Royal Opera House: ROHS008

“John Tomlinson’s gruff, earthy Hans Sachs is a less intellectual figure than some of the most famous interpretations, but a more human one –a plausible potential suitor to Eva in their touching Act II dalliance. While his German is superb, Tomlinson’s is an unGermanic portrayal, sung with real character, even if some of the music lies uncomfortably high. It’s good, too, to have a memento of Thomas Allen’s Beckmesser, a fussy, paranoid comic caricature, yet one who sings his grotesque mauling of Stolzing’s Prize Song as if it were a great Wolf Lied. If Nancy Gustafson’s Eva sounds a bit lacklustre, there is compensation in Winbergh’s thrillingly lyrical Stolzing, in Herbert Lippert’s ideal David and in the warm humanity and wit of Haitink’s conducting.” Sunday Times, 18th May 2008 ****

“Bernard Haitink's performance, his happiest Wagner outing to date on disc, shows him to be a listening accompanist and precise balancer of orchestral textures. …a memorable British double-act: John Tomlinson's Sachs (fully engaged as philosophical poet or virile, passionate shoemaker) and Thomas Allen's carefully drawn assumption of Beckmesser.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008

“…although there are some flaws, this emerges in my opinion as the best recording of the work for the last 40 years. …the all-round standard of the soloists, and the splendour of the chorus and orchestra make this a most exhilarating, moving set.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 *****