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Callas’s 1959 Lucia di Lammermoor gets the Pristine treatment

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Callas’s second stereo recording of Lucia di Lammermoor, which I reviewed when it was reissued by Warner , has always been considered one of her best from a sonic point of view, so, as someone who has not always been totally convinced by some of Andrew Rose’s re-mastering methods, I wondered how, if at all, the sound could be improved upon. Let me say straight away that I found this latest addition to Pristine’s Callas catalogue totally convincing. Using the Warner remaster of 2014 for comparison, I found the sound altogether warmer and much more comfortable to listen to, closer in fact to how I remember the LPs that I used to own (a German EMI Electrola issue, bought as an import). The Warner is perhaps slightly clearer, but the digitalisation tends to add glare to Callas’s top register. Often one is prepared to flinch before the topmost notes, but I had no such problems when listening to this Pristine pressing. I couldn’t say which is the more truthful, but I can say that the Pristine is much more comfortable to listen to and this, in turn, affected my impressions of the set, a recording I have known since my youth and was in fact my introduction to the opera.

Lucia was one of the cornerstones of her repertoire, and she first sang it in 1952 in Mexico. The following year she sang the role again in Florence, where she made her first recording of the role under Serafin. It was also the first recording she made for EMI. Back in those days, the opera wasn’t taken very seriously and was most likely considered a silly Italian opera in which a doll-like coloratura soprano ran around the stage showing off her high notes and flexibility. Callas returned a proper tragic dimension to the role, that most hadn’t even suspected was there. There is a touching story of Toti Dal Monti, an erstwhile famous Lucia herself, visiting Callas in her dressing room after a performance of the opera with tears running down her face and confessing she had sung the role for years with no idea of its dramatic potential.

When Callas first sang  Lucia in Mexico and recorded it in Florence, she was at the peak of her vocal plenitude, as she was when she first sang it under Karajan at La Scala in 1954, but by the time she sang the role in Berlin in 1955 post weight loss, when Karajan took the La Scala company there, her voice had started to lighten and her conception of the role had become more inward. We can hear this in the famous live recording of one of the Berlin performances, but, for this 1959 recording, she appears to have taken this approach one step further. This may have had something to do with her by now fading vocal resources, but it results in a particularly touching portrayal of the innocent, young, impressionable girl. She has also trimmed away some of the showier variations in the cadenza in the Mad Scene, and the decorations are in consequence somewhat more modest. Am I alone in preferring it sung this way? Personally, I’d prefer to do without all that duetting with the flute altogether, as happens in the complete recording of the opera with Caballé and when Sylvia Sass sings it on one of her recital records. In any case, apart from a few of Callas’s topmost notes, she is in remarkably good voice and the filigree of the role is brilliantly executed with fluid and elegant ease. All in all, I prefer her performance in this set to the one on the 1953 Florence studio recording, not least because of the improved Pristine sound picture.

However, when it comes to her colleagues on this set, I am a little less well disposed towards them than Göran Forsling in his review of the digital download. Ferrucio Tagliavini was 45 at the time of this recording, but he sounds much older, more like an elderly roué than the Byronic Romantic figure of Scott’s and Donizetti’s imaginings. No amount of elegant phrasing can make up for his lack of sheer physical passion and I find myself longing for Di Stefano’s youthful ardour. As for Cappuccilli, he was at the very beginning of his considerable career, and he has yet to find a way of creating character in pure sound. He is just rather dull and no match for Gobbi on the earlier recording or for Panerai in Berlin. Bernard Ladysz makes very little impression at all and both Rafaele Arie and Nicola Zaccaria are preferable.

Serafin, as always, though he may not make any startling revelations, shapes the score with a perfect sense of its dramatic shape, albeit with the cuts that were traditional at the time. Karajan opened up some of those in his performances, and I would still place the 1955 Berlin performance at the top of all Callas’s recorded Lucias, especially in Divina Records latest remastering, but I enjoyed re-visiting this set and I have a feeling I’ll be reaching for this one more regularly than the earlier 1953 recording, not least because of the superior quality of Pristine’s remastering.

My only criticism is of the cover art, which has a photograph of Callas as Lucia in Florence in 1953, when she was still a rather large lady. One could be forgiven for thinking, at first glance, that this was the earlier recording. Surely a photo of the svelte Callas as Lucia would have been more appropriate. There are plenty of them, after all.

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Pristine Audio)
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A list of my preferred opera recordings

I hesitate to call this a list of recommended opera recordings, because people’s tastes are so different, but it is a list of my preferred recordings and, as such, it is obviously influenced by my liking for certain artists. It is also derived from over 50 years of listening to and collecting opera recordings and includes recordings that are or were once available on LP and CD, because, despite the current trend for everything to be downloaded onto a computer, I still prefer to listen to CDs. In some cases I have included more than one recording of a piece, usually because I can’t decide which one I like best. I’m also pretty sure that, with a couple of exceptions. all my chosen recordings date from the LP era onwards.

A word about Wagner. I am not really a Wagnerite. I enjoy Wagner from time to time, but I find that, more than with other composers, the sound of the orchestra takes precedence for me, which is why all the recordings I have chosen are studio recordings in decent stereo sound, which thererore excludes the names of many great Wagnerians of the past, such as Flagstad, Leider, Melchior, Furtwängler etc.

No doubt many of my readers will disagree with some of my choices, but I think it’s a pretty sound list. Peruse at your leisure.

Barber: Vanessa – Steber, Elias, Resnik, Gedda, Tozzi; Mitropoulos

Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle – Ludwig, Berry; Kertesz

Beethoven: Fidelio – Dernesch, Donath, Vickers, Kéléman, Ridderbusch; Karajan

Bellini: I Capuleti e I Montecchi – Sills, Baker, Gedda, Herincx, Lloyd; Patané

Bellini: Norma – Callas, Simionato, Del Monaco, Zaccaria; Votto La Scala 1955 (live) or Callas. Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria; Serafin (studio)

Bellini: Il Pirata – Callas, Ferraro, Ego; Rescigno New York 1959 (live) -or- Caballé, Martí, Cappuccili; Gavazzeni (studio)

Bellini: I Puritani – Callas, Di Stefano, Panerai, Rossi-Lemeni; Serafin

Bellini: La Sonnambula –Callas, Valletti, Modesti; Bernstein la Scala 1955 (live) or Callas, Monti, Zaccaria; Votto/Cologne 1957 (live) or Callas, Monti, Zaccaria; Votto (studio)

Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénedict – Eda-Pierre, Baker, Watts, Tear, Allen, Lloyd, Bastin; Davis

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Eda-Pierre, Berbié, Gedda, Massard, Bastin, Soyer; Davis

Berlioz: La damnation de Faust – Veasey, Gedda, Bastin, Van Allan; Davis

Berlioz: Les Troyens – Lindholm, Veasey, Vickers, Glossop; Davis

Bizet: Carmen – Callas, Guiot, Gedda, Massard; Prêtre

Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles – Cotrubas, Vanzo, Sarabia; Prêtre

Britten: Billy Budd – Langridge, Keenlyside, Tomlinson; Hickox

Britten: Gloriana – Barstow, Kenny, Jones, Langridge, Opie, Summers; Mackerras

Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Watson, Gomez, Jones, Bowman, Hall, Herford, Maxwell; Hickox

Britten: Peter Grimes – Watson, Pears, Pease; Britten and Harper, Vickers, Summers; Davis

Britten: The Rape of Lucretia – Harper, Baker, Pears, Drake, Luxon, Shirley-Quirk; Britten

Britten: The Turn of the Screw – Vyvyan, Cross, Pears, Mardikian; Britten

Charpentier: Louise – Cotrubas, Berbié, Domingo, Bacquier; Prêtre and Vallin, Lecouvreur, Thill, Pernet; Bigot (abridged)

Chausson: Le roi Arthus – Zylis-Gara, Winbergh, Quilico; Jordan

Cherubini: Medea – Callas, Carron, Berganza, Vickers, Zaccaria; Rescigno, Dallas 1958 (live) or- Callas, Nache, Barbieri, Penno, Modesti; Bernstein, La Scala 1953 (live). If studio/stereo is a must then Callas, Scotto, Pirazzini, Picchi, Modesti; Serafin

Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur – Scotto, Obrasztsova, Domingo, Milnes; Levine

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande – Joachim, Cernay, Jansen, Etchverry, Cabanet; Désormiére (mono) and Von Stade, Denize, Stilwell, Van Dam, Raimondi; Karajan (stereo)

Délibes: Lakmé – Mesplé, Burles, Soyer; Lombard

Delius: A Village Romeo and Juliet – Field, Davies, Hampson; Mackerras

Donizetti: Anna Bolena – Callas. Simionato, Raimondi, Rossi-Lemeni; Gavazzeni, La Scala 1957 (live) (Divina transfer, avoid Warner and EMI) It’s cut of course, but no other performance satisfies me.

Donizetti: Don Pasquale – Saraceni, Schipa, Poli, Badini; Sabajno (mono). If stereo is a must then Freni, Winbergh, Nucci; Bruscantini; Muti

Donizetti: L’Elisir d’amore – Cotrubas, Domingo, Wixell, Evans; Pritchard

Donizetti: La fille du régiment – Sutherland, Sinclair, Pavarotti, Malas; Bonynge

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor – Callas. Di Stefano, Panerai, Zaccaria; Karajan, Berlin 1955 (live) and Callas, Tagliavini, Cappuccilli, Ladysz; Serafin (studio stereo/Pristine remaster).

Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia – Caballé, Berbié, Vanzo, Paskalis; Perlea, New York 1965 (live) No studio recording.

Donizetti: Maria Stuarda – Tinsley, Baker, Erwen, Garrard, Du Plessis; Mackerras, ENO 1973 (live in English) or Caballé, Verrett, Garaventa, Arié, Fioravanti; Cillario, La Scala 1971 (live). No studio recording.

Donizetti: Roberto Devereux – Caballé, Marsee, Carreras, Sardinero, Furlanetto; Rudel, Aix-en-Provence, 1977 (live)

Dvořák: Rusalka – Fleming, Zajick, Heppner, Havlata; Mackerras

Enescu: Oedipe – Hendricks, Lipovšek, Gedda, Van Dam; Foster

Fauré: Pénélope – Norman, Taillon, Vanzo, Huttenlocher, Van Dam; Dutoit

Giordano: Andrea Chenier – Scotto, Domingo, Milnes; Levine

Gluck: Orfeo – Baker, Speiser, Gale; Leppard

Gounod: Faust – De Los Angeles, Gorr, Gedda, Blanc, Christoff; Cluytens 1958 (stereo)

Gounod: Roméo et Juliette – Gheorghiu, Alagna, Keenlyside, Van Dam, Fondary; Plasson

Handel: Hercules – Dawson, Otter, Daniels, Croft, Saks: Minkowski

Handel: Giulio Cesare – Masterson, Baker, Jones, Walker, Bowman, Tomlinson: Mackerras (in English)

Handel: Rinaldo – Organasova, Bartoli, Fink, Daniels, Taylor, Finley; Hogwood

Handel: Theodora – Upshaw, Hunt Lieberson, Daniels, Croft: Christie

Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel – Schwarzkopf. Grümmer, Von Islovay, Schürhoff, Metternich: Karajan

Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen – Popp, Randova, Jedlicka; Mackerras

Janáček: Jenůfa, – Söderström, Popp, Randova, Ochmann, Dvorsky; Mackerras

Janáček: Kat’a Kabanova – Söderström, Kniplova, Dvorsky; Mackerras

Janáček: Vĕc Makropulos – Söderström, Dvorsky, Blachut; Mackerras

Korngold; Die tote Stadt – Neblett, Kollo, Prey, Luxon; Leinsdorf

Lehár: Das Land des Lächelns – Schwarzkopf, Loose, Gedda, Kunz: Ackermann

Lehár: Die lustige Witwe – Schwarzkopf, Steffek, Gedda, Wächter, Knapp; von Matačić

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Callas, Di Stefano, Monti, Gobbi, Panerai; Serafin

Mascagni: L’Amico Fritz – Freni, Pavarotti, Sardinero; Gavazzeni

Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana – Callas, Di Stefano, Panerai; Serafin

Massenet: Cendrillon – Welting, Von Stade, Berbié,  Gedda, Bastin; Rudel

Massenet: Manon – De Los Angeles, Legay, Dens; Monteux

Massenet: Thaîs – Fleming, Sabbatini, Hampson; Abel

Massenet: Werther – Gheorghiu, Pétibon, Alagna, Hampson; Pappano or Von Stade, Buchanan, Carreras, Allen; Davis and Vallin, Féraldy, Thill, Rogue; Cohen

Motemezzi: L’Amore Dei Tre Re – Moffo, Domingo, Elvira. Siepi; Santi

Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea – Galli, Meijer, Marmeli; Cavina

Monteverdi: L’Orfeo – Cioffi, Gens, Dessay, Bostridge; Haîm

Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito – Baker, Popp, Minton, Von Stade, Burrows; Davis

Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte – Schwarzkopf, Steffek, Ludwig, Kraus, Taddei, Berry; Böhm

Mozart; Don Giovanni – Sutherland, Schwarzkopf, Sciutti, Alva, Wächter, Taddei, Cappuccilli, Frick; Giulini

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail – Köth. Schädle, Wunderlich, Lenz, Böhme; Jochum

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro – Schwarzkopf, Moffo, Cossotto, Taddei, Wächter, Cappucilli; Giulini

Mozart: Die Zauberflote – Lear, Peters, Wunderlich, Fischer-Dieskau, Crass; Böhm or for HIP – Mannion, Dessay, Blochwitz, Scharinger, Hagen; Christie

Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov – Borodina, Vaneev, Galouzine; Gergiev

Offenbach: Les Contes D’Hoffman – Sutherland, Tourangeau, Domingo, Bacquier; Bonynge (studio) or Malfitano, Murray, Domingo, Van Dam; Levine (live)

Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers – Mesplé, Rhodes, Sénéchal, Burles, Trempont; Plasson

Offenbach: La vie Parisienne – Mesplé, Crespin, Sénéchal, Bénoit, Trempont; Plasson

Ponchielli: La Gioconda – Callas, Barbieri, Amadini, Poggi, Silveri, Neri: Votto (mono) or Callas, Cossotto, Companeez, Ferraro, Cappuccilli, Vinco: Votto (stereo)

Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites – Duval, Crespin, Berton. Scharley, Gorr, Depraz, Finel; Dervaux

Puccini: La Boheme – De Los Angeles, Amara, Björling, Merrill, Tozzi: Beecham or Callas, Moffo, Di Stefano, Panerai, Zaccaria: Votto

Puccini: La Fanciulla del West – Neblett, Domngo, Milnes; Mehta

Puccini: Gianni Schicchi – De Los Angeles, Del Monte, Gobbi: Santini

Puccini: Madama Butterfly – Callas, Danieli, Gedda, Borriello; Karajan or De Los Angeles, Canali, Di Stefano, Gobbi: Gavazzeni or Scotto, Di Stasio, Bergonzi, Panerai: Barbirolli

Puccini: Manon Lescaut – Callas, Di Stefano, Fioravanti: Serafin

Puccini: La Rondine – Gheorghiu, Mula, Alagna, Mateuzzi, Rinaldi: Pappano

Puccini: Suor Angelica – De Los Angeles, Marimpietri, Barbieri: Serafin or Scotto, Cotrubas, Horne; Maazel

Puccini: Il Tabarro – Mas, Prevedi, Gobbi: Bellezza

Puccini: Tosca – Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi: De Sabata

Puccini: Turandot – Callas, Schwarzkopf, Fernandi, Zaccaria: Serafin (mono) or Sutherland, Caballé, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov: Mehta (stereo)

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas – Clark, Baker, Sinclair, Herincx; Lewis

Ravel: L’enfant et les sortileges –  Ogéas, Gilma, Collard, Berbié, Sénéchal, Rehfuss, Maurane; Maazel

Ravel: L’heure espahnole – Berbié, Sénéchal, Gireaudeau, Bacquier, Van Dam; Maazel

Rossini: Armida – Callas, Filippeschi, Albanese, Raimondi; Serafin (in atrocious sound, but essential for some of the most incredible dramatic coloratura singing you will ever hear)

Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Callas, Alva, Gobbi, Ollendorff, Zaccaria: Galliera

Rossini: La Cenerentola – Baltsa, Araiza, Alaimo, Raimondi; Marriner

Rossini: Le comte Ory – Barabas, Sinclair, Oncina, Wallace: Gui

Rossini: Elisabetta, Regina, d’Inghilterra – Caballé, Masterson, Carreras, Benelli: Masini

Rossini: Guillaume Tell – Caballé, Mesplé, Taillon, Gedda, Cassinelli, Bacquier, Howell, Kovats; Gardelli

Rossini: L’Italiana in Algeri – Pace, Baltsa, Lopardo, Corbelli, Dara, Raimondi; Abbado

Rossini: Semiramide – Penda, Pizzolato, Osborne, Regazzo: Fogliani (complete) or Sutherland, Horne, Serge, Malas; Bonynge (abridged)

Rossini: Il Turco in Italia – Callas, Gardino, Gedda, Stabile, Calabrese, Rossi-Lemeni; Gavazzeni

Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila – Baltsa, Carreras, Summers, Estes, Burchaladze; Davis

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk – Vishnevskaya, Gedda, Petkov; Rostropovich

J Strauss: Die Fledermaus – Schwarzkopf, Streich, Gedda, Krebs, Christ, Kunz; Dönch; Karajan

J Strauss: Eine Nacht in Venedig – Schwarzkopf, Loose, Gedda, Kunz; Ackermann

J Strauss: Wiener Blut – Schwarzkopf, Köth, Loose, Gedda, Kunz; Ackermann

J Strauss: Der Zigeunerbaron – Schwarzkopf, Köth, Burgsthaler-Schuster, Gedda, Prey, Kunz: Ackermann

R Strauss: Arabella – Varady, Donath, Dallapozza, Fischer-Dieskau; Sawallisch and Schwarzkopf, Felbermeyer, Gedda, Metternich; von Matacic (highlights)

R Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos – Schwarzkopf, Streich, Seefried, Schock; Karajan

R Strauss: Capriccio – Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Gedda, Wächter, Fischer-Dieskau, Hotter; Sawallisch

R Strauss: Elektra – Marton, Studer, Lipovsek, Winkler, Weikl; Sawallisch

R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten – Studer, Vintzing, Schwarz, Kollo, Muff: Sawallisch

R Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier – Schwarzkopf, Stich-Randall, Ludwig Wächter, Edelmann; Karajan

R Strauss: Salome – Welitsch, Thorborg, Jagel, Janssen; Reiner (live mono) and Behrens, Baltsa, Schmitt-Walter, Van Dam; Karajan (studio stereo)

Szymanowski: Król Roger – Szmytka, Langridge, Hampson; Rattle

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin – Vishnevskaya, Avdeyeva, Lemeshev, Belov, Petrov; Khaikin

Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa – Gorchakova, Dyadkova, Larin, Leiferkus, Kotcherga; Järvi

Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades – Guleghina, Borodina, Arkhipova, Grigorian, Chernov, Putilin; Gergiev

Verdi: Aida – Callas, Dominguez, Del Monaco, Taddei; de Fabritiis (live) and Callas, Barbieri, Tucker, Gobbi; Serafin (studio mono) or Caballé, Cossotto, Domingo, Cappuccilli; Muti (studio stereo) or Freni, Baltsa, Carreras, Cappuccilli; Karajan (studio stereo)

Verdi: Alzira – Cotrubas, Araiza, Bruson; Gardelli

Verdi: Aroldo – Caballé, Cecchele, Pons, Lebherz; Queler

Verdi: Attila – Deutekom, Bergonzi, Milnes, Raimondi; Gardelli

Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera – Callas, Barbieri, Di Stefano, Gobbi; Votto (studio) and Callas, Simionato, Di Stefano, Bastianini; Gavazzeni (live)

Verdi: La Battaglia di Legnano – Ricciarelli, Carreras, Manuguerra, Ghiuselev; Gardelli

Verdi: Il Corsaro – Caballé, Norman, Carreras, Mastremei; Gardelli

Verdi: Don Carlo – Freni, Baltsa, Carreras, Cappuciolli, Ghiaurov, Raimondi; Karajan (4 acts in Italian), Caballé, Verrett, Domingo, Milnes, Raimondi, Giaotti; Giulini (5 acts in Italian) and Ricciarelli, Valentini-Terrani, Domingo, Nucci, Raimondi, Ghiaurov; Abbado (5 acts in French)

Verdi: I due Foscari – Ricciarelli, Carreras, Cappuccilli, Ramey; Gardelli

Verdi: Ernani – Price, Bergonzi, Sereni, Flagello; Schipeers

Verdi: Falstaff – Schwarzkopf, Moffo, Merriman, Barbieri, Alva, Panerai, Gobbi; Zaccaria; Karajan

Verdi: La Forza del Destino – Callas, Nicolai, Tucker, Tagliabue, Rossi-Lemeni; Serafin

Verdi: Un Giorno di Regno – Pagliughi, Cozzi, Oncina, Bruscantini, Capecchi, Dalmangas; Simonetto

Verdi: Giovanna d’Arco – Caballé, Domingo, Milnes; Levine

Verdi: I Lombardi – Sass, Lamberti, Di Cesare, Kovats; Gardelli

Verdi: Luisa Miller – Moffo, Verrett, Bergonzi, MacNeil, Tozzi, Flagello; Cleva or Caballé, Reynolds, Pavarotti, Milnes, Giaotti, Van Allan; Maag or Ricciarelli, Obraztsova, Domingo, Bruson, Howell, Ganzarolli; Maazel

Verdi; Macbeth – Callas, Penno, Mascherini, Tajo; De Sabata (live) and Verrett, Domingo, Cappuccilli, Ghiurov; Abbado (studio)

Verdi: I Masnadiert – Caballé, Bergonzi, Cappucilli, Raimondi; Gardelli

Verdi; Nabucco – Souliotis, Carral, Prevedi, Gobbi, Cava; Gardelli and (essential supplement, but awful sound) Callas, Pini, Sinimbergi, Bechi, Neroni; Gui

Verdi: Otello – Rysanek, Vickers, Gobbi; Serafin and Scotto, Domingo, Milnes; Levine

Verdi: Rigoletto – Callas, Lazzarini, di Stefano, Gobbi, Zaccaria; Serafin

Verdi: Simon Boccanegra – Freni, Carreras, Cappucilli, Ghiaurov, Van Dam; Abbado and De Los Angeles, Campora, Gobbi, Christoff, Monachesi; Santini

Verdi: Stiffelio – Sass, Carreras, Manugeurra, Ganzarolli; Gardelli

Verdi; La Traviata – Callas, Valletti, Zanasi; Rescigno, Covent Garden 1958 (live) and Cotrubas, Domingo, Milnes; Kleiber (istereo studio)

Verdi: Il Trovatore – Callas, Barbieri, Di Stefano, Panerai, Zaccaria; Karajan

Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani – Callas, Kokolis-Bardi, Mascherini, Christoff; Kleiber (live) and Arroyo, Domingo, Milnes, Raimondi; Levine

Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer – Silja, Kozub, Unger, Adam, Talvela; Klemperer or Schech, Schock, Wunderlich, Fischer-Dieskau; Konwitschny

Wagner: Lohengrin – Grümmer, Ludwig, Thomas, Fischer-Dieskau, Frick; Kempe

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Janowitz, Fassbänder, Konya, Unger, Stewart, Hemsley, Crass; Kubelik

Wagner: Parsifal – Vejzovic, Hoffmann, Nimsgern, Van Dam, Moll; Karajan

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen – Crespin, Dernesch, Janowitz, Veasey, Ludwig, Dominguez, Stolze, Vickers, Stewart, Brilioth, Fischer-Dieskau, Stewart, Kéeléman, Ridderbusch, Talvela; Karajan

Wagner: Tannhäuser – Dernesch, Ludwig, Kollo, Braun, Sotin; Solti

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde – Dernesch, Ludwig, Vickers, Berry, Ridderbusch; Karajan and Gray, Wilkens, Mitchinson, Joll, Howell; Goodall

Weber: Der Freischutz – Grümmer, Otto, Schock, Prey, Kohn, Frick; Keilberth