(Stravinsky probably didn't know that Messager had been famous in his youth as a Wagner conductor.)

With them was one of the important Wagner conductors of the century, James Levine, and a pit orchestra as good as any in the world.

Until the 1970's, the pre-eminence of Wilhelm Furtwangler as a Wagner conductor stood - quite securely - on surprisingly limited recorded evidence.

Musically, the good news begins with the Canadian Opera's top-of-the-line orchestra playing led by Richard Bradshaw, the company's general director and a Wagner conductor who knows what he's doing.

BY now, everyone knows that Daniel Barenboim is a Wagner conductor.

It's a height to which Mr. Barenboim, and Mr. Thielemann - and any other Wagner conductor, for that matter - should aspire.

The orchestration of the whole cycle was completed for large orchestra by Felix Mottl, the Wagner conductor.

Mr. Levine has become an exceptional Wagner conductor and his orchestra a first-rate ensemble.

It offers one of the best opera orchestras in the world and one of the most admired Wagner conductors in James Levine.

Tristan und Isolde has a long recorded history and most of the major Wagner conductors since the end of the First World War have had their interpretations captured on disc.