 | Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Wagner Die Meistersinger Prelude Wagner Tristan & Isolde Prelude & Liebestod Jaro Prohaska, Max Lorenz, Maria Müller, Camilla Kalab, Erich Zimmermann, Josef Greindl, Eugen Fuchs Bayreuth Festival Orchestra - 1943 (Complete Meistersinger) Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - 1942 $27 | ||
I extracted the audio from the famous AEG Factory film of the Meistersinger Prelude because I always thought it a magnificent interpretation. Although improving the sound has made some orchestral mistakes more evident, this is still such an unusually lean and powerfully fleet interpretation in our pompous times that it is well worth listening to. It is one of the fastest performances I have heard, which reminds us that Wagner was played this way before Soltian and Thielemannian heaviness and affectation changed perceptions of how this music should sound.
Again, there is no other concert performance of the Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde as powerful as this one. There is, of course, drama and ecstasy, with that typical Furtw?ngler heroism and eroticism. The playing of the orchestra is stunning, despite high frequency distortion at critical times. The waves of sound overwhelm one and a sublime experience is unavoidable.
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