Marvellous performance. I do love Ferdinand Frantz’s voice, though once or twice I feel a little disappointed that there is a lack of legato in his singing of Sachs. Tiana Lemnitz also is beautiful. Maybe a little mature-sounding at times but gorgeous nonetheless. Aldenhoff I like. Yes, Andy is right that he can certainly be heroic but hey, Walter’s young and impetuous and in love so I’ll buy it. Kempe and the Dresden forces really the best and the recorded sound is great. All in all highly recommended.

I'd always heard that Kempe's second Meistersinger from 1956 was far superior to this earlier effort from 1951, thus I avoided it. That was a mistake because this is a very good performance in its own right. The cast is mostly excellent, especially Ferdinand Franz's commanding and gorgeously sung Hans Sachs. Here's a cobbler that leaves little doubt that he is the greatest of the Mastersingers. Tinana Lemnitz also sings very well although I found her voice a little deep for Eva, often making her sound older than Magdalene(!). But the only serious casting flaw is Bernd Aldenhoff who has pitch problems and a tendency to wobble and strain (parts of his Preisleid made me wince). The sound quality on this recording is crystal clear mono and sounds better than many recordings from more than a decade later. In fact, this recording sounds like it was made in a studio which seems to contradict Opera Depot's mantra of only offering live opera recordings.