Berliner Philharmoniker, Klaus Tennstedt – Wagner: Orchestral Music (2005)

One is struck by the fact that the BPO, who must have been through all this music so often, can under a conductor who obviously inspires them, produce playing that is at once so polished and so fresh. One of the very finest Wagner orchestral collections in the catalog.
An exciting collection for those who like their Wagner without voices and recorded with self-conscious brilliance. Indeed, the sound cannot fail to make an effect when it is so clear. The cymbal clashes in the "Ride of the Valkyries" make a steely impact (although I confess I miss the whoops of the Valkyries themselves, however ungainly they may be). There is a thumping great drum-thwack at the beginning of the "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla" and the double chords at the climax of "Siegfried's Funeral March" have a similar penetrative power. But the playing itself is, of course, first class and Tennstedt keeps the tension high. The digital effect is at its most telling in the pianissimo detail, especially in the atmospheric "Forest Murmurs". But at fortissimos (and they really are!) there is the kind of fierceness on top that one associates with hi-fl demonstrations. The brass is relatively dry and I feel that a little more resonance here would have balanced the treble. Even so, with some adjustment of the controls one can get impressive reproduction through really big speakers, while the evocative qualities of the music-making undoubtedly grip the listener at the opening of "Siegfried's Rhine Journey" and in the "Magic Fire Music". – Ivan March