The "Liebestod" by Richard Wagner: orchestral, or with voice, what's the best recording, or life performance?

Question

Wagner is my favorite composer, followed closely by Jean Sibelius and guess who: P.I. Tschaikowsky(no remarks about spelling; I've seen 3 or 4 different versions).

But to the "Liebestod":

What is the best recording(age doesn't matter), with, or without the voice, is the best you've ever heard.

Or for that matter, live performance attended.

Wotan

Many thanks for both your answers.

Happy T.: Kirsten Flagstad and Helen Traubel are my all time favorite Wagnerian sopranos. For best vocal recording, I would have to agree with you on the former's 1948 rendition.

My choice for the orchestral only version, was on an old 78 by Leopold Stokowski and the Philidelphia Orchestra. It was entitled "Love Music" from Tristan; and including a half an hour of the duet from the second act; but including a cut to the final 5 mins. of the "Liebstod" for its conclusion.

del_icio: Although I thank you for your very eruiodite, etymological essay on the proper spelling of the composer's name - very impressive, and again I thank you for it - I really think that you're making a "mountain out of a mole-hill", in chastising me for the way I spelt it.

I checked this out on Dictionary.com, and according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, my spelling of it is correct.

But anyhow, thanks again for your comment.

Answer 1

My favourite recording with voice is Kirsten Flagstad with the Philarmonia Orchestra conducted by Isaay Dobrowen (EMI, 1948).
Other great performances: Birgit Nilsson with Hans Knappertsbusch or Karl Böhm (the latter recorded live), and Jessye Norman with Colin Davis.

For orchestral recordings Wilhelm Fürtwangler, George Szell and Otto Klemperer.

Answer 2

Just a sidenote about the spelling of Tchaikovsky. Because his name derives from the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russian, it has to be 'transliterated' (ie transferred to our Roman alphabet). Now, because every language uses the Roman alphabet letters differently to suit their language, Russian names can appear in different spellings.

The spelling you used, 'Tschaikowsky', is totally inappropriate for English. This is the German spelling (as our 'ch' sound has to comprise the letters 'tsch' in German and German 'w's are pronounced like our 'v'). Personally, I never understood why the accepted English spelling of Tchaikovsky has a 't' at the beginning because it's the same sound as in our word 'church' (or should that be tchurtch??). Other variants you will see of Tchaikovsky's (I'd prefer to spell it Chaikovsky as we spell 'Chekhov' without a 't') include:

Tchaikovski (French)
Ciaikovski (Italian)
Tsjaikovski (Dutch)
Czaikowski (Polish)

... just to list another 4.