Wagner: Orchestral Excerpts from Wagner's Operas

Album review

This disc of orchestral excerpts from Wagner's operas does the posthumous reputation of Klaus Tennstedt no good. The great German conductor -- who also recorded stunning performances of almost all these works with the Berlin Philharmonic -- leads performances that are at once phlegmatic and eccentric -- phlegmatic in the sense that they are thick, torpid, and dull, and eccentric in the sense that they are odd, awkward, and off-center. For phlegmatic, listen to the clotted counterpoint of the Meistersinger Prelude or the flat-footed Ride of the Valkyries. For eccentric, listen to the nihilistic exaltation of "Dawn" and "Siegfried Rhine Journey" or the asexual hysteria of the "Venusberg Music" from Tannhäuser. The London Philharmonic responds to Tennstedt with obvious affection -- check out the heroic horns at the end of the Meistersinger Prelude or the expressive strings in the slower pages of the "Venusberg Music" -- but the overall ensemble is still too sloppy and the tone is too coarse. Listeners looking for great Tennstedt/Wagner are advised to try his Berlin Philharmonic recordings. Listeners who already know and admire Tennstedt might want to think twice about trying this disc. LPO Live's live 1992 sound is gray, dim, and heavy.
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