kE( ()IRl) its original scoring in the general direction recorded. The Metropolitan has often done sounds it, but there is a full -throated ecstasy of purification and calming down of his no better. to her singing that remains impressive. youthful exuberance and providing, in -Marianne Schech (s), Elisabeth; Helena The far more recent recording accorded what remains essentially a mid- nineteenth- Braun (s), Venus; Rita Streich (s), Shep- Tiana Lemnitz also leaves much to be de- century operatic overture, a later- Wagnerian herd; August Seider (t), Tannhäuser; sired, but hers too is really distinguished feel and an ending which has to do with Franz Klarwein (t), Walther; Karl singing, no longer tonally fresh, but still transfiguring love rather than with the Ostertag (t), Heinrich; Karl Paul (b), able to communicate the right kind of stormy opening section that made Franz Wolfram; Otto von Rohr (bs) , Landgraf; youthful excitement. Maud Cunitz gets the Lachner, preparing the 1864 revival, com- Benno Kusche (bs), Biterolf; Rudolf Wün- best reproduction, but the artistry is of a plain of "the wind that blew out at you zer (bs), Reinmar; Orchestra and Chorus lesser order. Otto Edelmann sings the bari- whenever you opened the score." There is of the Munich State Opera, Robert Heger, tone arias with impressive richness and sufficient wind, of massive force rather cond. URANIA URLP 211. Four r2 -in. malleability. than high velocity, in Hans Knapperts- $15.92. -Dich teure Halle! Lotte Lehmann (s), busch's reading, and a fine transfiguration with orch. acc. DECCA DL 9523. 12-in. à la Tristan. The Kletzki performance is TANNHAUESER (vocal excerpts) $4.98 (in Lotte Lehmann Sings, Vol. 1). more vigorous and straightforward, but less Although far less rewarding than the old -Dich teure Halle! Tiana Lemnitz (s); musically distinguished and less successfully 78 -rpm assortment, the vocal excerpts from Orchestra of Radio Berlin, Arthur Rother, reproduced than the Knappertsbusch. Tannhäuser available on LP nevertheless in- cond. URANIA URLP 7019. 12 -in. $3.98 -Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans clude some performances worthy of respect, (with Wesendonck Gedichte; excerpt from Knappertsbusch, cond. LONDON LD 9064. especially relative to the sole full -length Lohengrin). to -in. $2.98 (with excerpt from Die recording. Lotte Lehmann's "Dich teure -Dich teure Halle! Maud Cunitz (s); or- is a old and Rother, cond. TELEFUNKEN Walküre) . Halle.. at least quarter century chestra, Arthur -Philharmonia Orchestra, Paul Kletzki, cond. COLUMBIA -ENTRE RL 3060. r2 -in. $2.98 (with excerpt from Lohengrin and Brahms overtures) . The Ultimate in High Fidelity Reproduction 1845 ... a Triumph of Audio Engineering TANNHAEUSER ( i Edition) In Tannhäuser Wagner wrote a work that, PIONEERED BY URANIA ... AND while in some ways an advance towards AVAILABLE ONLY ON RECORDS the musical style everyone thinks of as BEARING THIS FAMOUS LABEL "Wagnerian," is still traceable to Weber and to the kind of grand opéra pageant popular in Paris at the time. Its affinities are too complex to examine here, but even in its final Tristan -time "Paris" revision of aprii Releaies 1861, it is a kind of unresolved amalgam GLIERE: Harp Concerto of Wagner pure and entangled, of German Jutta Zoff, harp "national" opera as conceived in the 184os, Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra Rudolf Kempe, pond. and of Meyerbeer. Wagner, in later life, HANDEL: Harp Concerto in B Major called it "meine schlechteste Oper" ( "my Gerda Schimmel, harp worst"), and the tendency now is to agree Berlin Chamber Orchestra Herbert Haorth, cond. URLP 7164 almost unquestioningly with this judgment, POPOFF: Symphony No. 2 "Patria" though there is a hard core of unshakeable Leipzig Philharmonic Orch. Hermann Abendroth, cond. Tannhäuser admirers. LIADOV: Eight Russian Folk Songs for Orch.,Opus 58 From it the very beginning, seems to Berlin Symphony Orch. Constantin Bernhardt, cond. URLP 7163 have suffered from almost uniformly low standards of performance, and it must be JOHANN STRAUSS: Ritter Pasmann Ballet Suite admitted that the work invites trouble of Berlin Symphony Orchestra Adolf Fritz Guhl, cond. this kind. The main thing that can be said DELIBES: Coppelia Ballet Suite in favor of the Urania recording (which Berlin Symphony Orchestra Ono Dobrindt, cond. URLP 7165 adheres largely to the original score of 1845 but with some of Wagner's subse- quent revisions) is that it sounds like the kind of average-grim performance that is standard for Tannhäuser - aside from the -/Vew Relea9e3 fact that Robert Heger is a fine craftsman additional and a sensible conductor, and the fact that BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E -Flat Major, Opus 73 "Emperor" the Munich tradition of ensemble makes Elly Ney, piano for good performances in the numerous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Karl Boehm, cond. URLP 7150 knight parts. Marianne Schech has few BORODIN: Symphony No. 2 in B Minor positive advantages as Elisabeth, and the TCHAIKOVSKY: Capriccio Italien, Opus 45 Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra Gerhard Pflüger, cond role itself is one of the least ingratiating in TCHAIKOVSKY: 1812 Overture, Opus 49 opera. She is a screamy, hypertense kind of Berlin Symphony Orchestra Gerhard Wiesenhütter, rnnd. URLP 7148 singer here, and her wobble is only less SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 7 in C Major alarming than the violent waver of Helena Berlin Symphony Orchestra Arthur Rother, cond. URLP 7152 Braun, who sings Venus. August Seider presses nobly with his tight, unlovely voice 1 12" Record Each as Tannhäuser; Otto von Rohr is too light- weight a bass to make much impact as the Landgraf; Karl Paul is not positive enough as an artist to keep Wolfram from being a 50A-15,0001 RECORDS bore. Rita Streich as the Shepherd, Benno Kusche as Biterolf, and most of their col- 40 E. 19th Street New York 3, N. Y. leagues are better, but nobody ever built a really good performance around these minor parts. Still, this does sound like Tannhäuser, commonly sung and fairly well APRIL, 1955 .