David Harbin wrote:

>There is a Coates CD in the EMI Great Conductors series.  It includes
>magnificent Tristan excepts with Leider and Melcior.  There are legendary
>pre 1930 Wagner recordings too.  I heard the Gotterdammerung Prologue
>which should not be played near flammable material.  Almost too fast.
>The whole series of the HMV Potted Ring should be transferred to Naxos
>asap.

Alas and alack the rules of this list require that the subject line
remain unchanged.  I assume that we are talking about Coates the Wagnerian.
The excerpts of Walkuere (and a small amount of Rheingold) on Claremont
(2CD set) are probably the best transfers of this most impressive of
Wagner recordings that one could expect.  Ditto for the (1CD) of Tristan
patched together from Coates, Blech, and Collingwood conducted excerpts.
No less so for the Coates/Melchior Tannhaeuser, Siegfried, Goetterdaemmerung
(1CD) excerpts.  And then there is a Coates Tannhaeuser (1CD) excepts
disk with Schorr, a disk which also includes Schorr in "The Hermit's
Aria" from Freischuetz (+ a 1952 South Africa Coates conducted aria from
Mendelssohn's Elijah [English]).  Most of these were recently at Berkshire
and are no longer and I rather wonder whether they are in print and/or
whether Claremont even still exists.  I am eager to hear the EMI disk
you cite, but highly doubt that it will match the quality of the various
Claremont disks which are real treasures.  Some of this Claremont material
I had on other LP and CD transfers, but have never heard them so well
presented.

Yoel L.  Arbeitman [log in to unmask]