Wagner: Tannhäuser ~ Domingo, Studer, Baltsa, Salminen, A. Schmidt; Sinopoli
Another Paris Tannhäuser recording, this one seeing the adaptable  Placido Domingo take a break from the world of Italianate opera to try on the  mantle of Heldentenor. Domingo's clear, manly voice is well suited to the  transformation--precisely why Italians usually don't think of him as abella  voce.Agnes Baltsa approaches the role of Venus in a less shrill and more  human manner than often is heard in portrayals of the excitable goddess. The  sound is exceptionally clear in the recording, a comparatively newer digital  mastering from the late 1980s. The chorus work is good, though not quite on the  sublime plane reached in the Georg Solti recording. Maestro Giuseppe Sinopoli  conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chorus of the Royal Opera House,  Covent Garden in a measured, stately manner.--Christian C. Rix