Perfecta, buen sonido.

I was interested in this because it was the first night of what was a highly controversial production at the time. I have the later released video with Davis conducting and Wenkoff replacing Hugh Beresford. By modern standards Beresford is absolutely fine- rather good in fact but hew was replaced after the first year. The performance is turbocharged, conducted by Leinsdorf who also left the production after the first year. Jones is just marvellous throughout, not quite as brilliant as she is on the first nights of the centenary Ring cycle from Bayreuth but pretty close. There are always criticisms of Jones scooping technique which isn’t really in evidence and compared to the many ‘commercial hog callers’ of today-[ as Anna Russell would say], she is an absolute dream. There are quite a lot of clicks and pops on the set- not half as good sound quality as the previously mentioned Ring cycle but adequate enough to preserve this as an important aural document.

There’s so much to enjoy in this recording. First of all, it’s one of the most gripping, dramatic performances that you could wish for. How glorious it must have been to have sat in the Festspielhaus that evening. The orchestral playing is thrilling throughout and Erich Leinsdorf (a hugely underrated Wagnerian) has a complete grasp of the opera’s shape and structure. Then there’s Gwyneth Jones, who sings both Venus and Elizabeth - an amazing feat few if any others have attempted. At this point in her career she was brilliantly able to characterise the two opposing female characters, finding an astonishing pure tone for Elizabeth in Act II, after an Act I Venus that is sultry, wild and passionate. The dramatic aspect of this performance is utterly absorbing and having one woman sing both roles somehow gives a humanity to Tannhauser’s own struggles over which path he should choose. There’s a wonderful Wolfram to enjoy too from a young Bernd Weikl and a sonorous Landgrave form Hans Sotin, one of my favourite Wagner singers. As for the Tannhauser, I was intrigued to hear Hugh Beresford, whose voice was unknown to me. I had read that his performance was booed by the audience, but this recording cuts out the audience reaction, so the extent of any displeasure is impossible to judge. Beresford (who only died two years ago in his mid 90s) had a long career as a baritone, before moving up to a Heldentenor. He sings with great clarity and intensity on this recording and never holds back, although the vocal strain of the role begins to show quite a bit in Act III. But that is not unusual and there’s something compelling about his performance throughout. He does not play safe. The lasting glories of this recording however are Jones’s stupendous characterisations of Venus and Elizabeth and Leinsdorf’s magnificent interpretation of an opera many now regard as problematic. This is the most viscerally exciting Tannhauser I have heard.

What superb quality there was for the asking back in "them days"! Don't get me wrong, I'm not one who constantly hankers for "the Golden Age" (and it's always a "Golden Age" for something going on at any time...look at the Bel Canto repertoire today, for example) but there's something about this performance which just oozes star quality.There's Gwyneth Jones in her early Wagnerian phase -just about to jump into the heavier roles and with plenty of dramatic heft for an uncommonly positive Elisabeth. There's Hugh Beresford: not well-known but here a fine, lyrical, dramatically-considered Tannhauser, if not completely of the first rank except in the Third Act; I remember seeing him as a passionate Don Jose with English National Opera around 1970. There are Weikl and Sotin, both excellent in signature roles. Let's not forget the supporting knights (which include a notable Alberich and Mime), with Harald Ek very sweet in Walter's lovely song. Excellent Chorus and (bar the occasional sour trumpet) Orchestra, led by the brilliant, singers'-conductor-par-excellence, Erich Leinsdorf.Just an average evening at Bayreuth in the 1970s, then...and what an evening!!

This performance is Leinsdorf's - that is all!

interesting for Leinsdorf, great Wagner conductor

I LOVE this recording. Gwyneth Jones is terrific in both roles - both sides of womanhood