This two-CD set is a composite of at least three LPs as well as a couple of bonuses, and fills a particular gap in the Wagnerian repertoire–namely, performances of soprano Helen Traubel. Traubel was a big, friendly woman who took over the Wagnerian wing at the Met when Kirsten Flagstad returned to Norway; she was ultimately fired by Rudolf Bing because she insisted on singing in popular, as well as classical venues. (How forward looking!) She seems not to have had a high C at any point in her career, but everything preceding it was glorious–round, glowing, handsomely produced. On this set we hear her as Elsa–positively transcendent–with the swinish Kurt Baum as her Lohengrin, and as a ravishing Isolde in the Liebestod and in the duet (with an exciting Torsten Ralf). Elsewhere on this release we get Lauritz Melchior, superhuman as ever as Rienzi and Tristan, and a brief appearance by a really young Astrid Varnay. The leadership, by Erich Leinsdorf, Artur Rodzinski, Fritz Busch, and others is what one would expect and the transfers are very fine. This is an important release, a must for Wagnerians.
