When the DG/Sinopoli recording of this work appeared, listeners rejoiced at the beauty and purity of Domingo's singing in the notoriously difficult title role. Here, Peter Seiffert does even better: not only does he have a bright and beautiful voice along with the requisite technique to cope with the part, but he is also a ative German with fine dramatic insight, and the combination is simply more satisfying that Domingo's admirable but generalized intensity. In fact, one probably needs to go back to Melchior to hear better singing in this part. Even though Barenboim's conducting exhibits many extremes of tempo, his concentration generally holds things together well. Seiffert's colleagues are all admirable, even if they do not surpass their finest competitors in previous recordings. As Elisabeth, Eaglen does a commendable job in a role that isn't ideal for her, lightening her tone to convey youth and purity, but she is not ideally steady. Meier's Venus, though not especially rich in tone, is predictably compelling. It will come as no surprise that Pape is an impressive Landgraf: one of the best, yielding only to Frick, who can be heard under both Konwitschny (EMI) and Karajan (DG). As Wolfram, Thomas Hampson demonstrates his ever-expanding repertoire and growing richness of voice. His performance here is somewhat in the mold of Fischer-Dieskau (for Konwitschny), both in terms of the slimness of his timbre and his occasionally mannered delivery; a fuller sound and a more natural delivery, such as one finds with Waechter (for Karajan and Sawallisch) or Weikl (for Haitink and Davis on video) are more satisfying. The recorded sound is excellent (distinctly better than Sinopoli's). Barenboim's orchestra and chorus perform admirably, with even more security and splendor than in his earlier Lohengrin. The minor parts are all well taken, too, all of which adds up to a very satisfying performance.