Description:

One of my great pleasures is to promote great singers who either did not get the recognition they deserved in their day, or who have been since forgotten.  Gladys Kuchta is a prime example.  She had the rarest of all things: a dramatic voice that was also quite beautiful.  She could manage the extremes of range and dynamics very comfortably.  Her dramatic singing is very exciting and she doesn’t seem to tire the whole evening.  Hans Beirer is serviceable as Tristan.  His pitch sags at times but he has the burnished stoicism that one wants in this role.  Grace Hoffman sings a youthful Brangäne and Franz Crass is heart-breaking as Marke.  Giampietro Mastromei, here at the onset of his career, gets to cut his teeth on the role of Melot.  The sound is good.

OD 10348-3