When you see that subject line, the first thought may well be:  hmmm, are
there any *good* ones, never mind "greatest." But the truth is that there
is a great one among us, fully equal to any legend of old.

The answer is so obvious that it's just startling when you recognize
it.  Maybe not for others, but for me, the answer was both obvious and
surprising when it hit me this morning.

I was listening to Debby Voigt's splendid new EMI Classics CD, "Wagner
Love Duets," and nearly drove off the road when Tristan sang "Soll ich
lauschen?" The urgency, tenderness, clarity of music and text, the
unsurpassable beauty of the voice -- it just doesn't get any better.

And yet, even with my years of admiration for his Lohengrin and Parsifal,
I think this was the first time I heard his Tristan.  Obvious and
surprising.  Another wonderful discovery on this album is his Siegfried.
We all know his Siegmund, but I haven't been lucky enough to hear his
Siegfried -- and I don't believe he has performed more than a few times.
Here's a young hero, strong and romantic, coming through gloriously on
wings of a 60-year-old voice, with a shattering impact.  But what you want
to hear, again and again, is his Tristan.  "Neu' Erkennen, neu' Entbrennen,
ewig endlos..."

[log in to unmask], SF
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