[Shosta]

For 9.99 € !!!!

http://www.zweitausendeins.de/suche/...cat=all&q=ring
"Gesamtaufnahme in Deutsch. Die berühmte Furtwängler-Aufnahme an der Mailänder Scala. Mit Kirsten Flagstad, Ferdinand Frantz, Ludwig Weber, Set Svanholm, Max Lorenz u.a. Orchester der Mailänder Scala/Wilhelm Furtwängler. Liveaufnahme 1950. Mit Booklet. "

 

[Masolino]

As someone who dislikes most Wagnerian singers nowadays, I am glad to have the Pearl "Potted Ring" to hear the kind of voices that were closer to Wagner's ideals:

 

[Vicious Tyrant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masolino As someone who dislikes most Wagnerian singers nowadays, I am glad to have the Pearl "Potted Ring" to hear the kind of voices that were closer to Wagner's ideals:

What is this recording? Is it a historic recording?

 

[mbhaub]

What this is, is a compilation of scenes from the Ring, put in the order they appear in the cycle but from different orchestras, singers, and conductors. With 7 disks, it's about 40% of the entire Ring. The sound quality is what you expect: ancient. But, boy, oh boy, what singing! The kind we don't hear anymore (and probably never will again). This is for Ring fans, singing fans, and people interested in the history of recording. John Culshaw, in Ring Resounding, describes the set, sometimes in not-so-kind words. It's expensive, too, but for Ring nuts, essential.

 

[calaf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shosta For 9.99 € !!!! http://www.zweitausendeins.de/suche/...cat=all&q=ring "Gesamtaufnahme in Deutsch. Die berühmte Furtwängler-Aufnahme an der Mailänder Scala. Mit Kirsten Flagstad, Ferdinand Frantz, Ludwig Weber, Set Svanholm, Max Lorenz u.a. Orchester der Mailänder Scala/Wilhelm Furtwängler. Liveaufnahme 1950. Mit Booklet. "

wow what a deal! I imagine this is the old transfer. There is a newer 24 bit transfer (Gephardt label) which can be had for ~40 Euro/$. Does anyone know if it sounds any better than the "execrable" first transfer (as one of our Wagner experts put it)?

 

[bigshot]

The Gebhardt La Scala is quite a bit better than the competition. The RAI radio Ring is better on other labels.

See ya
Steve

 

[PSmith08]

Everyone agrees that the Gebhardt remaster/transfer is probably the best currently out there. However, unless time machines become a reality, I don't think that these recordings are ever going to sound really swell. They are, for what it's worth, probably the best conducted Ring operas and Wilhelm Furtwängler had the best overall concept of the piece on metaphysical terms.

 

[Vicious Tyrant]

Digging this thread up again - I just got the Testament recording of Seigfried but haven't listened to it yet.

Can give me a word of preparation for what I'm about to hear?

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicious Tyrant Digging this thread up again - I just got the Testament recording of Seigfried but haven't listened to it yet. Can give me a word of preparation for what I'm about to hear?

If it's the Keilberth recording from the 1955 Festspiele, made and maligned for half a century by Decca, then it's the best Siegfried on record. Keilberth's conducting is nothing short of perfect, the Bayreuth band plays to the fullness of its golden age glory, and the singers are all top-drawer and in excellent voice.

This record is the best example what what the golden age was all about. Singers who could act as well as they could sing. Conductors who preferred to let the music speak for itself, rather than impose programs and philosophies. And, as a benefit beyond belief, the Festspielhaus acoustic - Wagner's own design - captured is very serviceable stereo.

This recording, had it been released, would have immediately rendered Solti an also-ran. Wieland didn't give Keilberth the Ring several years standing because he wasn't a great Wagnerian.

 

[Absorbine_Sr]

And one more time this thread is resurrected...

I just purchased the Keilberth 1955 Die Walkure on Testament, and several times in the first act I have literally had chills, the singing is that good. The sound overall is very good. But what a difference (at least to me) between modern vocalists and what I'm hearing on this recording. The passion and drama are stunning. I now know that I will be buying the rest of this Ring, and it will probably be my personal benchmark for the future.

A_Sr.

 

[scottder]

I've heard great things about the Testament recording, shame their prices are so high.

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottder /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've heard great things about the Testament recording, shame their prices are so high.

Indeed. However, they're licensing recordings from (in this case) Decca-UMG, so they have to cover costs and make profit. I am always happy to support smaller, independent labels - Testament, Hyperion, etc. - simply because they provide high-quality, artistically important products at prices only marginally higher than what the big-boys charge for a full-price set.

Remember, Thielemann's Parsifal runs 70$ new. Heck, the Knappertsbusch Parsifal, undoubtedly amortized by 1986 (to pick a year at random), will still set you back 50$ - even in its newest repackaging.

 

[scottder]

True enough, just a shame for a great rerecording, hobbled by once by Decca's mishandling to be again hobbled by a higher price. I may investigate this at some point, I am still taking my first tentative steps (have been for a while) into Opera and Wagner.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Absorbine_Sr /img/forum/go_quote.gif And one more time this thread is resurrected... I just purchased the Keilberth 1955 Die Walkure on Testament, and several times in the first act I have literally had chills, the singing is that good. The sound overall is very good. But what a difference (at least to me) between modern vocalists and what I'm hearing on this recording. The passion and drama are stunning. I now know that I will be buying the rest of this Ring, and it will probably be my personal benchmark for the future. A_Sr.

Just ordered the Keilberth Rhinegold...will listen and report back.

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottder /img/forum/go_quote.gif True enough, just a shame for a great rerecording, hobbled by once by Decca's mishandling to be again hobbled by a higher price. I may investigate this at some point, I am still taking my first tentative steps (have been for a while) into Opera and Wagner.

It would be the best of all possible worlds if Decca (and the other UMG companies with gems in their vaults) decided to remaster and release these records. Free money, since they've already paid for the recordings many times over.

Unfortunately, Testament would be knocked out - really unfair, that. They do good work.