Wagner: Tannhäuser - Kozub, Hillebrecht, Kehl, Nurmela, van Mill, Kollo; Wallberg. Venezia, 1969

$12.95



Listen to a Sample:

 

Pros:

  • The career of Ernst Kozub is a lesson in unrealized potential. Heard here as Tannhäuser, it can be stated without reservation that he may have been the best exponant of this role since Lauritz Melchoir. Surely no tenor since has matched him for beauty of tone, dramatic impact and a technique that could withstand what is arguably the most taxing tenor role Wagner ever wrote.
  • Hildegard Hillebrecht lacked a certain amount of vocal charisma but her steely pure tone made her an asset in any opera she was cast in, particularly the jugendliche Wagner roles.
  • In spite of singing their music in Italian, the chorus does a remarkable job, singing with precision and musicality.
  • A young René Kollo stands out as Walther.

Cons:

  • The sound in Act II is muffled relative to the other acts.

In Stereo

OD 12026-3