Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Braun, Treptow, Klose, Frantz; E. Kleiber. München, 1952

$12.95

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Carlos Kleiber was well-known for his unique interpretation of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. This recording, featuring his father Erich, shows that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
I am being completely honest when I say that this is one of the best interpretations of Tristan und Isolde I have hever heard. The elder Kleiber probes the depths of sadness, love, joy, sensuality in ways that can't be summed up with any kind of technical description. The result, for me at least, was the sense that I was hearing the opera for the first time.
Helena Braun is not the most vocally distinguished Isolde, but interpretively she is definately at the head of the class. Her connection to the text is unremtting throughout the opera, bringing the character's inner-life to the forefront.
Günther Treptow offers some very fine lyrical singing, even if at times one gets the sense that he didn't really have the vocal power to make an impact in the theater.