Wagner: Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort 'Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene' (from Götterdämmerung)

As part of the Wagner 200th birth date celebrations, Israeli/German piano duo Yaara Tal & Andreas Groethuysen release "Goetterdaemmerung - Transcriptions for two pianists from Wagner’ most famous operas" on Sony Classical.

Elisabeth-Maria Wachutka trained as an opera and concert singer at the Richard Strauss Music Conservatory and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. The focus of her repertoire is the works of Wagner and Richard Strauss.

The third volume of The Flagstad Recitals couples music by Wagner and Mahler. Flagstad’s LP of Wagner scenes recorded with Hans Knappertsbusch is complemented by the “Todesverkündigung” from Act II of Die Walküre with Sir Georg Solti as well as the “Immolation Scene” from Götterdämmerung from a Norwegian broadcast performance conducted by Øivin Fjeldstad. Also included are the two Mahler song cycles Flagstad recorded with Sir Adrian Boult and the Vienna Philharmonic.

In his booklet notes John Steane asks us to “remember (for it is easy to forget) that in this recording we hear the voice of a woman over 60. It is still possible to feel, as Desmond Shawe-Taylor did when hearing her years earlier in a concert performance with Furtwängler, that the ‘sumptuous, saturated tone-quality of this sort has almost vanished from the world’.”

‘It is wonderful to hear how the great soprano can produce the softest flute-like tone on a high G, fining it down to vanishing point’ [Mahler: ‘Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld’ from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen] Gramophone

[Wesendon-Lieder] “…beautifully played on this disc, as is everything else, by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Knappertsbusch. Flagstad's deeper insight into the music shows particularly in ‘Stehe still!’ and ‘Im Treibhaus’ but she is very well suited by all five songs." Gramophone

[Kindertotenlieder] “That glorious voice is heard here in a very fine recording, and Sir Adrian and the Vienna Philharmonic form a happy combination. And in any case, Flagstad sings these particular songs most beautifully; Lieder on this scale finds in her a fine and sensitive interpreter. Incredible that she was 62 at the time." Gramophone

“Flagstad was a superb Sieglinde, and her glorious voice is perfectly suited to the rich inspiration of the Wesendonk-Lieder … one of the finest Brünnhildes of our time” The Penguin Guide to Bargain Compact Discs

Astrid Varnay (1918– 2006) was born in Sweden of Hungarian heritage and raised in America. She went on to become one of the most sought-after dramatic sopranos of the 20th century and one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation. Her voice was often praised for its seemingly limitless upper register. On this generously filled 2CD set (each disc clocks in at more than 80 minutes) we get extensive excerpts from Tristan und Isolde (with the reigning Heldentenor of the time, Wolfgang Windgassen) scenes from three of the Ring operas, and the Wesendonck Lieder. All were much praised when they first appeared on LP in the 1950s and then again as part of Deutsche Grammophon’s ‘Original Masters’ tribute to this great singer.

Wagner is the giant among composers by reason of the fact that he created his own world. Whereas others interpreted ancient and familiar mythology, Wagner created his own myth. Whereas others composed to librettos by poets, Wagner wrote his own texts. He even built his own opera house, which had to be different and innovative. Wagner was the greatest creative genius in music history.

And yet this superhuman giant also had a sense of humour, clearly audible in the wonderfully constructed Meistersinger overture. And he created intimate, sensitive lyricism, which moves us deeply in his Siegfried-Idyll. This lyricism is the most important aspect of Wagner's music: Brünnhilde's beautiful, longing melody which shines through the huge flame that absorbs both her and the collapsing world.

Iván Fischer (from liner notes)

The purpose of this present collection of recording is to provide a document showing the vocal techniques of the ‘golden generation’ of Wagner interpreters.

It begins with a true icon of Wagner’s music: Kirsten Flagstad who performs not the famous 1952 recording of Brunhilde, but a 1948 version recorded in the Abbey Road studios), and carries on with Eileen Farrell (an American singer of rare versatility), George London singing Wotan and a serious list of other top quality performers.

The recordings are all taken from the period 1941-1959 and this release gives us a unique collection of the sheer quality of these Wagner performers, all of them ‘stars’ of their time.

Legendary soprano Kirsten Flagstad is featured on this super budget re-issue in 10 songs by Grieg, Dido’s lament from Purcell’s most famous opera and Wagnerian scenes from Tannhauser, Tristan und Isolde and Götterdämmerung .

CD 1 rolls off with The Ride of the Valkyries, CD 2 with The Flying Dutchman Overture – there’s over 150 minutes of Wagner on this star compilation.

Of course, Wagner also wrote big ballads as well, so there’s the Siegfried Idyll, the Tristan Prelude and Liebestod and the ethereal Prelude to Lohengrin

The big names are there, above all Karajan, Böhm, Kubelik and Jochum. It’s a mainly orchestral set, with just the Lohengrin Bridal Chorus and two extracts from The Ring (conducted by Karajan) to remind you that Wagner was writing operas.

The perfect Wagner starter-set!