Through the crackle of an old phonograph recording, the tenor’s voice sounds musky and slightly metallic, but the German words ring out sharp and clear. The soprano’s tone is warm, opulent and heady.

I am listening to the love duet from Act II of Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” in a 1943 recording, with Max Lorenz and Paula Buchner as the doomed lovers. Someone put up a clip of it on YouTube, where it has drawn more than 16,000 clicks and many comments from opera buffs debating the relative merits of wartime Wagnerians. Links beckon — to other “Tristan” excerpts, to a documentary about Lorenz, to a clip of Prince playing “Summertime.” The page is a portal inviting the viewer to roam freely through time and space. Full story.

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim (The New York Times) / 4 May, 2016

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