A Testament to Immolation: David Breckbill samples three concert recordings marking the 150th anniversary

Review of Overture (Tannhäuser), Siegfried Idyll, Prelude and Liebestod (Tristan und Isolde), Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s Funeral March and Immolation Scene (Götterdämmerung), conducted Monteux, Scheveningen, 1963 (Testament, 2 CDs); Götterdämmerung, Act III, conducted Solti, London, 1963 (Testament, 1 CD); Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s 
Funeral March and Immolation Scene (Götterdämmerung), conducted Barbirolli, Manchester, 1964 (Testament, 1 CD).

March 2016, Volume 10,  Number 1, 75–9.

The onslaught of recordings released for the Wagner bicentenary celebrations in 2013 left something of a vacuum in its wake. In an apparent attempt to fill this void, Testament has unearthed three recordings – each from a different venue, and each including the Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung – that were made either at or in association with concert performances around the time of the 150th anniversary of Wagner’s birth in 1963. What a difference a half-century makes!