Wagner: The Opera Collection, Georg Solti, conductor. (Historical).(Sound Recording Review)

[] Tannhauser (Decca 470-810-2): Dernesch, Ludwig; Kollo, V. Braun, Sotin). Lohengrin (470 795-2): Norman, Randova; Nimsgern, Fischer-Dieskau, Sotin. Tristan und Isolde (470 814-2): Nilsson, Resnik; Uhl, Kozub, Kmentt, Klein, Krause, Kirschbichler, van Mill. Parsifal (470 805-2): Ludwig; Kollo, Fischer-Dieskau, Kelemen, Frick, Hotter. With Vienna Phil. Orch. and Chorus. Der Fliegende Hollander (470 792-2): Martin, I. Jones; Bailey Kollo, Talvela. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (470 800-2): Mattila, Vermillion; Heppner, Lippert, van Dam, Opie, Pape. Both with Chicago Symphony Orch. and Chorus. Texts and translations.

The first studio recording of Wagner's Ring, conducted by Georg Solti and produced by John Culshaw for Decca/London (1959-66), is a classic of recorded history. Solti also recorded the six other canonical Wagner operas for Decca, gathered here for the first time. They don't form a cycle, since four feature the Vienna Philharmonic and two the Chicago Symphony. But the span of thirty-five years from the Tristan to the Meistersinger documents the sustained high level of Solti's achievement in this repertoire.

Solti had all the necessary attributes of a Wagner conductor. He understood the way Wagner's orchestrations differentiate the Wartburg and the Venusburg in Tannhauser, the flat-footed earthly realms versus the celestial in Lohengrin and Hollander, and the mystical versus the devout in Parsifal. He burnished the tone in the tricky mid-range instruments, clarifying orchestral textures to the benefit of the singers. And most important of all, he controlled the great spans of time in these works with assurance. Anyone new to Act I of Tristan, the first scenes of Acts II and III of Parsifal or Act I of Lohengrin would do well to encounter them initially in these performances; they unfold with inevitability, logic and natural flow. Act II of Tristan achieves the Wagnerian ideal of an elastic but unbroken line, and the huge Act II ensemble in Tannhauser is a model of pacing, slow but unyielding. Wagner's favored three-paragraph forms--Isolde's narration, Tannhauser's hymn, Elsa's prayer--are keenly articulated. Many moments, such as the agonizing passage of Gurnemanz slowly recognizing the returning Parsifal, show how experienced Solti and the Vienna players were in the opera house.

Indeed, the four Vienna recordings are of the most interest. Solti's Tannhauser, recorded in 1970 (a date unmentioned in Decca's notes), remains one of the most satisfying of all opera recordings, greater than any of its single elements. Solti finds the vigor of youth in Elisabeth's entrance, and pride and elegance, rather than bombast, for that of the guests. (Nobody did entrance music like Solti.) He makes Wolfram's contest song unusually pure, so that Tannhauser can then sully the mood. The Vienna winds, who must carry ten minutes of Act III on their own, are superb. Solti even adds the Vienna Choir Boys for the young pilgrims at the end, sending this set into the desert-island class. Collectors who want the uncut Paris version, with boys singing the five boys' roles, still have only this recording to choose.

The 1960 Tristan, an underrated set, is luxurious of tone and phrasing. Solti's Act III is devastating. He bleaches the quality at first, obtaining rapid tremolos from the strings that would probably be too tiring at this point in a live performance, which ...