Hans Hotter (1909-2003) was a German bass-baritone, one of the towering Wagner singers of the twentieth century. He was especially celebrated as Wotan, Hans Sachs, the Dutchman and in German Lieder.

In the Pristine catalogue he appears extensively in Wagner, Strauss, Mozart and German opera, with conductors including Knappertsbusch, Karajan, Jochum and Stiedry.

Hotter’s singing combined vast vocal authority with inwardness, verbal intelligence and philosophical weight. He could make Wagner’s gods sound exhausted, human and dangerously wise.

His page is essential. Hotter does not merely sing a role; he seems to remember the centuries that made it necessary.