Word: christa
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...sumptuous glories of the Wagnerian orchestra, at the same time charging every passage of Wotan's family fracas with drama. The lush and beautiful singing is alive with emotion, the stars being an international assemblage of accomplished artists: Birgit Nilsson as Briinnhilde, Regine Crespin as Sieglinde, Christa Ludwig as Fricka, and Hans Hotter as Wotan. Not quite so great but still outstanding are James King as Siegmund and Gottlob Frick as Hunding...
...approached Die Frau ohne Schatten. Poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal's libretto requires a primer course in the mythology of six cultures in order to be fathomed, moves murkily between the spirit world, the human world of an impoverished dyer and his sensuous wife (Baritone Walter Berry and Soprano Christa Ludwig), and the go-between world of an emperor and his wife (Tenor James King and Soprano Leonie Rysanek). The empress, alas, is without a shadow-she cannot bear children-and with the aid of a Mephistophelean nurse (Mezzo-Soprano Irene Dalis) she attempts to divest the dyer...
...wonders to behold. Fog billows, backdrops quaver with psychedelic patterns, a sword springs from nowhere, an orange fountain gushes from center stage, a tenor flies into the flies. The singing, which requires a display of vocal acrobatics that few performers can successfully negotiate, was excellent. Loudest bravas went to Christa Ludwig, whose lusty soprano and hip-swinging histrionics had bite and conviction...
...does not set the Dies Irae ablaze as Toscanini did, but his performance has a steady incandescence. Honors also go to London's Philharmonia Orchestra, its huge chorus, and the four soloists, Soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Tenor Nicolai Gedda, Bass Nicolai Ghiaurov, and the especially lustrous Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig...
Bruckner: Mass No. 3 in F Minor (Berlin Symphony, St. Hedwig's Cathedral Choir, Karl Forster conducting; Pilar Lorengar, soprano, Christa Ludwig, alto, Josef Traxel, tenor, Walter Berry, bass; Angel) is a majestic work. Forster matches the full voice of his orchestra to the choral glories of the Mass, and only Soprano Lorengar's obvious struggling brings him down to earth again...