Overview

David Alden's production of Wagner's grand romantic opera was recorded at the National Theatre in Munich, with Bayerische Staatsoper, in September 1994. Shot over three days by leading opera director Brian Large, this recording benefits from the ideal technical conditions made possible by a closed session. Alden, one of the most iconoclastic interpreters of classical opera, stirs up the visionary, erotic, and archetypal elements in Wagner's work. The cold, forbidding aspect of the stylized and predominantly monochrome sets and costumes by Roni Toren and Buki Shiff manifests the strait-jacket of tradition from which Tannhäuser seeks to free himself in this powerful opera.

Top Cast

René Kollo

Tannhäuser

Waltraud Meier

Venus

B

Bernd Weikl

Wolfram von Eschenbach

N

Nadine Secunde

Elisabeth

J

Jan-Hendrik Rootering

Hermann

C

Claes-Håkan Ahnsjö

Walther von der Vogelweide

H

Hans Günter Nöcker

Biterolf

J

James Anderson

Heinrich der Schreiber

G

Gerhard Auer

Reinmar von Zweter

J

Johannes Pohl

Hirt

Zubin Mehta

Self - Conductor

B

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Self - Orchestra