Karajan Conducts Wagner, Vol. 1: Tannhäuser, Lohengrin & Tristan und Isolde

Conductor Herbert von Karajan’s Wagner recordings were sometimes criticised for being sleek and over-polished. But the jaw-dropping quality of the Berlin Philharmonic’s playing on this EMI reissue of orchestral excerpts from Wagner's operas might silence even the most ardent critics. Exquisitely modulated string playing graces the Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin, the gradual emergence of the central crescendo seamlessly delineated. Karajan’s ability to precisely calibrate the ebb and flow of emotion in a work pays rich dividends in an impassioned rendition of the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. The huge amount of heft at the Berlin players’ disposal is stunningly demonstrated in a white-hot account of the erotically charged Venusberg Music from Tannhäuser. The Overture to Der fliegende Holländer is a similarly visceral experience, the storm-tossed setting of the opera and its existential darkness conveyed in graphic terms by Karajan’s magnificent Berlin players.