When this recording of Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre with Bruno Walter leading the Wiener Philharmoniker and Lotte Lehmann, Lauritz Melchior, and Emanuel List was released in 1936, it had no recorded competition -- none whatsoever. Back in those halcyon days of 78s, there was no such thing as a complete Walküre much less a complete Ring; indeed, there was no such thing as a complete recording of any Wagner opera at all. It's true that Karl Muck had recorded Act I of Parsifal in 1928 as part of a projected complete recording ...
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When this recording of Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre with Bruno Walter leading the Wiener Philharmoniker and Lotte Lehmann, Lauritz Melchior, and Emanuel List was released in 1936, it had no recorded competition -- none whatsoever. Back in those halcyon days of 78s, there was no such thing as a complete Walküre much less a complete Ring; indeed, there was no such thing as a complete recording of any Wagner opera at all. It's true that Karl Muck had recorded Act I of Parsifal in 1928 as part of a projected complete recording, but then the world economy crashed and that ended that. This June 1935 recording was supposed to have been the start of the first complete Walküre, but Germany annexed Austria and the Jewish Walter departed and that was that. All that remains of what might have been is this Act I plus the two scenes from Act 2 recorded at the same time by the same team.As Bach would say, it is enough. Walter, the heir of Mahler and the whole hyper-expressive late Romantic school of Wagner...
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Add this copy of Wagner: Die Walkure-Act 1 & Act 2, Scenes 3 & 5 to cart. $30.09, good condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by EMI.
