FURTWÄNGLER Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (1952) - PACO067

In Fanfare 28:1 I reviewed two reissues of this 1952 HMV recording, one on EMI, the other on Naxos. I noted that like the Callas Tosca, since it was first issued this has been defined as a classic of the recording industry by just about every commentator who has written about it. It is, quite simply, one of the greatest Wagner performances ever preserved on disc. I won’t take valuable Fanfare space by repeating what I said there, other than to note again the greatness of Furtwängler’s conducting here. Every single phrase is connected to what precedes it and what follows it. Although the phrasing is supple, and there are many subtle variations of tempo, everything is perfectly prepared. The music breathes, breathes in a way that is so natural that we are ultimately unaware of the act of performance, and aware only of Wagner’s great achievement. Every aspect of the conductor’s craft and art is present and is applied to this whole—color, balance, tempo, texture, chord-voicing, shaping, articulation—all of this and more are sewn together to make this miracle of a performance. Add Kirstin Flagstad’s exalted Isolde, Ludwig Suthaus’s richly sung (and often underrated) Tristan, and fine performances by Blanche Thebom, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Josef Greindl, and you have a recording that merits the almost universal praise it has garnered.

The real question for collectors is whether this Pristine transfer is significantly superior to the earlier ones. I had praise for both EMI’s and Naxos’s versions, giving a very slight edge to the Naxos transfer by Mark Obert-Thorn. I was not expecting a meaningful difference in Andrew Rose’s effort for Pristine, but in fact it is enough of an improvement to warrant its purchase by any serious collector. In addition to listening to it all the way through, I did a number of spot A-B comparisons to the EMI and Naxos. It seems to me that Rose has managed to come up with a sound picture that is fuller at both the upper and lower extremes of frequency, without ever turning the sound harsh. It is the bass that is particularly impressive here—never boomy, but satisfyingly solid with an impact missing until now. The orchestral colors are richer, the voices bloom more, and the whole is more satisfying than it has ever been. I heard the ambient stereo version, but assume the monaural version that Pristine also issues is of equal quality. Pristine’s ambient stereo bears no relation to the pseudo-stereo that the record companies tried to peddle in the 1970s, but instead manages to create just a bit more of a sense of space around the sound. Of course Pristine’s version is also available as a FLAC download from its website.

There can be little doubt that this Furtwängler-led Tristan recording belongs in the Classical Hall of Fame, and Pristine Audio’s stunning restoration gives me good reason to put it there.

Henry Fogel
This article originally appeared in Issue 35:5 (May/June 2012) of Fanfare Magazine.