Wagner: Tannhäuser ~ Domingo, Studer, Baltsa, Salminen, A. Schmidt; Sinopoli

Another Paris Tannhäuser recording, this one seeing the adaptable Placido Domingo take a break from the world of Italianate opera to try on the mantle of Heldentenor. Domingo's clear, manly voice is well suited to the transformation--precisely why Italians usually don't think of him as a bella voce. Agnes Baltsa approaches the role of Venus in a less shrill and more human manner than often is heard in portrayals of the excitable goddess. The sound is exceptionally clear in the recording, a comparatively newer digital mastering from the late 1980s. The chorus work is good, though not quite on the sublime plane reached in the Georg Solti recording. Maestro Giuseppe Sinopoli conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in a measured, stately manner. --Christian C. Rix