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Wagner : Tristan und Isolde (Orange, Live 1973)

Karl Böhm

Classical - Released September 7, 2018 | Sony Classical

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Franz Liszt: Schubert & Wagner Transcriptions

Jean-Nicolas Diatkine

Classical - Released May 27, 2022 | Solo Musica

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Some of Jean-Nicolas Diatkine's singer friends have ended their careers, but their magic is irreplaceable in his eyes, or rather in his ears. He misses them, just as he misses the Schubert, Schumann and Brahms songs they sang. Well, there is only one person who can compensate for this loss, and his name is Franz Liszt. The main aim of transcriptions was to make orchestral works known to a wider audience, at a time when there were far fewer orchestras, and public access to symphony concerts was very limited. But Liszt gives transcriptions a new meaning: he puts the orchestra into the piano, since his style is particularly suited to outsized extravagance. Thus he opens up unprecedented pianistic possibilities, where virtuosity is no longer mere exhibitionism but rather transformed into the art of illusion. His arrangements of Wagner are so convincing that they become his own personal creations. Laurent Bessières, piano tuner at the Paris Philharmonic, suggested for this recording a Schiedmayer piano of 1916 made in Stuttgart, which he had completely rebuilt in collaboration with Antoine Letessier-Salmon, director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and Stephen Paulello, piano maker and inventor of the strings that bear his name. This instrument has almost never been used in concert, however excellent work by Laurent Bessières convinced us to try it out in this very special repertoire. © solo musica
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Horowitz plays Liszt

Vladimir Horowitz

Chamber Music - Released March 25, 2011 | Sony Classical

Distinctions Choc de Classica
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The Wagner Project

Matthias Goerne

Classical - Released November 24, 2017 | harmonia mundi

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The Art of English Horn

Dominik Wollenweber

Classical - Released October 15, 2021 | Supraphon a.s.

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"The English horn needs a soft, round vibrato ... We are among those who can move people to tears", says Dominik Wollenweber about his instrument. Let us not be misled by the humble conduct, and the absence of laudatory articles and glossy photographs. Wollenweber is one of the world's finest cor anglais players. Claudio Abbado has even labelled him the "best player of all time". Since 1993, Dominik Wollenweber has been with the Berliner Philharmoniker, members of which keep him company throughout the present recording. Conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, the orchestra accompany Wollenweber in Sibelius's wonderful tone poem The Swan of Tuonela. It is difficult to imagine an album dedicated to the English horn without the Largo from Dvořák's New World Symphony or without the solo from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. On the other hand, Bach's Concerto in G major and Schubert's Impromptu No. 3 may come as a surprise, while Jean Françaix's Quartet is simply bound to lift the listener's spirit. If you love the English horn's singularly dark velvety colour, which otherwise can only be heard rather as a gleam of a gem stone on the large canvases of symphonic pieces, then this album is definitely for you. And those who have yet to discover the beauty of the cor anglais will undoubtedly savour the musical menu drawn up by a true master of the instrument. © Supraphon
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Wagner: Extraits orchestraux

Otto Klemperer

Classical - Released September 2, 2002 | Warner Classics

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Horowitz & Liszt: Perfect Match

Vladimir Horowitz

Classical - Released October 7, 2022 | Sony Classical

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Klemperer Conducts Wagner: Overtures & Preludes

Otto Klemperer

Classical - Released August 25, 2023 | Warner Classics

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The Unreleased Masters

Jessye Norman

Classical - Released March 24, 2023 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

Jessye Norman was always protective of her art and the sound image she projected, no different with these unreleased recordings. However, with the approval of her loved ones, they’re now being released post-mortem.This new release (which is available in a lavish, physical limited edition) features three of Jessye’s recordings done between 1988 and 1998, when she was at the height of her career. There are substantial excerpts from her extraordinary performance of Tristan und Isolde recorded with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, featuring tenors Thomas Moser (Tristan) and Ian Bostridge (the young sailor) and soprano Hanna Schwarz (Brangäne).The rest of the programme consists of live recordings conducted by James Levine and Seiji Ozawa. With the former, Jessye Norman sings Strauss's Four Last Songs and Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder in a recording that favours orchestral richness to the detriment of the voice. This may explain why the American singer chose never to release this recording, even though her hedonistic interpretation of Strauss's farewell to life is still striking. The album ends with a recital complete with orchestra, tailor-made for the diva in 1994 in Boston. It features two cantatas: Berenice che fai by Haydn and Phaedra, written by Benjamin Britten for Janet Baker. Nestled between the two, you’ll find a stunning rendition of Berlioz's The Death of Cleopatra. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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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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Liebestod

Friedemann Eichhorn

Chamber Music - Released September 8, 2023 | Naxos

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After pianist Fazil Say's Naxos debut in 2020, featuring his own complete works for violin with violinist Friedemann Eichhorn and conductor Christoph Eschenbach, Say and Eichhorn continue their fruitful collaboration here with somewhat lesser-known music for this combination from major names of the Romantic era. There are a few reasons listeners will be drawn to this release, and chief among them may be the popularity of Say himself. Beyond that is the performing relationship between Eichhorn and Say. They have a solid, supportive approach that suits the drama of this music well, and their symbiosis will be evident to listeners; this is clearly heard in the Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105, of Robert Schumann that opens the program. The complete, collaborative "F-A-E Sonata," with movements by Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Albert Dietrich, is a draw here as well. While the movements by Schumann and Brahms have seen plenty of light individually, the opening movement by Dietrich is less common, as are performances of the whole Sonata. Finally, inspired by his own performances of Liszt's treatment of Wagner's "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde, Say offers arrangements for violin and piano of that opera's Prelude and "Liebestod." It is no easy task to take these lush, dramatic works and distill them into this intimate pairing, and Say does an admirable job. Time will tell whether it enters the greater repertoire, but it is certainly worth hearing and considering. © Keith Finke /TiVo
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Liszt: Joies de l'âme

Claire-Marie Le Guay

Classical - Released September 10, 2021 | Mirare

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Wagner: Wesendonk Lieder; Tristan & Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod

Jessye Norman

Classical - Released July 1, 1976 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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Wagner: Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Prelude & Good Friday Music from Parsifal

Wilhelm Furtwängler

Classical - Released November 5, 2021 | Warner Classics

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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: 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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Wagner: Symphony in C Major, Tristan und Isolde, Siegfried Idyll

Richard Wagner

Classical - Released July 25, 2014 | Challenge Classics

Apart from the overtures and orchestral excerpts he and his followers adapted from his music dramas, Richard Wagner composed little concert music. This 2014 Challenge Classics release by Edo de Waart and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra presents two of the most substantial works Wagner specifically wrote for orchestra and which stand on their own. The Symphony in C major is a youthful essay, composed in 1832 when Wagner was not yet 20, and it shows the overwhelming influence of Beethoven and Weber. The Siegfried Idyll is a piece for chamber orchestra that Wagner composed as a birthday gift for his second wife, Cosima, and it was premiered on Christmas morning, 1870. Between these works, de Waart has programmed the Nachtgesang and the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde in an orchestral arrangement by Henk de Vlieger, who has made similar symphonic syntheses of Wagner's operatic music. This album gives a sense of Wagner's beginning as a composer eager to impress, and examples of his mature masterpieces, but there is almost no connection to be drawn between them. While these sympathetic and polished performances are certainly worth hearing, the Symphony in C major might have been better served on a program with comparable early works, and not contrasted so sharply with de Vlieger's Tristan arrangement and the Siegfried Idyll, which outshine it. © TiVo