The rich quality of this CD admirably conveys the sound of the VPO one remembers so well; that warm string tone, the lively winds and noble brass (for the strident trumpets I complained of in my 1979 review of the LP seem to have been tamed and now blend into a fine brass ensemble). If it has not the ultimate CD clarity, the famous combination of the three themes in the Meistersinger Overture comes off very well, largely because of Bohm's articulation of the one in the bass. In that overture—for those interested—he adds the extra bar that comes at the end of the whole opera. The Parsifal Prelude with its long gaps between phrases shows the impressively complete silences for which CD is well known.
The LP was not generous in the amount of music per side—27'01'' and 21'53''—and the grand total of 48'54'' is rather short measure for a CD. Even if one doesn't want more music there could have been longer gaps between the items. Gaps in the recording of a suite, say, need not be overlong; but one's mind when going from one opera to another needs longer to adjust, especially when the style ranges over a period of 40 years of Wagner's creative achievement.'