or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
18 used & new from £16.75
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Wagner - Mastersingers
 
See larger image and other views 
Share your own customer images

Wagner - Mastersingers [Box set]

~ Derek Hammond-Stroud (Baritone), Norman Bailey (Baritone), David Bowman (Bass), Eric Stannard (Bass), Gerwyn Morgan (Bass), et al.
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
Price: £17.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Friday, November 13? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
14 new from £17.98 4 used from £16.75

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this with Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ~ Richard Wagner

Wagner - Mastersingers + Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Price For Both: £52.17

Show availability and delivery details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Wagner: Parsifal (Goodall, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House)

Wagner: Parsifal (Goodall, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House)

~ Richard [Classical] Wagner
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £28.98
Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

~ Richard Wagner
£34.19
Wagner: The Goodall Ring Cycle [ENGLISH LANGUAGE]

Wagner: The Goodall Ring Cycle [ENGLISH LANGUAGE]

~ Reginald Goodall
4.1 out of 5 stars (7)  £84.98
Britten: Before Life & After (Mark Padmore/Roger Vignoles)

Britten: Before Life & After (Mark Padmore/Roger Vignoles)

~ Benjamin Britten
£10.98
Handel: Partenope [DVD] [2008]

Handel: Partenope [DVD] [2008]

DVD ~ Mortensen / Scholl
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £12.78
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Orchestra: Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra
  • Conductor: Reginald Goodall
  • Composer: Richard [Classical] Wagner
  • Audio CD (30 Jun 2008)
  • SPARS Code: AAD
  • Number of Discs: 4
  • Format: Box set
  • Label: Chandos
  • ASIN: B001ANZQZU
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,177 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
   Whitby Jet Online Store opens new browser window
www.whitbyjetstore.com  -  Oldest jet manufacturer in Whitby. Antique & Modern jewellery design! 
  
 

Product Description

Review

The resounding success of Reginald Goodall's Mastersingers led to his conducting an 'English' Ring at the London Coliseum in the 1970s. That Ring started me recording opera in English so I am thrilled that we have been able to add The Mastersingers to our Opera in English catalogue - alongside Goodall's Ring. --Sir Peter Moores


CD Description

For the first time ever, the legendary centenary production of Wagner's The Mastersingers, conducted by Reginald Goodall is released as a 4-CD set on Chandos Opera in English. Broadcast live on the BBC from Sadler's Wells Theatre on 10 February 1968 Goodall conducted a cast of such luminaries as Alberto Remedios, Norman Bailey, Derek Hammond-Stroud, Gregory Dempsey, Margaret Curphey and Ann Robson. Following the live broadcast the recording sadly disappeared into the archives and has since become one of the most talked about lost performances. Music-lovers have regularly contacted Chandos requesting its release on Opera in English and it is one that Sir Peter Moores was determined to make happen. It even led to an appeal for indivduals recordings of the broadcast! This 4-CD set has subsequently been re-mastered from a BBC Radio live broadcast and is released at the price of 3 CDs. The sound quality reflects the fact it is a 1968 live recording and some deterioration is evident although this does not detract from the fantastic performance value. A popular comic opera The Mastersingers is an ensemble opera in a sense which Wagner s other operas are not. Yet, despite its comic opera standing, it is in fact a deeply spiritual work. Wagner wrote, it is impossible that you should not have sensed, under the opera's quaint superficies of popular humour, the profound melancholy, the lament, the cry of distress of poetry in chains, and its reincarnation, its new birth, its irresistible magic power achieving mastery over the common and the base.

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(3)
(2)
(2)
See all 4 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars 'Meistersinger' in English: Good News, Bad News -- Mostly Good, 3 Aug 2008
By J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This is a much-talked-about live recording, long thought lost, of a BBC broadcast in 1968 of an English-language production of Wagner's 'Die Meistersinger' from the Sadler's Wells Opera (now called the English National Opera). It was conducted by Reginald Goodall who was all but unknown then but who soon became known and much lauded for his conducting of Wagner's operas. It has an all-English cast, all but one of whom were singing their roles for the first time; the exception was Norman Bailey, who had sung Hans Sachs in Germany (in German, of course).

First, the bad news: Sound quality is not the best. There is some tape hiss, occasional poor balances, a good deal of stage noise (my goodness, you can really hear a lot of clumping around in the last act entrance of the apprentices!), and somewhat dodgy stereo separation. Early on Norman Bailey's voice is rather woolly, although it improves and his vocal acting is marvelous. Margaret Curphey's Eva can turn acidulous, but she is terrific in the last act Quintet. There are some cuts -- primarily a verse from David's first act catalog of tones and from Beckmesser's second act song. The orchestral playing is not always as suave as one might hope. And, of course, there will be those who will be put off by this quintessentially German opera being sung in English. And indeed the translation, by Frederick Jameson (with some changes by Norman Feasey and Gordon Kember) has a few thee's and thou's that make it sound a bit old-fashioned. Still it is an effective translation and it sings well.

Any negatives are outweighed by the good things in the recording. Bailey's Sachs is effective -- and he has the best diction of anyone in the cast; he is human, affecting, suitably humorous, gruff, tender or serious as needed. The David of Gregory Dempsey is one the best I've ever heard. Derek Hammond-Stroud plays Beckmesser as a bit of a caricature, but he sings the music rather than sketching it as many Beckmessers do. Alberto Remedios is one of the best Walthers on record. His tone is meltingly lyrical and he is actually able to sing softly when required, unlike some. He is ardent, heroic, and naïve in turn. His Prize Song is magical, aided significantly by Goodall's rapturously paced conducting. Noel Mangin's Pogner is excellent in his long aria. The rest of the mastersingers are at least adequate or, as in the case of David Bowman as Kothner, much better. Ann Robson is a younger-sounding Magdalene and she sings well. Stafford Dean, then quite young, is a marvelous Nightwatchman. The chorus is sterling from their very first notes at the end of the overture to the paean to Sachs that closes the opera.

The real hero of this performance is Goodall. This is a leisurely-paced 'Mastersingers' but there is never a lull or longueur. Rhythms are well-sprung and the quieter or more lyrical moments are breathtaking, as in the Act III prelude and the last act Quintet. He can build up real excitement, too, as in the overture and the third act entrance of the apprentices and mastersingers, not to speak of the riot that ends Act II.

The boxed 4CD set is being offered for the price of 3CDs and it includes a complete libretto. This will probably not be anyone's only 'Meistersinger', but it certainly belongs on the shelves of those who love this opera and have other recordings of it.

Scott Morrison
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointed, 8 Nov 2009
By maximus (manchester, uk) - See all my reviews
  
What a shame. I was really looking forward to listening to this CD. However, when I played it and played it again I realised actually it might as well have been in the original libretto language (German) since this old recording, even with the remastering, is too muffled to be able to hear the words properly. So I will stick to the best of the other (in German) Mastersingers recordings until a newer English language version is recorded and released (I hope they do do it, perhaps with John Tomlinson in the cast).

Second disappointment is that despite the apparent bells and whistles "remastering" techniques, the 1968 recording does sound like it's in mono (it probably is but not mentioned anywhere on the packaging...) and it sounds so ancient and boxy that it reminded me of the soundtrack of old Laurel and Hardy movies with the very thin sound, especially higher pitched instruments like the oboes, and very boxy for the lower instruments such as double basses and trombones.

If I could ignore all these faults, the conducting does seem excellent because the music flows and develops in an apparently effortless manner.

Perhaps I am being harsh with the 2 stars, but I can only go by my personal disappointment and even though I know it is an older recording, I have heard Solti's set of the Ring Cycle, some of the earlier parts having been recorded possibly earlier than the Goodall Mastersingers, but sound so clear and impressive that they have set the benchmark for remastered historic opera recordings and the Mastersingers set does not match up to Solti's set in terms of presence and sound quality.

[As an aside: I recently also bought the Goodall's reading of Wagner's Ring Cycle (sung in English) on a quick track selection play-through it sounds more promising than the Mastersingers and I will review that when I have listened to it all the way through a at least twice. It might take some time!]

One final word - I mentioned Tomlinson earlier in this review, because I have got the Flying Dutchman recording (also on Chandos) sung in English and also the Boris Godunov (in English) and he and the rest of the cast of these newer recordings have such clear diction that even in the loudest orchestral accompaniment passages, that you can pretty much hear every word they sing and follow the drama as it unfolds. These are newer recordings but they do show what can be achieved with Opera in English series and demonstrate the enhancement of understanding and enjoyment of the works which you can't quite get with the original language recordings, unless you sit with libretto translation all the time if you don't speak the original language, or watch them on DVD with subtitles of course.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, 14 Sep 2009
By Peter Hodgson (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I was disappointed in this - and I was actually there in the theatre when it took place. The singing is fine and the orchestra are good. The conducting is slow but also good. Sadly the whole thing was wrecked for me by the lousy recording which amplifies the stage noise so much that the finale is almost unbearable: phoney upper-class English cheering and a herd of elephants on stage. Surely the engineers could have done a bit more tidying up of the sound in this digital age? Having the words audible in English is a mixed blessing. But worth getting as a historical document I suppose.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars GOODALL MASTERSINGERS
This is an essential purchase for anyone who had the privilege to attend any of these performances way back in 1968. Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. D. Cheeseright

5.0 out of 5 stars it takes my breath away
so often castigated as slow, Reginald Goodall conducted Wagner as if he were a real composer of proper symphonic music rather than just an opera man. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Graeme Creffield

4.0 out of 5 stars A piece of history
This performance captures the artists performing at their peak. Goodall's inspired conducting brings out the best in everyone and he goes to the core of the music in a way not... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Claudia David

4.0 out of 5 stars The best 'Mastersingers' I have ever heard.
Usually I find the orchestration of this opera a bit over-rich, thick and stodgy, but not so with Goodall. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Basiledes

5.0 out of 5 stars The holy grail of opera recordings
The previous review sums it all up. The conducting, playing and singing is sublime. The recording/ remastering quality for a radio broadcast is brilliant. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Nh Wills

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Wagner - Mastersingers
91% buy the item featured on this page:
Wagner - Mastersingers 4.0 out of 5 stars (8)
£17.98
Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
3% buy
Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
£34.19
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
2% buy
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 5.0 out of 5 stars (3)
£26.98
Wagner: Parsifal (Goodall, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House)
2% buy
Wagner: Parsifal (Goodall, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House) 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£28.98
Explore similar items

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject





i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.