Yakov Kreizberg usually is a reliable conductor, so these lackluster performances come as a surprise. They have no positive qualities whatsoever. The Flying Dutchman lacks energy and excitement, with boring brass playing; Tannhäuser is a similar snooze; the Meistersinger prelude is a soggy mess; Rienzi’s youthful vulgarity is not effaced by being undercharacterized; Tristan’s Prelude and Liebestod ooze by without capturing the attention at all; and you really don’t want to know what happens to the Act 3 prelude to Lohengrin–junky music that needs a real celebratory feeling to sound well when taken out of its original context. Soft-edged, mushy sonics with far too much rear-channel emphasis complete a wholly uncharacteristic and unappetizing picture of music that has been recorded to death. To call this redundant would be an understatement.
