1936 Tristan - Flagstad/Melchior/Reiner/Naxos
var...@my-deja.com
Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
From the moment the needle fell onto the groove (an outdated but still
powerful metaphor), I was astonished by the vividness of sound that
Mr. Marston drew out of the test pressings. This opera was recorded by
EMI in performance, but never released commercially, ostensibly
at the request of the performers but also perhaps due to depression and
WWII. The performance itself is outstanding as well; not surprising
given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
Hillary Clinton winning the senatorial election only adds to my
happiness.
Jeff
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
John Wilson
Mine copy arrived last week and I completely concur with what Jeff has
written above. It's the most thrilling Tristan I have heard in years
and I can't recommend it too highly. Everyone is in their prime and
after hearing this performance it's easy to understand why the
Flagstad/Melchior duo was such a hit and with Reiner working his magic
in the pit this release is nothing short of sensational. I have only
heard dim LPs of this performance previously; Ward Marston's
excellent transfer is an eye opener. At the Naxos price you really
can't afford to be without it.
John
Simon Roberts
on the VAI transfer?
Simon
var...@my-deja.com wrote:
: I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
: Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
: Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
: From the moment the needle fell onto the groove (an outdated but still
: powerful metaphor), I was astonished by the vividness of sound that
: Mr. Marston drew out of the test pressings. This opera was recorded by
: EMI in performance, but never released commercially, ostensibly
: at the request of the performers but also perhaps due to depression and
: WWII. The performance itself is outstanding as well; not surprising
: given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
: notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
: Hillary Clinton winning the senatorial election only adds to my
: happiness.
: Jeff
: Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
: Before you buy.
Matthew B. Tepper
<3a096897...@news.earthlink.net>:
>
>I have only heard dim LPs of this performance previously; Ward Marston's
>excellent transfer is an eye opener.
Better than the VAIA? (I gotta ask!)
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
"Compassionate Conservatism?" * "Tight Slacks?" * "Jumbo Shrimp?"
Edward A. Cowan
> I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
> Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
> Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
> From the moment the needle fell onto the groove (an outdated but still
> powerful metaphor), I was astonished by the vividness of sound that
> Mr. Marston drew out of the test pressings.
I have had this one for at least three decades on the old EJS LP
pressings (EJS-465). I keenly await purchase of the Naxos edition. To be
sure, Melchior and Flagstad are the main thing here (not to exclude
Reiner's conducting, of course!), but one attraction is the Brangaene of
Sabine Kalter, about whom I had read in the magazine _Opera_ but whose
recordings I had not heard. I now have on LP Preiser LV-231, a
collection of Kalter's 78s of mezzo arias from various operas and also a
handful of Lieder. I hope this is also to be had on CD.
--
E.A.C.
Brian Moore
>I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
>Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
>Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
Is this available in the US? I know the MET historical ones are not
but since this is not the MET, then I assume it is?
--
Brian G. Moore, School of Science, Penn State Erie--The Behrend College
bg...@psu.edu , (814)-898-6334
G Riggs
news:6g0j0tsbf2c9ee9hb...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 08 Nov 2000 13:55:16 GMT, var...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> >I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
> >Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
> >Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
> >powerful metaphor), I was astonished by the vividness of sound that
> >EMI in performance, but never released commercially, ostensibly
> >at the request of the performers but also perhaps due to depression and
> >WWII. The performance itself is outstanding as well; not surprising
> >given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
> >notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
> >
>
>
> Is this the COMPLETE opera? I had thought this one was
> abridged. Also, how is the sound quality?
>
>
> The Speedbyrd®
Considering your attention span, why would you care if it's complete or not?
After all, you evidently don't read perfectly on-point postings all the way
through; why should you care to listen to an entire opera?
Once and for all:
YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO READ THROUGH A POSTING THAT YOU wrongly
REPORTED AS AN ABUSE.
"CRY FOR FREEDOM" IS A DOCUMENTARY ON AN OPERA PRODUCTION.
THE WIENER STAATSOPER IS AN OPERA HOUSE.
BEETHOVEN DID INDEED WRITE AN OPERA.
FIDELIO IS AN OPERA.
MOEDL IS AN OPERA SINGER.
YOU OWE OPVIDFAN AN APOLOGY.
THAT. IS. THAT.
--
==============================================
The Collector's Guide to Opera Recordings and Videos
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/7023
The Collector's Guide to Books on Opera
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/7023/reading.htm
==============================================
Terrymelin
>given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
>notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
>happiness.
>
And the relevance to the rest of us to that little piece of inanity is what
exactly?
Terry Ellsworth
Marc Perman
I'm happy Hillary won as well; here in NY it will help take the sting
off the likely result in Florida.
Marc Perman
Don Rice
last msg was crossposted.
Don
Terrymelin wrote:
>
> >utstanding as well; not surprising
> >given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
> >notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
> >Hillary Clinton winning the senatorial election only adds to my
> >happiness.
> >
> >Jef
>
> And the relevance to the rest of us to that little piece of inanity is what
> exactly?
>
> Terry Ellsworth
Matthew B. Tepper
<8ubqm4$b7f$1...@netnews.upenn.edu>:
>Do you (does anyone?) know how the sound on this compares with the sound
>on the VAI transfer?
That's a good question, which I'd like to see answered as well.
Maybe I should wait and see how many copies of the VAI (each described as
"rare," of course!) turn up on eBay?
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
wk...@my-deja.com
si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) wrote:
>Do you (does anyone?) know how the sound on this compares with the
>sound on the VAI transfer?
No idea, since this hasn't shown up in the USA yet. But when it does,
I'll be happy to be the guinea pig for this one, and will report back,
unless someone beats me to it (and even if they do, I'll probably do it
myself anyway).
The VAI sounds pretty good, but the transfer is about a decade old. If
Marston's new Caruso transfers are any guide, the new Tristan transfer
ought to be at least *some* improvement, although the difference may be
subtle.
Bill
--
William D. Kasimer
wk...@juno.com
Never argue with idiots. They bring you down to their level, and then
beat you with experience.
Matthew B. Tepper
that he never said such a thing....
Morton Linder
set than in the Naxos version, where the voices are distant and a bit muffled.
I don't know if VAI used a treble boost, but it is a question of focus and
closeness in the voices as opposed to distant-sounding voices. Strange. Ward
Marston's transfers are usually superb.
Mort Linder
"Matthew B. Tepper" wrote:
> j...@earthlink.net (John Wilson) wrote in
> <3a096897...@news.earthlink.net>:
> >
> >I have only heard dim LPs of this performance previously; Ward Marston's
> >excellent transfer is an eye opener.
>
> Better than the VAIA? (I gotta ask!)
>
> --
> Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
> My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
> My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
John Wilson
wrote:
>In article <8ubm01$ht5$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <var...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>>I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
>>Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
>>Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
>...
>
>
>Is this available in the US? I know the MET historical ones are not
>but since this is not the MET, then I assume it is?
I got mine from MDT in England. I have seen a number of the MET sets
in the Tower stores here in Los Angeles. The Tristan is new and has
not reached any of the local stores yet.
John
G Riggs
news:8ucdp...@news2.newsguy.com...
> Maybe he should just go to DejaNews, "nuke" the offending post, and claim
> that he never said such a thing....
Hmmm..........
--
==============================================
The Collector's Guide to Opera Recordings and Videos
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/7023
The Collector's Guide to Books on Opera
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/7023/reading.htm
==============================================
> --
> Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
> My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
> My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
Brendan R. Wehrung
> In article <8ubqm4$b7f$1...@netnews.upenn.edu>,
> si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) wrote:
>
>>Do you (does anyone?) know how the sound on this compares with the
>>sound on the VAI transfer?
>
> No idea, since this hasn't shown up in the USA yet. But when it does,
> I'll be happy to be the guinea pig for this one, and will report back,
> unless someone beats me to it (and even if they do, I'll probably do it
> myself anyway).
>
I saw this on the shelf last week. (Michigan)
Brendan
Brendan R. Wehrung
> I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
> Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
> Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
> powerful metaphor), I was astonished by the vividness of sound that
> Mr. Marston drew out of the test pressings. This opera was recorded by
> EMI in performance, but never released commercially, ostensibly
> at the request of the performers but also perhaps due to depression and
> given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
> notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
> Hillary Clinton winning the senatorial election only adds to my
> happiness.
>
This makes the Beecham/Reiner hybrid on EMI superfluous. Now of somebody
would give the same loving care to the Beecham recording of the preceding
year...
Brendan
Matthew Silverstein
> I have the VAI CD set. The voices sound more clear and immediate in the VAI
> set than in the Naxos version, where the voices are distant and a bit
muffled.
> I don't know if VAI used a treble boost, but it is a question of focus and
> closeness in the voices as opposed to distant-sounding voices. Strange. Ward
> Marston's transfers are usually superb.
Jed Distler on Classics Today favors the Naxos, but only marginally.
Matty
Ivan Lalis
last a possibility to buy a complete Reiner in a decent sound. I'm rushing
to a shop :)
BTW does anybody know what else Mr Marston plans to release on Naxos
label? I already started buying his Caruso edition and its sound is very
vivid and _natural_. I am not going to say "Buy it, it's the best I know",
because these are the only Caruso transfers I have heard, but I don't think
I need other ones.
Ivan
wk...@my-deja.com
http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=2358
In short, Distler says that the sound is pretty much the same as the
VAI, but prefers the Naxos for non-sonic reasons.
Bill
In article <8ubm01$ht5$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
var...@my-deja.com wrote:
> I received my copy of this wonderful recording (Wagner: Tristan und
> Isolde; Covent Garden, 1936, Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, cond.
> Fritz Reiner), newly remastered on Naxos by Ward Marston.
> From the moment the needle fell onto the groove (an outdated but still
> powerful metaphor), I was astonished by the vividness of sound that
> Mr. Marston drew out of the test pressings. This opera was recorded by
> EMI in performance, but never released commercially, ostensibly
> at the request of the performers but also perhaps due to depression
and
> WWII. The performance itself is outstanding as well; not surprising
> given the starry cast. And at about $15 for the whole thing (excellent
> notes, no libretto), it's a bargain as well.
> Hillary Clinton winning the senatorial election only adds to my
> happiness.
>
> Jeff
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>
--
William D. Kasimer
wk...@juno.com
Never argue with idiots. They bring you down to their level, and then
beat you with experience.
G Riggs
news:8ucdp...@news2.newsguy.com...
> Maybe he should just go to DejaNews, "nuke" the offending post, and claim
> that he never said such a thing....
Further reflection on my preceding post made me realize that our redoubtable
Mr. Tepper was assuming that Speedbyrd had sent to r.m.o. his hasty and
inattentive accusation of Opvidfan as a troll.
In fact, this is partly true but not entirely. Confronted with Opvidfan's
perfectly on-topic posting concerning a video documentary on the Vienna
State Opera opening of 1955 -- a revival of Beethoven's Fidelio with Mme.
Moedl -- Speedbyrd jumped the gun, due to the documentary's title: Cry for
Freedom. You see, for well or for ill, Opvidfan had used that title as his
own Subject-Heading. Since "Cry for Freedom" bore an unfortunate
resemblance to the Subject-Headings coming from our worst trolls, Speedbyrd
did two things:
1) he immediately sent in a posting to r.m.o. with no text other than an
outraged (and new) Subject-Heading, reading "Cry for OPERA!" It was clearly
an anguished cry for less off-topic postings. Unfortunately, Speedbyrd did
not even bother to read through Opvidfan's actual posting on the opera
documentary before sending his (Speedbyrd's) premature response with his new
Subject-Heading. Furthermore, if he had eventually read through Opvidfan's
posting, he would never have done Number
2), which was to send an official "Abuse" notification to the appropriate
ISP. He did so(!!!!!!), along with a private notification to Opvidfan
himself, alerting Opvidfan, after the fact, to Speedbyrd's already sent
"Abuse" complaint. Luckily, Opvidfan's quick phone call to the appropriate
authorities cleared everything up, and Opvidfan successfully dodged a
bullet.
Now, I could readily appreciate that Speedbyrd might see red once too often,
because of all our recent troll-posts, and not even bother to read through
each troll-post before sending off his complaint. That's only human.
That's -- somewhat -- excusable. But the sequel was not --
When confronted by the full facts behind Opvidfan's thoroughly on-topic
posting concerning a Wiener Staatsoper documentary, concerning the '55
opening of Beethoven's Fidelio starring Mme. Moedl, concerning the title of
the documentary -- "Cry for Freedom" -- all of which was finally made
crystal clear to Speedbyrd, Speedbyrd came out with the outrageous response,
"A minor detail".
A minor detail, indeed!!! Clearly, if Speedbyrd had realized that "Cry for
Freedom" was a documentary on a Wiener Staatsoper Fidelio, he would never
have lodged an "Abuse" complaint in the first place!!! He now knew that it
was such a documentary, he now knew that Opvidfan's had been an on-topic
posting(!), and yet he pretended that he had not made any grievous error at
all!! I find this PROFOUNDLY unacceptable.
I do not see why Speedbyrd should EVER be let off the hook unless and until
he apologizes for having wantonly jeopardized another's posting privileges
purely through his own inattentive reading -- or, rather, *non*-reading!!
Once and for all, Speedbyrd owes Opvidfan and this forum an apology for
having wrongly jeopardized a legitimate opera poster's privileges!
That. IS. T H A T ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! !
Don Drewecki
Question:
If EMI recorded this, who owns test pressings besides EMI, and how did
Marston get them?
--
Don Drewecki
<dre...@rpi.edu>
Matthew B. Tepper
<8uelab$l...@dispatch.concentric.net>:
>"Matthew B. Tepper" <oy兀earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:8ucdp...@news2.newsguy.com...
>> Maybe he should just go to DejaNews, "nuke" the offending post, and
>> claim that he never said such a thing....
>
>Further reflection on my preceding post made me realize that our
>redoubtable Mr. Tepper was assuming that Speedbyrd had sent to r.m.o.
>his hasty and inattentive accusation of Opvidfan as a troll.
Not at all; I am merely noting that that sort of thing *can* be done. In
fact, I believe it *has* been done, but by somebody else entirely, in
entirely unrelated threads.
>In fact, this is partly true but not entirely. Confronted with
--
G Riggs
news:7wDO5.169$6L5....@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...> >"Matthew B. Tepper" <oyş@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> >news:8ucdp...@news2.newsguy.com...
> >> Maybe he should just go to DejaNews, "nuke" the offending post, and
> >> claim that he never said such a thing....
> >
> >Further reflection on my preceding post made me realize that our
> >redoubtable Mr. Tepper was assuming that Speedbyrd had sent to r.m.o.
> >his hasty and inattentive accusation of Opvidfan as a troll.
>
> Not at all; I am merely noting that that sort of thing *can* be done. In
> fact, I believe it *has* been done, but by somebody else entirely, in
> entirely unrelated threads.
Understood -- and my sincere thanks for your clarification, BTW.
G Riggs
> Is the Naxos version COMPLETE or abridged?
>
>
> The Speedbyrd®
As I say, I remain quite, quite surprised that Speedbyrd is even interested
in such a question, seeing that he clearly does not have the needed
concentration span to read through a simple posting from Opvidfan let alone
listen to an entire opera! (See my posting further below in this thread.)
Frank Berger
Matthew Silverstein wrote:
According to Distler, the VAI was also transferred by Marston.
Dan Dickstein
Stravinsky Box over the previous Stravinsky CDs, failing to notice that,
except for one disc of previously un-CD'ed material from the '40s, they were
the same late-'80s John McClure remasterings.
samir golescu
On Thu, 9 Nov 2000, Dan Dickstein wrote:
> Jed Distler raved about the sonic improvement of Sony's "Original Jackets"
> Stravinsky Box over the previous Stravinsky CDs, failing to notice that,
> except for one disc of previously un-CD'ed material from the '40s, they were
> the same late-'80s John McClure remasterings.
Um, perhaps DK's opinion on professional reviewers needing
not new ears but ears has some substance in it...
Simon Roberts
: Jed Distler raved about the sonic improvement of Sony's "Original Jackets"
: Stravinsky Box over the previous Stravinsky CDs, failing to notice that,
: except for one disc of previously un-CD'ed material from the '40s, they were
: the same late-'80s John McClure remasterings.
I'm shocked - just shocked.
Simon
Kagami101
>: Stravinsky Box over the previous Stravinsky CDs, failing to notice that,
>: except for one disc of previously un-CD'ed material from the '40s, they
>were
>: the same late-'80s John McClure remasterings.
>
>I'm shocked - just shocked.
>
>Simon
Yeh and if you clean your CDs with Armour All and color the edges with a green
magic marker they will sound better too. ^.^
TD
Pink Lady Website www.pinkladyamerica.com
Rocky Horror www.rockyhorror.com
Otakon www.otakon.com
Matthew B. Tepper
<20001110090730...@ng-da1.aol.com>:
>>: Jed Distler raved about the sonic improvement of Sony's "Original
>>: Jackets" Stravinsky Box over the previous Stravinsky CDs, failing to
>>: notice that, except for one disc of previously un-CD'ed material from
>>: the '40s, they were the same late-'80s John McClure remasterings.
>>
>>I'm shocked - just shocked.
>>
>>Simon
>
>Yeh and if you clean your CDs with Armour All and color the edges with a
>green magic marker they will sound better too. ^.^
I keep asking about those green felt-tip pens all right....
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
Simon Roberts
: Yeh and if you clean your CDs with Armour All and color the edges with a green
: magic marker they will sound better too. ^.^
Lemon Pledge for me.
Simon
samir golescu
Not appalled as well?
pala...@my-deja.com
Beecham/Reiner hybrid. Now that was a curious event because EMI
launched the recording as conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, and then
enclosed a printed correction to the effect that it was only Beecham in
one of the acts -the rest was Reiner. Beecham's was the 2nd Act and
beginning of Act 3 and his Brangaene was Margarete Klose rather than
Sabine Kalter. EMI's explanation is a little thin: "In 1979, the EMI
Archive advised the Classical Division's senior transfer engineer,
Keith Hardwick, that eight boxes of test pressingts labelled
Beecham/"Tristan und Isolde"/June 1937 were in the record library. In
amongst these test pressings were a series of double-sided 78 discs
also labelled "Tristan und Isolde" but with no performance details.
The assumption was wrongly made that these were dubbings of the test
pressings made of the 1937 Beecham performances. ... It is now clear
that EMI does not posess a complete recording of "Tristan und Isolde"
conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.
One wonders how they figured out that it was a hybrid. Didn't they
realize there were two versions of Act 2? Did they in fact try to put
one over on the public and then realize that they couldn't get away
with it? A complete Beecham was probably very desirable, especially in
the U.K.
Does anyone know for a fact that a recording of the previous year's
performances was made?
I am grateful that the Reiner exists, a performance that needs no
apologies, he was certainly Beecham's equal. Sabine Kalter's Brangaene
is wonderful, as is Janssen's Kurwenal (though Klose is pretty good as
well).
pala...@my-deja.com
recording that claims to be Sir Thomas Beecham in 1937 from two
performances: 18 and 22 June. The Act I (18 June) has Margaret Klose
as Brangaene and Herbert Janssen as Kurwenal, while the Act 2 & 3 (22
June) Brangaene is Karin Branzell and Kurwenal is Paul Schoeffler. It
certainly sounds like Branzell. As EMI claims there is no complete
Beecham MELODRAM is confounding the issue.
Is the 1936 Tristan only Reiner? This is all very confusing. What is
the truth?
Palamede
John Wilson
Roberts) wrote:
>: Yeh and if you clean your CDs with Armour All and color the edges with a green
>: magic marker they will sound better too. ^.^
>
>Lemon Pledge for me.
>
I used Comet Cleanser on all my discs.
John
K. Howson-Jan
>
> I am confusing the 1936 and 1937 recordings! Sorry. I have a MELODRAM
> recording that claims to be Sir Thomas Beecham in 1937 from two
> performances: 18 and 22 June. The Act I (18 June) has Margaret Klose
> as Brangaene and Herbert Janssen as Kurwenal, while the Act 2 & 3 (22
> June) Brangaene is Karin Branzell and Kurwenal is Paul Schoeffler. It
> certainly sounds like Branzell. As EMI claims there is no complete
> Beecham MELODRAM is confounding the issue.
>
> Is the 1936 Tristan only Reiner? This is all very confusing. What is
> the truth?
From the information on the VAI release (VAIA 1004-3)
Cast: Flagstad, Melchior, Kalter, Janssen, List (and that famous
bi-octave singer, Octave Dua, as Ein Hirt)
Conductor: Reiner
Date: May/June, 1936 (whole season was April 27-June 12)
Transfer: Ward Marston
In the booklet, it states that the Tristans were all with Reiner.
Beecham led the Ring. In 1937, of course, there were 2 Furtwangler
Rings (1 with Flagstad, 1 with Leider), and Tristan was done again (I
think Beecham only).
Kang
Matthew B. Tepper
>This is a wonderful performance. I first heard (part of) it on the EMI
>Beecham/Reiner hybrid. Now that was a curious event because EMI launched
>the recording as conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, and then enclosed a
>printed correction to the effect that it was only Beecham in one of the
>acts -the rest was Reiner. Beecham's was the 2nd Act and beginning of Act
>3 and his Brangaene was Margarete Klose rather than Sabine Kalter. EMI's
>explanation is a little thin: "In 1979, the EMI Archive advised the
>Classical Division's senior transfer engineer, Keith Hardwick, that eight
>boxes of test pressingts labelled Beecham/"Tristan und Isolde"/June 1937
>were in the record library. In amongst these test pressings were a series
>of double-sided 78 discs also labelled "Tristan und Isolde" but with no
>performance details. The assumption was wrongly made that these were
>dubbings of the test pressings made of the 1937 Beecham performances. ...
>It is now clear that EMI does not posess a complete recording of "Tristan
>und Isolde" conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.
It was just a cover-up for a bungled project. There exists a complete
Reiner ("complete," that is, apart from the theatrical cuts which were made
in the performance). This is what we have on VAIA and now on Naxos. There
are also, pretty much more or less, an Act I and II from one Beecham night
and Acts II and III from another Beecham night. All of this was released
once by Recital Records (a sub-label of the old Bruno Walter Society, later
Discocorp, now Music and Arts), and a conflation with *one* of the Acts II
was issued on LP, later on CD, by Melodram.
Somebody at EMI screwed up, and they didn't want to go back and re-do it
properly for some reason, hence the misch-mosch which was released.
>One wonders how they figured out that it was a hybrid. Didn't they
>realize there were two versions of Act 2? Did they in fact try to put one
>over on the public and then realize that they couldn't get away with it?
>A complete Beecham was probably very desirable, especially in the U.K.
"Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain."
>Does anyone know for a fact that a recording of the previous year's
>performances was made?
>
>I am grateful that the Reiner exists, a performance that needs no
>apologies, he was certainly Beecham's equal. Sabine Kalter's Brangaene
>is wonderful, as is Janssen's Kurwenal (though Klose is pretty good as
>well).
--
John Wilson
Tepper) wrote:
>kaga...@aol.com (Kagami101) wrote in
><20001110090730...@ng-da1.aol.com>:
>
>>>: Jed Distler raved about the sonic improvement of Sony's "Original
>>>: Jackets" Stravinsky Box over the previous Stravinsky CDs, failing to
>>>: notice that, except for one disc of previously un-CD'ed material from
>>>: the '40s, they were the same late-'80s John McClure remasterings.
>>>
>>>I'm shocked - just shocked.
>>>
>>>Simon
>>
>>Yeh and if you clean your CDs with Armour All and color the edges with a
>>green magic marker they will sound better too. ^.^
>
>I keep asking about those green felt-tip pens all right....
Due to my twin worries about degraded sound and having stray laser
beams about the house I bought 120 gross of green felt-tip pens when
information about their preventative powers emerged. Am willing to
sell as many as you would like at discount prices. I should just
mention that the sell-by date has expired but they seem to still work
OK.
John
Tony Movshon
> j...@earthlink.net (John Wilson) wrote in
> <3a096897...@news.earthlink.net>:
> >
> >I have only heard dim LPs of this performance previously; Ward Marston's
> >excellent transfer is an eye opener.
>
> Better than the VAIA? (I gotta ask!)
And I gotta ask: better than Lys? Despite my variable experience with
Lys, this issue seems pretty good to me. Perhaps because Lennick wasn't
involved ...
--
Tony Movshon Center for Neural Science
mov...@nyu.edu New York University