Thomas Boyce asked:

>I am going to buy a CD of Wagner overtures for a friend.  Any
>recommendations for great performances? Thank you.

If they're still available, I can recommend Otto Klemperer's two volumes of
"bleeding chunks" on EMI mid-price:

CDM 7 63617 2: Rienzi Overture; The Flying Dutchman Overture; Tannhauser
Overture; Lohengrin - Preludes to Acts 1 and 3; Tristan and Isolde -
Prelude and Liebestod.

CDM 7 63618 2: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg - Overture, Dance of the
Apprentices and Entry of the Masters; Das Rheingold - Entry of the Gods
into Valhalla; Die Walkure - The Ride of the Valkyries; Siegfried -
Forest Murmurs; Gotterdammerung - Siegfried's Rhine Journey, Siegfried's
Funeral March; Parsifal - Prelude.

I bought these only a year or two ago to replace my old much-played LPs,
so you could be lucky.

Richard Pennycuick
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