NFRC: Hoping an Opera buff can help me.My MIL recently heard tannhauser on the radio from Germany

B

barb_b

Well-known member
She said that Peter Von Achen (sp) was the best! (She is quite the opera enthusiast, having tickets to the Met for years)....Anyway, she was mentioning how wonderful he was and how her day was spectacular, listening to him all day.

I have been trying to find out who he is. I was hoping to track down a CD for Christmas for her....Any ideas/thoughts?

Help is much appreciated!

Regards,

Barb

 
Hmmmm...

Do you perhaps mean Peter Hofmann?

He flashed on the Wagner scene back in the late 70's and his career was very short lived. I heard he was a soldier in the German army and was discovered and was thrust into the Wagner roles and vocally wasn't really ready. That doesn't mean he didn't sing like a god. He made some amazing recordings, but he pushed his voice too much and damaged it. I think his best recording for a gift is the Wagner Aria album. It really is a wonderful collection of solo arias from all the Wagner Tenor roles. I have it and it is wonderful. I think his best role was the Parsifal he recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic/Karajan. He was also the heart-throb Siegmund in the 76 Centennial Ring from Bayreuth if you happened to have heard/seen that on PBS. He also recorded a Lohengrin which was good and a Tristan und Isolde which wasn't so great, but I'm not aware of any other operas. He later went into rock and broadway. I think he was the "Phantom" in the Hamburg production for awhile and may even be on the German cast recording.

As far as recordings of Tannhäuser, I would go with the old Nilsson/Windgassen remastered recording. They just don't have voices like that around anymore.

 
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