Wagner: Tannhäuser - Beirer, Tebaldi, Pery, Tagliabue, Christoff; Böhm. Napoli, 1950

$12.95



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Karl Böhm urged Renata Tebaldi to explore more of the Germanic repertoire but she shied away from it due to the German language barrier. You can see why such an authority like Böhm would see such enormous promise in this young singer as Tebaldi combines all of the traits of an excellent Wagner singer: stamina, power and purity of tone. At first it can seem a little jarring to hear Hans Beirer sing his part in German while everyone else is singing in Italian but you soon get used to the incongruity of it all especially because Beirer, a veteran Tannhäuser, brings added humanity and immediacy to a character who can all-to-often come across as an unsympathetic cad. The other singers like Carlo Tagliabue and Boris Christoff highlight the Italianate nature of Wagner's writing. Karl Böhm leads an excellent and unfussy performance. The sound is good.

OD 10734-3