A quarter-century of postwar Bayreuth recordings. This survey of Wagners mature operas, excluding theRing, takes the listener fromParsifalin 1951 under Hans Knappertsbusch, through toDie Meistersinger von Nrnbergunder Silvio Varviso in 1974. The casts were often youthful, but coached by the Festival co-director Wieland Wagner into an intense engagement with text and music. Performances here by Wolfgang Windgassen, Hermann Uhde, Ludwig Weber, Birgit Nilsson and others reach a special level of long-breathed intensity almost impossible to sustain under studio conditions.

The featured conductors on the set are Hans Knappertsbusch, Joseph Keilberth, Karl Bhm and Wolfgang Sawallisch. CD25 of the set includes a previously unpublished radio interview with Irene Dalis and George London, the Kundry and Amfortas in the 1962Parsifalwith Knappertsbusch, as well as a rehearsal of the BhmTristan.

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A quarter-century of postwar Bayreuth recordings, made live at the Festspielhaus by Decca, DG and Philips: this is an absorbing history in sound of Wagner interpretation featuring several albums of timeless authority.

This survey of Wagners mature operas, excluding theRing, takes the listener fromParsifalin 1951 under Hans Knappertsbusch, through toDie Meistersinger von Nrnbergunder Silvio Varviso in 1974. Both the 1951ParsifalandLohengrinfrom two years later, under Joseph Keilberth, were captured in ffrr mono by the legendary Decca team of engineers under the supervision of John Culshaw. Decca continued to work at Bayreuth until 1955, capturingDer fliegende Hollnder, also under Keilberth, in a superb example of Deccas early stereo sound.

The casts were often youthful, but coached by the Festival co-director Wieland Wagner into an intense engagement with text and music. Performances here by Wolfgang Windgassen, Hermann Uhde, Ludwig Weber, Birgit Nilsson and others reach a special level of long-breathed intensity almost impossible to sustain under studio conditions.

None of the conductors involved had worked at Bayreuth before the war. Keilberth, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Karl Bhm all engaged with Wieland in finding a new, flowing but dramatically inflected style in Wagner. Something of this New Bayreuth style also infuses Knappertsbuschs 1962Parsifalwith a unique combination of mystery and rapture. The set includes a previously unpublished radio interview with Irene Dalis and George London, the Kundry and Amfortas in that performance.

Like KnappertsbuschsParsifal, theTristan und Isoldeunder Bhm in 1966 was rapidly recognised as a classic of the gramophone and has hardly been out of print since then, but it is reissued here with the rehearsal sequence included on the final LP of the original set. This Original Covers box also includes a booklet essay by Peter Quantrill which explores the history of post-war Bayreuth and the circumstances of each recording.

Many recordings are now legendary, praised then as now:

an almost perfect realization of Wagners last, strangest and deepest thoughtsThe Record Guideon Knappertsbuschs 1955Parsifal

Arguably the finest live recording ever made in the FestspielhausPenguin Guideon Knappertsbuschs 1962Parsifal

Extraordinarily well recordedHigh Fidelityon KeilberthsLohengrin

The sound is really astonishingHigh Fidelityon KeilberthsFliegende Hollnder

Bhms flow and surge are completely captivating.Opera on Recordon BhmsTristan und Isolde.