Wagner: Gotterdammerung - Melchior, Traubel, Janssen, Ernster - Melchior Memorial
This release attempts to reconstruct Lauritz Melchior's final Gotterdammerung at the Met (12/20/1948). The main skelton of the effort is based on the 1951 broadcast which featured most of the same cast (except Set Svanholm singing Siegfried). Melchior is inserted into the performance through the use of the Prologue Duet he recorded with Traubel for Toscanini and excerpts from 1937 Covent Garden performances under Furtwangler. The result is inconsistent in sound (as must be expected, given the multiple sources) but an important window into what a performance at the end of the "Golden Age of Wagner" at the Met sounded like. Though certainly not for the casual listener, this obvious labour of love will fulfill the dreams of many collectors in hearing a dramatic performance when the vocal challenges of Siegfried are not merely managed but dispatched with elan.
Format: Audio CD
{"Package Dimensions": "5.55 x 4.97 x 0.54 inches; 2.83 Ounces", "Manufacturer": "Immortal Performances", "Date First Available": "March 13, 2011", "Label": "Immortal Performances", "Number of discs": "4"}