appropriate both musically and dramatically. The ending of the Prelude, taken much faster than usual, is a thrilling analog for the heedless passion that's soon to overtake the protagonists. Kleiber holds the singers and orchestra together for his wild ride, and for all his rhythmic flexibility and unpredictability, his reading has a sense of naturalistic inevitability. While this is not a dream cast (the very possibility of assembling such a thing for a performance or recording of Tristan is probably a chimaera), all the soloists are fully convincing dramatically, even if they are not vocally the most memorable singers ever to take on these roles. Catarina Ligendza is an appealingly young-sounding Isolde, and she also has the power to negotiate the role's huge demands. Helge Brilioth's heroic Tristan is sung with strength and fervor. Largely due to Kleiber's vision and his ability to carry his performers along with him, this revelatory performance of Tristan should be of interest to anyone who loves the opera.© TiVo
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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Stephen Gould

Opera - Released September 1, 2012 | PentaTone

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As the conductor for PentaTone's ambitious project to record all of Richard Wagner's music dramas, Marek Janowski has delivered a fine live concert version of Tristan und Isolde that has received critical praise for its strong cast and extraordinary sound quality. Janowski draws out some exciting playing from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the multichannel super audio recording gives the ensemble the depth and fullness that is absolutely vital in Wagner's richly scored music. The cast is assured and vocally capable, but the star is soprano Nina Stemme, whose Isolde is vividly rendered and strong enough to carry the performance through to the Liebestod, setting standards of expressive power and stamina for the other singers to match. Considering the difficulty in finding vocalists who can handle Wagner's demanding roles, the performances by Stephen Gould as Tristan, Johan Reuter as Kurwenal, and Kwangchul Youn as King Mark are certainly better than average, and satisfying for the purposes of this concert performance. While this recording does not rank among historic Tristans for the thrills of a fully staged production, or for any legendary artists in the main roles, this is still an admirable effort that promises even greater things for the remainder of PentaTone's series.© TiVo
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Mahler & Wagner: Rückert-Lieder, Wesendonck-Lieder, Prélude & Mort d'Isolde

Felicity Lott

Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released January 1, 2007 | Aeon

Transcribing Mahler's five Rückert Lieder plus Wagner's five Wesendonck Lieder and Prelude and "Love-Death" from Tristan und Isolde for soprano plus piano quartet raises fascinating performance possibilities. Shorn of their orchestral forces, the transcriptions make the works available for chamber-sized ensembles, and one imagines hearing all manner of polyphonic lines and harmonic details with amazing clarity.In that regard, this recording of pianist/composer Christian Favre's transcriptions of Mahler and Wagner by soprano Felicity Lott and the Quatuor Schumann does not disappoint. Start with the Tristan Prelude: though one at first misses the orchestral colors, the intensity and lucidity of the French ensemble's playing amply compensates for the loss. But the group's performance is compromised by English soprano Felicity Lott. One of the great English sopranos of the later years of the twentieth century, Lott's voice was not nearly what it had been when this recording was made in 2007. Here, Lott's tone is less luxurious and more restrained, her technique less virtuosic and more cautious, and her colors less nuanced and more brazen. Though her voice is still lovely in quieter passages, Lott seems to be straining in the climaxes. Thus, while the evanescent coda of Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" sounds suitably ethereal, the climaxes of his "Um Mitternacht" and Wagner's "Love-Death" seem weak, even puny. Captured in close, vivid sound by Aeon, this recording is worth hearing by anyone who already loves these works and is looking for fascinating new ways to perform them. But while they might be impressed by Favre's arrangements and the Quatuor Schumann's performances, they might also wish a different soprano had been engaged.© TiVo
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Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer, WWV 63 (Live)

Bayreuther Festspielorchester

Opera - Released March 14, 2006 | Orfeo

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Richard Wagner : Der Fliegende Holländer - Pierre-Louis Dietsch : Le vaisseau fantôme ou le maudit des mers

Marc Minkowski

Classical - Released November 4, 2013 | naïve classique

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Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 / Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

Classical - Released February 11, 2022 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

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The approach of the Bruckner bicentennial in 2024 has brought a host of performances of his symphonies. No doubt more are on the way, but several that have already appeared have brought his music into sharper definition. Among them is the live cycle by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, under the energetic direction of Andris Nelsons, which concludes with the present release. This volume exemplifies several strong characteristics of the whole cycle. Like others in the cycle, it includes a pair of Wagner instrumental pieces (here at the beginning), the Prelude and the "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde; this device has worked well throughout and is especially effective here as the Wagner pieces are followed by Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C minor, emphasizing the role of Wagner in defining Bruckner's vast musical spaces. Nelsons has gotten wonderful string sound from the venerable Gewandhaus Orchestra, and both of the symphonies here provide impressive examples; try the first movement of the Symphony No. 1 for the strings' rather eerie perfection in the top register, and the slow movement of the Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, for sheer melodic lyricism. Perhaps beauty in the strings is built into the performances of this great orchestra, but not so the enthusiastic forward momentum of Nelsons' readings, which are of the sort that will attract non-Brucknerites. The performances here make a nice contrast with those of Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden or Vienna Philharmonic; Thielemann is the great technician, while Nelsons thinks in terms of long lines. Deutsche Grammophon captures the immediacy of the live performances in this superb release.© TiVo
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Wagner: Overtures, Preludes & Aria by André Cluytens

André Cluytens

Classical - Released January 23, 2022 | Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording

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Horowitz plays Liszt

Vladimir Horowitz

Chamber Music - Released March 25, 2011 | Sony Classical

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Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder - Tannhäuser - Tristan und Isolde

Anne Schwanewilms

Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released February 3, 2014 | CapriccioNR

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Anne Schwanewilms is one of Germany's leading Wagnerian sopranos, and this 2014 Capriccio album showcases her lyrical voice in three well-known works: Elisabeth's aria, "Dich, teure Halle" from Tannhäuser, the five Wesendonck Lieder, and the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. These are key examples of Wagner's vocal writing, emphasizing the long, through-composed line and the soaring lyricism of his most memorable music. Schwanewilms' light, evenly supported tone, controlled phrasing, and clear diction combine in wonderfully expressive singing that compels listening, even though she doesn't possess a loud or especially commanding voice. One may wish for a little more volume or power, but these pieces really don't require a dramatic soprano voice to be effective. The Overture and Bacchanal from Tannhäuser and the Prelude from Tristan und Isolde are played by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Cornelius Meister, and they are appropriate choices, though to make this a proper vehicle for Schwanewilms' talents, those familiar pieces should have been replaced with either more Wagnerian arias or selections from her performances in the operas of Richard Strauss. However, Wagner lovers will be just as happy to have this album as it is, without any substitutions.© TiVo
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The Wagner Project

Matthias Goerne

Classical - Released November 24, 2017 | harmonia mundi

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Ouvertures et Préludes

Neeme Järvi

Classical - Released September 1, 2013 | Chandos

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Shostakovich: Symphonie No. 10 - Wagner: Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

Evgueni Mravinski

Classical - Released September 1, 2003 | Warner Classics International

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Pancrace Royer: Surprising Royer, Orchestral Suites

Les Talens Lyriques

Symphonic Music - Released May 5, 2023 | Aparté

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Beyond the neglect of French Baroque music in general, it is a bit hard to understand why composer Pancrace Royer was almost completely unknown until Christophe Rousset came along to champion him, first in harpsichord music and now, with these suites of music drawn from operas, in orchestral music. In the 18th century, Royer was quite well known and admired among others by Rameau, whose music he helped along considerably. Royer certainly inhabited Rameau's stylistic world, but from the evidence here, his music is distinctive and merits the adjective "surprising" that Rousset has attached to it. It is colorful, given to unexpected turns of harmony, and vivid in its evocation of the exotic scenes of French opera. Sample the "Air pour les turcs" ("Air for the Turks") from Zaïde, reine de Grenade, with its crackling percussion. Royer challenged his orchestra with virtuoso ensemble writing in the likes of the "Premier et second tambourins" from Almasis, and Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques step up with precise, vigorous readings that one imagines would have made the composer overjoyed. The inclusion of two alternate versions for movements from Zaïde is also unusual and gives insight into the compositional thinking of the day. Essential for specialists and enthusiasts interested in the French Baroque, this album is a lot of fun for anyone, with only overdone church sound detracting from the overall effect. © James Manheim /TiVo
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Atys

Christophe Rousset

Opera - Released January 5, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Schumann: Genoveva

Kurt Masur

Opera - Released May 1, 2015 | Brilliant Classics

Distinctions Diapason d'or - The Qobuz Ideal Discography
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Camille Saint-Saëns: Phryné

Hervé Niquet

Opera - Released February 11, 2022 | Bru Zane

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Everyone knows Camille Saint-Saëns has a great sense of humour thanks to his Carnaval des Animaux in which no one escapes ridicule, not even him. Now the Palazzetto Bru Zane Foundation and Hervé Niquet have unearthed Phryné, a forgotten comic opera from 1893 enriched with recitatives composed by André Messager three years later.Received with immense and lasting success in its time, this brilliant work eventually fell into the abyss, never to be seen again. Fortunately, fans of Saint-Saëns made great efforts to rediscover his works on the centenary of his death in 2021. Phryné captures the "Grecomania" that was prevalent in all the arts in France at this time, especially in Offenbach’s music and even in architecture (just think of the beautiful Parisian district of New Athens in the 9th arrondissement). Ironically, and perhaps a little cheekily, Saint-Saens confessed that he was “working on this little piece with infinite pleasure” and was infatuated with this courtesan musician who had served as a model for the sculptor Praxitele.Always keen to discover a forgotten repertoire, Hervé Niquet brought together a few singers, Florie Valiquette, Cyrille Dubois, Anaïs Constans and Thomas Dolié, to breathe some life back into Phryné with his Concert Spirituel, with the aim of producing a concert version to be performed in the Opéra de Rouen Normandie in 2021. Though Lucien Augé’s libretto may seem tasteless today with its hefty dose of misogyny, Saint-Saens’ music is simply delicious, with a succession of arias and ensembles. This modest and charming opera-comedy, which Charles Gounod so enjoyed, offers a less serious and less academic take of a composer that well and truly deserves to be rediscovered. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Bach : St Matthew Passion (Édition 5.1)

René Jacobs

Classical - Released October 7, 2013 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet + Video Distinctions Choc de Classica - Choc Classica de l'année