If you want to prevent a performance of Tannhäuser from coming across as static, the answer is quite simple: cast Wolfgang Windgassen and Leonie Rysanek in the lead roles. The two breathe life into the opera, giving it the kind of dramatic momentum you might expect from Act I of Die Walküre. The title role in particular can be a nightmare to cast due to its high tessitura and dramatic heft, but Windgassen makes it seem downright easy. Leonie Rysanek was the perfect jugendlich-dramatisch soprano—somehow managing to bring an ingénue quality to her roles while unleashing her formidable soprano voice.

Barbro Ericson is an appealing, if not completely seductive, Venus. Eberhard Wächter makes much of Wolfram's music.