I was looking through the CDs on SoundofMusic and I'd like to get a German recording of Cats. Has anyone ever listened to either of the German recordings? There is the Original Hamburg 1996 or the Original Wien/Vienna 1983. They are both the same price. I was also looking on Amazon and found these http://www.amazon.com/Live-Cats-Deutsche-Gesamtaufnahme-2CDs/dp/B000026111/ref=wl_mb_hu_m_2_dp and http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Viennese-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber/dp/B000006XHZ/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp. Is the second one the same as the 1983 Wien and what cast recorded the first CD? If anyone knows anything about any of these recordings I would love to know more about them.

The 1983 Vienna recording is a one CD highlights studio recording. The best things about it are Steve Barton as Munkustrap, Gordon Bovinent as Deuteronimus, Michael Howe as Tugger, and Michael Kunze's lyrics.

The 1986 is a double CD live recording, although not complete, has probably three quarters of the show. The best for that recording is Sabine Hettlich as Demeter, Stephan Drakulich as Growltiger, and some of the orchestrations for the Ball and Growltiger's Last Stand.

Really, neither is better, so it depends on what you want.

the first one is the recording from Hamburg, the second one ist the 1983 Wien recording...

i agree with mungojerrie; both recordings have their advantages... i personally prefer the Vienna recording but I suppose that's just because it was the first recording I listened to and because it has Steve Barton on it...
Otherwise the Hamburg recording has Sabine Hettlich (whose voice is simply awesome!) as demeter on it... and the recording is almost complete..

i would LOVE to have a new complete recording of the German tour cast.... would be great...... especially since the last German recording was made 26 years ago....:/

I saw the Hamburg production many moons ago and it still does it for me. But I agree, it partly depends on what you want and which recording you are used to. Why not have more than one?

well, the show that was in hamburg last year is not the same show that was recorded on CD in 1986....