Larry Kart Posted May 5, 2016 Report Posted May 5, 2016 Picked up for $1 the other day a vintage 5-LP set of this 1953 live London recording from Bayreuth: Conductor Joseph Keilberth König Heinrich Josef Greindl Lohengrin Wolfgang Windgassen Elsa Eleanor Steber Telramund Hermann Uhde Ortrud Astrid Varnay Der Heerrufer Hans Braun Ein Edle Gerhard Stolze Ein Edle Josef Janko Ein Edle Alfons Herwig Ein Edle Theo Adam Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele Recorded July/August, 1953 Put it on to check it out and was just transfixed -- by the opera (the plot and the music; is there some forecasting of "Parsifal" here in both the latter and former?), the performance (everyone so far is good to great, especially the terrifying Varnay, the angelic Steber, the tormented Uhde, and the William Pitz-led chorus; Windgassen is right there emotionally, though perhaps no one in the post-war era had all that the more or less crazy role calls for). I've had for years on LP the much vaunted EMI Kempe set, which I haven't listened to in a long time and which never gripped me as this recording has. Perhaps because we're there at Bayreuth (this was Weiland Wagner's first production there), this seems less like a performance than a series of direct urgent human (plus a swan) confrontations. Part of the pleasure BTW comes from those 10 shortish LP sides. You take in a chunk that somehow seems just right, then you get up and put on the next one. Right -- Lohengrin is Parsifal's son, but I was also thinking of the frequently diaphanous music. Quote
Larry Kart Posted May 6, 2016 Author Report Posted May 6, 2016 On 5/6/2016 at 3:58 AM, MomsMobley said: do you know Matacic, Bayreuth '59? Expand Nope -- just Keilberth and Kempe, though I've heard very good things about Konya and also heard that Rita Gorr's voice was shot by that time. Quote
MomsMobley Posted February 8, 2017 Report Posted February 8, 2017 kenton wagner wagner kenton grill that knockwurst with cuban fire! Quote
Bigshot Posted February 10, 2017 Report Posted February 10, 2017 Kenton's arranger, Pete Rugolo had a very odd sense of harmony. He could make the Tristan chord into something even weirder. Quote
soulpope Posted February 10, 2017 Report Posted February 10, 2017 On 2/10/2017 at 9:47 PM, Bigshot said: Kenton's arranger, Pete Rugolo had a very odd sense of harmony. He could make the Tristan chord into something even weirder. Expand Can live with this sense of harmony .... Quote
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