Liane Synek is probably best known in the United States for her Helmwige in Böhm's 1966/67 Ring cycle released by Philips. I don't know whether or not she had any engagements on this side of the Atlantic. She is something of a legend in Europe and this release shows why.Her voice is not only large, but very steady with none of the wobbling and parched tone we hear from so many current sopranos in this repertoire. Her top notes shine like beacons of light. Moreover she has a solid grasp of who Isolde is and why she's singing. Her performance here is very satisfying. Whoever recorded this has edited it so that the excerpts focus almost exclusively on Isolde. Even shorter scenes for Brangäne and others are reduced to the bare minimum or cut out altogether (we don't even get to hear Brangäne's Warning in the love duet!). The only part of Isolde missing is the first 15 minutes of Act Two.Liebl may have found Tristan's music a little overwhelming, but he sings with beautiful, steady tone too. I would like to have heard more of him in this role. Tamassy, a fine Hungarian mezzo, sounds so much like Synek it's hard to tell them apart. Gerhard Misske sings Kurvenal capably; he only gets a few lines.The sound is very listenable, but is afflicted from time to time with static. It doesn't get in the way of the performance. Fans of Liane Synek must get this; she was an exciting singer and is an excellent Isolde.

A bit disappointing that you don't hear the Prelude first, but at least the rest of Act I is all there. I wondered whether these excerpts were all that was performed or whether these are bits of an otherwise lost complete. The performance sounds like a radio-studio recording for broadcast and Karl Liebl and Liane Synek have the right vocal sounds for their roles. Liebl wasn't in Melchior's league but he brings a lot more weight and power to the role of Tristan than a lot of light-voiced Heldentenor wanna-bes today. The supporting singers and Ludwig Kaufmann's conducting are acceptable without touching greatness. The 1936 and 1937 live Tristans from Covent Garden with Melchior and Flagstad remain the touchstones for the opera, but this is a quite reasonable and often moving performance that will do until Jonas Kaufmann takes on Tristan.

Gute gesangliche Leistungen von allen Darstellern. Die Qualität der Aufnahme ist gut. Leider wird nicht viel vom 3. Akt wiedergegeben. Die Hauptdarsteller Synek und Liebl überzeugen durch gute Leistungen.

While the sound is not perfect and the performance is not complete it is very interesting and satisfying to hear some singers that did not really have international fame singing this challenging work as successfully as they do. All the roles are well taken and performed with purpose. Synek and Liebl would be very welcome today. Both sound well equipped for their roles and while not every note is stunning, much is very expressive, warm and well sung. This has the feel of real people living the roles they are singing. Worth checking out.

Synek n'est pas Flagstad évidemment mais j'en ai tant entendu qui ... A chaque fois que j'écoute Liebl, je suis étonné qu'il ne soit pas devenu plus ...problème de vocabulaire ? non ! pas la peine d'en rajouter.

Synek was an unknown to me until Andrew devoted a sale to her. To my ancient ears her overall performance of Isolde is up there in the first rank. The recording itself is mostly clear but, of course, heavily cut. The supporting cast is strong although the excerpts are mostly restricted to Isolde's part, so we hear relatively little of the others. In short, this is a curio for those interested in hearing a singer who was undeservedly overlooked by commercial recordings. Synek gives a 5 star performance; the deduction to 4 stars is due to the missing material.