Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Siegfried Idyll
3. Prelude to Act 1. Langsam und schmachtend
4. "Mild und leise wie er lächelt" (Isoldes Liebestod) - Jessye Norman, Wiener Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24426 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 54 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Karajan's appearance with Jessye Norman and the Vienna Philharmonic at the 1987 Salzburg Festival produced one of the great Wagner discs of all time, capped by a seething, compelling, white hot realisation of the "Liebestod". Karajan knew he had something here and listening to the performance is likely to leave you weak in the knees. As the account unfolds, everybody's on the edge of their seats--Norman comes in just that way, not sure of what volume to give it, halting, momentarily unsteady; then she cuts everything loose. Her singing is agitated and emotional, practically orgasmic if one must characterise it accurately. But Karajan has the last word and it is one minute and 12 seconds of the most rapturous playing imaginable, a meditation on the opera's final word ("Lust") and the whole meaning of Tristan und Isolde. This was the payoff for an entire career spent in pursuit of the refinement of orchestral sound. On the same CD, Karajan presides over perhaps the best Siegfried Idyll on record, a lovely, spacious reading full of gentleness and radiance. The piece is exquisitely played by the VPO--very much as they did for Karajan in those final years, communing with him as much as performing the music for us. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews

Memorable Live!!

This is very memorable live recording of Wagner's orchestral works. Tannhauser Overture is absolutely thrilling and magnificent. Siegfried Idyll is more spontaneous and sensitive than his studio recording. Prelude & Liebestod with Norman is deeply moving and powerful.