Among musicologists and serious lovers of music, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is generally considered the high point of orchestration in the musical tradition of nineteenth-century Europe. It shows in most successful form Wagner's unsurpassed gift for using the instruments of the orchestra, and generations of students have worked with it to learn its technique.Tristan und Isolde also has a remarkable historical position. It was the opera that most of the post-Wagnerians used to build upon, and it was also the opera that the anti-Wagnerians seized upon very frequently for their attacks and for their attempts to move musically away from Wagnerism. Accepted or rejected, it has been the work with which late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century musicians had to come to terms, and much musical history of this period can be understood through it.This edition reproduces the full orchestral score in a clear, modern engraving for easy reading and piano study, with large legible notation. Do not confuse this with a piano rendering; it is a full orchestral score. In addition to its obvious uses for study, this score is also an indispensable associate for anyone listening to recordings. In no other manner can the listener keep full awareness of the incredible orchestral richness of this opera.

Among musicologists and serious lovers of music, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is generally considered the high point of orchestration in the musical tradition of nineteenth-century Europe. It shows in most successful form Wagner's unsurpassed gift for using the instruments of the orchestra, and generations of students have worked with it to learn its technique. Tristan und Isolde also has a remarkable historical position. It was the opera that most of the post-Wagnerians used to build upon, and it was also the opera that the anti-Wagnerians seized upon very frequently for their attacks and for their attempts to move musically away from Wagnerism. Accepted or rejected, it has been the work with which late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century musicians had to come to terms, and much musical history of this period can be understood through it. This edition reproduces the full orchestral score in a clear, modern engraving for easy reading and piano study, with large legible notation. Do not confuse this with a piano rendering; it is a full orchestral score. In addition to its obvious uses for study, this score is also an indispensable associate for anyone listening to recordings. In no other manner can the listener keep full awareness of the incredible orchestral richness of this opera.

The legendary love story is presented in full orchestral score with complete instrumentation. Commentary by Felix Mottl, great Wagnerian conductor and scholar. Reprinted authoritative edition prepared by C. F. Peters, Leipzig, ca. 1910.

Kirsten Flagstad's farewell to the role she made her own: a rarely reissued, newly remastered and extensively documented monument in the history of Wagner on record. As the first commercial recording of Wagner's Götterdämmerung this set would have lasting significance even without the presence of it's undoubted star, the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad in her signature role of Brünnhilde. In fact Flagstad had retired from the operatic stage in 1953, just shy of her 58th birthday, with her voice still largely intact when she was persuaded to return to the heroine of the Ring one final time and in propitious circumstances: live performances of an act at a time, generously spaced by a few days at a time, working with a fellow-Norwegian conductor she knew well, and a partner in the role of Siegfried who had developed a musical understanding with her over the course of decades. On her death in December 1962, Set Svanholm paid tribute to 'the warm dark gold in her voice', the immense physical presence she brought to the stage and 'an expression in the performance whereby the greatness of the simplicity became overwhelming'. The concerts in January 1956 were recorded by Norwegian Radio; on becoming aware of them, Decca producer John Culshaw fully appreciated their significance and arranged for an additional recording session to cover almost all the sections of the score that had been omitted in the live performances. Printed in the booklet of this Eloquence reissue there are further glowing personal tributes by Harold Rosenthal, former editor of Opera magazine, and by the conductor Richard Bonynge, for whom Flagstad's Isolde, experienced live, was 'miraculous': 'Hers was undoubtedly the greatest Wagnerian voice that I have ever heard or that I am likely to hear again.' The booklet also includes a contextual essay on the opera by Robert Boas and a full synopsis.