I recently noticed that Classicalite published a list of their five favourite Wagner recordings. This has been done whilst sensibly inferring that the list is by no means definitive.
Their list is:
Böhm’s Fliegende
Karajan’s Meistersinger
Kempe’s Lohengrin
Kleiber’s Tristan
Böhm’s Ring
…all of which rather makes me wonder whether Classicalite bought a Böhm box-set or simply read the last edition of “The Rough Guide to Opera” which was certainly written after a decadent love-in with a Böhm box-set, or was possibly written by a Böhm relation.
You can see the Classicalite article here.
Obviously this is all rather subjective. My personal thought is that Kempe’s Lohengrin probably belongs there or thereabouts, but that 3 of the others (it’s difficult to knock anything by Kleiber) could be demoted by recordings from the likes of Reiner, Leinsdorf, Knappertsbusch, Furtwängler, Kubelik, Bodanzky, Krauss, Klemperer… even Barenboim or Solti etc etc…
Well, rather than invite a host of emails my way, I thought it was best to move the conversation here to the website. So, if you’re interested, please get stuck in below…!
