This well-recorded and beautifully played Wagner programme is certainly enjoyable, but it is not really distinctive, and it shows the problems the major recording companies now have in replacing artists of the calibre of Karajan and Furtwangler in full-price recordings of German repertoire. Christian Thielemann (at 39) is a major new talent. He tells us rather contradictingly in his accompanying note that “the choice of orchestra for this recording fell to the Philadelphia because it’s traditionally had a close affinity for the German repertoire”, but also that, for the orchestra, the pieces here “aren’t part of the usual concert fare” and that they “hadn’t recorded [them] since Ormandy’s time”. He also comments “when you’ve performed something together four times and it’s gone well, then its simply the logical next step to record them”. Yet the record collector is used to performances of this music by Furtwangler, Karajan, and Jochum (to name but three), who have lived with and played this music all their lives.
So how does Thielemann measure up? Well, the Die Meistersinger Prelude is spaciously paced in the German tradition (ignoring Norrington’s recent assertion that Wagner preferred it to move on rather more swiftly). The great Lohengrin Act 1 Prelude lacks the kind of concentration that Furtwangler found to make the radiant opening pianissimo so electrifying. Yet the climax is well prepared and the close well shaped. Similarly the Parsifal First Act Prelude is beautifully moulded and the Philadelphia strings are most eloquent, while the brass at the opening of the Good Friday Music are satisfyingly strong but not over-assertive. Here the strings take up the melody (at 2'44'') with gentle rapture; there is a magical hush at the pizzicato (3'19''), some lovely quiet wind playing stealing in (from 4'05'' onwards) and a touching surge from the strings a minute afterwards. I thought this easily the finest performance on the disc, and its natural flow suggests that one day Thielemann may give us a great performance, which this very nearly is. The very opening of the Tristan Liebestod also brings real tension, but it is not quite consistently maintained, although the orchestral response is impressive and the climax expands quite thrillingly (even if the actual violin sound isn’t entirely flattered by the studio acoustic in Collingswood, New Jersey). One feels that in the concert-hall, with the added lift of live music-making, the Philadelphian audience might have found these readings rather special. They are looking for a new permanent conductor in Philadelphia … Perhaps Thielemann is on the short list.'