Conducts Excerpts from the 193

These excerpts from 1937 performances at Covent Garden have long been available in one form or another, but never in such impactful sound. No, it's not stereo and it still sports odd balances and thin string sound. But the voices come through clearly and it doesn't take much mental adjustment to become absorbed by performances of overwhelming power and intensity. The Flagstad-Melchior combination was untouchable in Wagner, and Furtwängler was perhaps the greatest of all Wagner conductors. All are captured here in their prime, galvanized by a live audience to deliver singing and conducting of unsurpassable beauty and understanding. No Wagnerian or lover of great singing can afford to miss this. --Dan Davis