The recording made for radio in Leipzig in 1950 is not a marked improvement over the recording made for radio in Hamburg the previous year. Franz is more at home with Wagner than Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt was, but it is still a pedestrian performance. Margarete Baumer is a good, small-scale Isolde, with a limited expressive range. When she exerts herself, she tends to wobble, as in Act One when she asks how she can bear the anguish of seeing Tristan every day (“wie konnt ich die Quel bestehen!”). Ludwig Sutihius is a tough, seasoned Tristan, and probably the best of the cast. However, tone does not flow easily from his voice. Nor is he a reflective Tristan troubled by any interior struggle. Erna Westenberger’s voice as Brangane does not contrast well with Baumer’s, though she does seem level-headed in the face of the latter’s shortcomings.
Konwitschny
In Act Two Suthaus shows he is at heart an honourable -Iristan. He is not as forthcoming in the Liebesnacht as he might be given that Isolde is trembling beside him, yet in terms of bulk, he overshadows her. They never really ignite. The orchestra should be there with the lovers. Kurwenal certainly is. As they are exposed, he calls on Tristan to save himself (“Rette dich Tristan!”), not from a discreet distance but right up there at the microphone! Gottlob Frick is a magnificent King Marke, with clear, full-bodied tone. He deserves better orchestral support. The bottom almost drops out after he laments the hell he finds himself in (“warum mir diese Hölle?”). Once alone at the end of his monologue and free from the orchestra, he sings with such power and conviction of the frightful depths (“Den unerforschlich tief geheininissvollen Grund?”), we know he has been there.
Konwitschny is much better in Act Three. The Shepherd sings his famous “Öd und leer das Meer” with an intensity uncommon to the phrase, normally rendered as if a mere empty wasteland. The orchestra is excellent grinding into gear as Tristan awakens. Suthaus sings his visions with great control, suggesting he is a Tristan temperamentally reserved and unsuited to abandonment. He sings his tender invocation of Isolde (“Wie sie selig”) with moist sentimentality. The orchestra is good during periods of delirium, and should have been recorded more forward than it was: Suthaus’s voice always has a separate presence, and would have benefited had it been welded to the orchestra.