Astrid Varnay was one of the greatest singers of her generation. An excellent compilation! A must! Highly recommended!

Muy buena, cuando lo tendremos completo?

Un Fafner garderait-il une intégrale ?

An opportunity to hear the great Astrid Varnay in more unfamiliar repertoire. I once read a review of this artist which said something along the lines of “ Miss Varnay, who never knowingly made a beautiful sound.....”. Extremely unfair in my opinion. She demonstrates her ability to float quiet notes which are beautiful as well as dramatically appropriate, and just listen to the skill with which she negotiates Verdi’s tricky coloratura for Lady Macbeth, even delivering trills. As you can tell, I am a fan of this singer and have so enjoyed this compilation from Andy. The Italian repertoire, whether in Italian or German is marvellous, but the last disc is Varnay at her best, a great Brünnhilde and the greatest Ortrud of them all. Buy this and enjoy it.

If you've read Astrid Varnay's autobiography, you know that she began her career having completely mastered a number of Wagner and Verdi roles. It's not a surprise then that many of these recordings are of music she learned once or would only repeat a few times. She did sing Aida, Lady Macbeth, the Trovatore Leonora, Gioconda, Amelia/Maria in Simon Boccanegra, and Santuzza a few times each. Thanks to the pirate gods there is documentation of each of these though not all have appeared on CD (Gioconda). But she also sang Salome a number of times (there is a radio performance with Patzak and Klose under her husband Hermann Weigert out there), and Elektra (many times). As far as I know, she did not sing La Juive, Thais, and Don Carlo complete. No matter: if you admire Varnay, you must get this set. Not everything suits her to a T, but she brings her thrilling voice and fierce intelligence to all of them. She has the technical arsenal to accomplish anything required by the composer (trills, passage work, two and a half octave range,etc.).Her German roles are her greatest strength, the arias and scenes by Wagner some of the best ever recorded. The Parsifal scene, incidentally, is not just "Ich sah das Kind", but a combination of that and Kundry's next monologue. The Gotterdammerung scene is frustratingly truncated - can't someone just find the entire performance? Well, we can dream, can't we?The sound on all of these selections (mostly studio recordings) is excellent.

These are three invaluable CDs. The first is largely occupied with excerpts of a 1954 German-language Macbeth. If you don't think of Astrid Varnay as a Verdian, listen to her shimmy up and down the runs of Or tutti sorgete. (The Macbeth is anonymous and deserves to remain so.) The bronzen *tinta* of Varnay's instrument was perfect for Verdi's Lady and would remain so for much of her career. Studio sessions under husband Hermann Weigert find Varnay assaying Italian dramatic standards, as well as pleasant offbeat surprises like Eboli and Thais, as well as a very composed Salome final scene with an unusual concert ending. A series of EMI sessions, also under Weigert, are devoted to Wagner but hint at why major record companies did not pick up on Varnay's services: Before the studio mike there is an air of circumspection to her performances. (Although she threw caution to the wind in some memorable DG recordings.) Entweihte Goetter from Bayreuth in 1962 is a real ear-opener: This is Varnay in her element. The same could be said for a 1966 Ewig war ich but especially of a rip-roaring (albeit fragmentary) Immolation Scene from Bayreuth in 1951, with Herbert von Karajan at the helm. If you have the Knappertsbusch '51 Gotterdammerung (Testament) this is an invaluable supplement. Varnay lovers will definitely want Opera Depot's new set.

Du Ring de Karajan à la réouverture de Bayreuth en 1951, il nous manquait le 2° acte de la Walkure et le Götterdammerung. (Pour nous consoler, celui de Kna.) Nous accueillons donc avec joie la scène finale de Karajan avec Varnay. Mais qui nous rendra le 2° acte du merveilleux Sigurd Björling cette année là?

Du Ring de la renaissance (1951) par Karajan, il nous restait le Rheingold et Siegfried. De la Walkure un somptueux 3° acte et la scène 3 du premier acte. Rien du Gôtterdammerung, pour nous consoler celui de Kna. Cette scène finale comble peu à peu les manques. Mais qui nous rendra le 2° acte avec Varnay, la grande Elisabeth Hongen et le magnifique Sigurd Björling ?