Interesting to hear Kozub, whom Culshaw fired as Siegfried in 1962, but the sound is not great and it is an odd ragbag of excerpts with no overture and hardly anything from Act I

Ernst Kozub sang a lot of Wagner in his brief time on this earth. He was supposed to have been Decca's Siegfried for the Solti Ring; alas, we all know how that turned out. He is heard here in most of the role of Tannhauser. The excerpts begin just before Wolfram's first aria and continue to the end of Act One. We pick up with an abbreviated orchestral introduction to Act Two and continue through Elisabeth and Tannhauser's duet. Tannhauser's interruption of the song contest through the end of Act Two is heard next. Disc two gives us almost the entire third act. Frustratingly, the performance fades out just a minute or so before the end.Kozub is an effective Tannhauser, well-sung, if without the anguish of Vinay or Windgassen. Silja is heard in the "Dich, teure Halle" and the following duet with Tannhauser. The tapist is rather fidgety here and I was glad when we jump to another performance for the rest of Act Two and Act Three where Lindholm sings Elisabeth beautifully. The sound is much better and sounds like it may be from a broadcast.Imdahl had a respectable career. His voice is strong with good diction, but his Evening Star hymn is marred by a serious lack of legato. Crass is great as the Landgraf. I don't know who is singing Venus in Act Three, but it is not Varnay though there is some similarity in timbre. Varnay can be heard as Venus in the Met broadcasts of 1948 (with Melchior) and 1954 (with Vinay).For fans of Kozub and Lindholm.

Ernst Kozub was one of the most important Heldentenors in the postwar aera, but he died prematurely. His voice was perfect for the interpretation of Tannhäuser! The live recording from Munich is therefore an important document. The other singers all are excellent, as it is usual in the Bavarian State Opera still today... Anja Silja sings the first scene and the duet of act two. Lindholm‘s Interpretation of Elisabeth‘s prayer in the third act is slightly overdramatic, the power of her voice is too great. The last words of Venus in my ears do not belong to Astrid Varnay as listed. It could be Marianne Schech? The voice sounds very different from Varnay‘s incomparable timbre.

Great! I saw Kozub and Silja at stage in Frankfurt/M. decades ago and remember!

Ernst Kozub could have been the postwar Tannhauser for whom we were waiting. His virile voice not only has a pleasing legato but strides effortlessly across the high tessitura of the role. Where he comes up short is a lack of the introspection that Hans Beirer and Wolfgang Windgassen brought to the role. Still, he gives great pleasure in this abridged "Tannhauser" from Munich, responsively conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser. Berit Lindholm is a heroic soprano lavished on an essentially lyric but she successfully conducts her great slabs of tone through Elisabeth's maidenly effusions. Heinz Imdahl is a blunt Wolfram, but not unsympathetic, and Franz Crass' nappy bass pleases as it ever did. Astrid Varnay's brief stint as Venus successfully suggests a *grande horizontal.* The fly in ointment is Georg Paskuda's Walther von der Vogelweide, sung in that dentist's-drill tone for which the Germans have an inexplicably high tolerance. It sure cuts through ensembles, though. Fortunately, it's not enough to ruin the enterprise, especially with Hollreiser whipping up the excitement. Warning: There are brief caesuras at every tracking point.

Some really great singers in what sounds like it was a wonderful live performance. Some issues with fading with regards to volume in places, sometimes for minutes at a time, but so great to get to hear Kozub in particular along with some exceptional work from the cast over all.

Super performance - pity its incomplete.

just not my opera but wanted to hear Varnay

i wish to have the all tannhaeuser

Leider ist der 1. Akt nicht vorhanden. Trotzdem war es genussvoll die besten Sänger der damaligen Zeit zu geniessen. Kozub, Lindholm und Varnay in einer Aufführung -- was will man mehr?