This is one of the finest, clearest, best diction, measured emotion versions I've ever heard of this magnificent work. It has much to relate to the believer.
This recording is gloriously conducted by an outstanding Wagnerian conductor, it has superb orchestral and choral renditions and some of the best German singers in most of the parts. Frick, Grúmmer, Wunderlich and Fischer-Dieskau are difficult to equal or surpass in any other recording. What is the weak point then? Well, Hans Hopf is well below the standards for the demanding role. It is true his part is maybe the most difficult Wagner ever wrote for a tenor, even harsher than Siegfied or Tristan. Few tenors have then and now managed to deliver a decent portrait of the troubled minstrel. But Hopf is clearly below the average: his emission is unnatural, the voice ugly, the phrasing is poor, it is scarcely musical all throughout, etc. He is just mediocre in his best moments, the rest is even worse. Would EMI have engaged a better tenor for the part, this would have likely been the reference recording of Tannhäuser. As it stays, that honor goes to Solti, Sawallisch or even Sinopoli. All in all, a recording to be enjoyed and treasured despite a major weak link.
