*NEW* Tristan und Isolde - Flagstad / Melchior / Bodanzky - 02/08/1936

[@crisha721]

This is a jewel! Love Flagstad! She is sublime

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Great recording and the principal cast are all in phenomenal voice. Flagstad sings the final G-sharp in the Liebestod in an unbelievable forte, so different to the later recordings.

[@alandun27]

as you are the ultimate expert . . . is this the only time she was ever recorded singing both top C's in the love duet? I've only ever heard her sing the 1st and then take the alternative A on the 2nd? Not that it matters of course . . . so many people are obsessed with this because of the famous story from the studio recording, which they then extrapolate into saying she never sang a top C?

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@alandun27 She sang both the tops Cs in most performances pre-war. The first time she ducks one is 1939, but then she sings them both again in 1941 (a little flat). Can't comment on 1938 as we have no recording from this year. I've posted links below of what's easily accessible on KZbin besides this recording (hopefully my comment goes through): Bodanzky, 1935: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zl6Yp32Pg7mXp5Isi=inUJShXcoR7eVfRh&t=5553 Reiner, 1936: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqKtm4mYadpsntEsi=CiZJLlYp0mVgKJpg&t=5614 Beecham ,1937: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoq6lH-Xid9notksi=9jJzk67JIwLULvvw&t=5688 Bodanzky, 1937: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5rCgmqkYt18mM0si=04WmTRXM0XzAZ4Bk&t=104 Leinsdorf, 1941: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iouWqquHmt-Vjbssi=IjhAru4vuYV2NuzX&t=6425 Regarding your story, it is interesting because she sang the first C all the way up until her very last Isolde at Covent Garden, 1951.

[@alandun27]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 Thanks as always for your expertise. Like so many things - I was convinced I had heard this 'ducking' in multiple performances, but there it is - wrong again! I obviously hadn't checked the love duet when I dipped into these 1930's performances - my two reference points for Isolde are really the narrative and curse, and then the climax of the scene with Brangaene immediately preceding the duet.

[@Rochey93]

Can you please give the timestamps of the high Cs?

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@Rochey93 I have actually made a video of them all: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpC9cmidfp6GZrc

[@inter215]

Thank you so much for sharing this magnificent performance that so many of us have been searching for for so many years. The singing and conducting certainly confirm that the 1930s and 1940s were a golden age for Wagner at the MET. While Melchior and Flagstad (and some others in this cast) would continue to sing this opera superbly for many more years their Tristan performance from 1936 - 1938 appear to capture them as well as Bodanzky in their very finest form. It's also a joy to hear what appears to be a straight transfer of this performance from disks with natural sound that's not been degraded by modern remastering techniques.

[@nietzschebietzsche2642]

At last! The so mentioned 1936 Tristan yet to be found nowhere... till that moment when I write these lines! With such a gem amidst the jewels shaped by Bodanzky in the mythic Met from the 1930s (the 1940s are no match in comparison...), we have finally achieved an important and significant quest. Thanks you, many gratitudes towards you! From now on, only remain to appear the 1938 Siegfried and the 1939 Nürnberg. Nevertheless they definitively lack of real interest to me: the former one lasts 54mins (10 from Act I, 44 from Act III), with Flagstad and Schorr notably, but without Melchior, the greatest Siegfried, alongside Lorenz, on that time from whom we only have the (wonderful!) interpretation from 1937; plus the most tremendous Wotan's moment (Act I, Scene 2) has little to no chance to be in those tiny 10mins, what a spoil for the magnificent Schorr... Concerning the latter one, Schorr as Sachs, in 1939, inspires dreamy perspectives, but we don't know which part was actually preserved, it's not complete whatever since discography only evoke "extracts exist". No doubt they will eventually be available down here, patience shall triumph at the very end, but I already consider myself quite blessed with this Tristan you generously share with us! Be immensely thanked!

[@OldSchoolOpera]

Thank you!

[@klingsortristan4959]

THANK YOU!!!

[@Optical747]

Thank you so much! Where did you find this?

[@kirstenflagstadremasters]

I obtained it from a collector friend of mine. Thanks for your comment!

[@Optical747]

@@kirstenflagstadremastersI don’t suppose you have any of the other missing Bodanzky recordings like 38 Siegfried or 39 Meistersinger?

[@kirstenflagstadremasters]

@@Optical747 I don't currently, sorry, but if I ever find them I will most certainly share them!

[@Optical747]

@@kirstenflagstadremasters Thank you!