Theo Adam, Anja Silja, Martti Talvela, James King, Kenneth MacDonald, Annelies Bermeister BBC Chorus New Philharmonia Orchestra Otto Klemperer The most remarkable aspect of the performance… remains the empathy between Klemperer, Silja and Adam. Adam's Act 1 monologue seizes the dramatic high ground, but Silja raises the stakes still further with an electrifying account of Senta's Ballad, ad the long duet which ends Act 2 has rarely been as intense and eloquent as it is here.” Gramophone, October 2008

“Thanks to Testament, we now have the Royal Festival Hall performance, as broadcast by the BBC, to put alongside the Abbey Road recording (above – made by EMI at the same period) which might be justifiably deemed one of two or three great readings of the score on CD.
The two main characters are taken by the same singers, Theo Adam and Anja Silja. Martti Talvela and Annelies Burmeister can also be heard on both sets. The main difference is in the tenor department. James King, rather than Ernst Kozub, would probably have sung Erik in the studio if Decca had been willing to release him, and although this is a notoriously unrewarding part – especially when it has to be acted as well as sung – King's distinctive tonal combination of purity and weight was certainly a bonus in the Festival Hall, just as Kenneth Macdonald makes a fine Steersman. The most remarkable aspect of the performance nevertheless remains the empathy between Klemperer, Silja and Adam. Adam's Act 1 monologue seizes the dramatic high ground, but Silja raises the stakes still further with an electrifying account of Senta's Ballad, and the long duet which ends Act 2 has rarely been as intense and eloquent as it is here.
Live performance always brings risks: there is a split brass note early in Act 1, and Talvela loses his way briefly a little later on. But Klemperer's love of the music's raw edges and robust rhythms is evident throughout. Even at the stately tempo he adopts the Act 3 sailor's dance is so strongly projected that the tension never sags for a moment, and Klemperer's eccentric devotion to the threeact version of the score is far less damaging than it would be in a performance of lower voltage.
The recorded sound also comes up pretty well in this remastering. This extraordinarily 'live' reading of Wagner's windswept score now has the edge, even over the admirable studio alternative.”
The Gramophone Classical Music Guide