Wagner: Selections from Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser & Götterdämmerung / Wesendonck-Lieder (Royal Edition No. 100)
Early in his career, Wagner wrote these love poems to  Mathilde Wesendonck, in whose home he was a guest. However, it was not so early  that Wagner was not already married; his first wife was not amused. Neither was  Mathilde's husband. In the event, Mathilde resisted the temptation--an easy  thing if you've ever seen Wagner's portrait--and these songs are all that we  have left of what might have been. Eileen Farrell was one of the great dramatic  soprano voices of the 1950s and '60s, and she made something of a specialty out  of these songs. They are quite marvelously done.--David Hurwitz