Had Arturo Toscanini not been under contract to Victor, he certainly would have conducted Columbia’s abridged 1930 Bayreuth recording of Wagner’s Tannhäuser in its 1861 Paris version, a production prepared by the Maestro. As it happens, Karl Elmendorff is no podium slouch, and his forces operate on a high level of unity and discipline, with impressively blended brass. The recording quality is excellent for its vintage, with ideal vocal/orchestral balances in the opening Venusberg sequence and the Pilgrims’ choruses, plus a cogent sense of how the solo singers projected across the Bayreuth Festspeilhaus footlights.
Low voices offer this set’s most attractive singing. Top honors belong to Ivar Andrésen, whose evenly equalized and richly sonorous bass voice still rules over recorded Landgrafs. Herbert Janssen’s lyrical, honeyed Wolfram also makes for heavenly listening, especially in Act 1’s fourth scene. Maria Müller’s youthful, rounded voice nails the role of Elisabeth dead center, and she manages to make “Dich, teure Halle” sound at once powerful yet relaxed. By contrast, Ruth Jost-Arden seems a bit matronly for Venus, while Sigismund Pilinszky tends to enact Tannhäuser’s text, and his nasal, slightly tremulous tenor lacks the ringing heroism Lauritz Melchior brought to this role. No complaints at all concerning Ward Marston’s clear and honest transfer work, plus Paul Campion’s excellent annotations.
