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Georg Solti's recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic and a galaxy of star singers, made between 1958 and 1965, has twice (by Gramophone magazine and the BBC) been called the greatest recording ever made. Among opera fans, a notoriously fractious bunch, there is, of course, debate over this, but no one considers it anything other than a stupendous engineering achievement. It is probably the only opera recording where an engineer is credited in the blurb title; Decca refers to it as the "Solti Culshaw Decca recording," in honor of original engineer John Culshaw, for whom no detail was too small to be attended. Decca is reissuing the original operas in 2022 and 2023, together with the present single-disc set of excerpts. For audiophile listeners, this will be pretty much essential, and the booklet is full of fascinating details about the sound (the Sofiensaal in Vienna, which Decca used as its studio for many years, was a former bathhouse -- the Sofienbad -- and its acoustics were due to "not just the high-vaulted ceiling of the original baths but also because the pool was covered over, creating a cavity beneath the floor and stage area"). Even after almost 65 years, these early stereo recordings sound great; the brass pop and the singers are very sharply defined. Those singers -- Kirsten Flagstad, Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, Joan Sutherland, and the list goes on and on -- still leave one wondering who is going to fill their shoes. This is a remastering from the original tapes that has sharpened the sound still further; a good deal of restoration work was done, including baking some tapes at 55 degrees Celsius. A nice touch is the reproduction of the cheesy original album art. The bottom line is that this recording is not only for audiophiles but also for anyone wanting a single-album summary of the Ring; sample the famous numbers, like the "Ride of the Valkyries," Siegfried's horn, and perhaps the final number from Götterdämmerung, which ties some of the cycle together, and one gets a glimmer of what Wagner is really all about.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Das Rheingold, WWV 86A / Scene IV (Richard Wagner)
Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Waldemar Kmentt, Tenor, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Eberhard Wächter, Baritone, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - George London, Baritone, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kirsten Flagstad, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Set Svanholm, Tenor, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Hetty Plümacher, Contralto, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ira Malaniuk, Contralto, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - George London, Baritone, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Set Svanholm, Tenor, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - Oda Balsborg, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Die Walküre, WWV 86B / Act III (Richard Wagner)
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Brigitte Fassbaender, Contralto, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Helen Watts, Contralto, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Claudia Hellmann, Mezzo-Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Helga Dernesch, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - Berit Lindholm, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Marilyn Tyler, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - John Culshaw, Producer - Vera Schlosser, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Vera Little, Mezzo-Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - James Lock, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gordon Parry, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - Hans Hotter, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - John Culshaw, Producer - James Lock, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gordon Parry, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - Hans Hotter, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - John Culshaw, Producer - James Lock, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gordon Parry, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - Hans Hotter, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - John Culshaw, Producer - James Lock, Balance Engineer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gordon Parry, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Siegfried, WWV 86C / Act I (Richard Wagner)
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Gerhard Stolze, Tenor, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Wolfgang Windgassen, Tenor, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - John Culshaw, Producer - Gordon Parry, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Siegfried, WWV 86C / Act II (Richard Wagner)
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Wolfgang Windgassen, Tenor, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - John Culshaw, Producer - Gordon Parry, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - Roland Berger, Horn, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - John Culshaw, Producer - James Lock, Balance Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gordon Parry, Balance Engineer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Götterdämmerung, WWV 86D / Act III (Richard Wagner)
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Christopher Raeburn, Producer, Assistant Producer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - John Culshaw, Producer - Gordon Parry, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Christopher Raeburn, Producer, Assistant Producer - Birgit Nilsson, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - John Culshaw, Producer - Gordon Parry, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Christopher Raeburn, Producer, Assistant Producer - Birgit Nilsson, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - John Culshaw, Producer - Gordon Parry, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
JAMES BROWN, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Wagner, ComposerLyricist - Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestra, MainArtist - Gottlob Frick, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Christopher Raeburn, Producer, Assistant Producer - Birgit Nilsson, Soprano, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Sir Georg Solti, Conductor, MainArtist - John Culshaw, Producer - Gordon Parry, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
Album review
Georg Solti's recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic and a galaxy of star singers, made between 1958 and 1965, has twice (by Gramophone magazine and the BBC) been called the greatest recording ever made. Among opera fans, a notoriously fractious bunch, there is, of course, debate over this, but no one considers it anything other than a stupendous engineering achievement. It is probably the only opera recording where an engineer is credited in the blurb title; Decca refers to it as the "Solti Culshaw Decca recording," in honor of original engineer John Culshaw, for whom no detail was too small to be attended. Decca is reissuing the original operas in 2022 and 2023, together with the present single-disc set of excerpts. For audiophile listeners, this will be pretty much essential, and the booklet is full of fascinating details about the sound (the Sofiensaal in Vienna, which Decca used as its studio for many years, was a former bathhouse -- the Sofienbad -- and its acoustics were due to "not just the high-vaulted ceiling of the original baths but also because the pool was covered over, creating a cavity beneath the floor and stage area"). Even after almost 65 years, these early stereo recordings sound great; the brass pop and the singers are very sharply defined. Those singers -- Kirsten Flagstad, Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, Joan Sutherland, and the list goes on and on -- still leave one wondering who is going to fill their shoes. This is a remastering from the original tapes that has sharpened the sound still further; a good deal of restoration work was done, including baking some tapes at 55 degrees Celsius. A nice touch is the reproduction of the cheesy original album art. The bottom line is that this recording is not only for audiophiles but also for anyone wanting a single-album summary of the Ring; sample the famous numbers, like the "Ride of the Valkyries," Siegfried's horn, and perhaps the final number from Götterdämmerung, which ties some of the cycle together, and one gets a glimmer of what Wagner is really all about.
© James Manheim /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 14 track(s)
- Total length: 01:16:44
- Main artists: Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Georg Solti
- Composer: Richard Wagner
- Label: Decca Music Group Ltd.
- Genre: Classical
© 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited ℗ 2022 Universal Music Operations Limited
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