Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti
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Free Music Notes for Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti
Free Music Review: Decca's remastering gets the sound right, at last
Hit: 5 Stars
On LP these recordings were appealingly airy, but with incredible impact, placement of singers, and sonic bloom. On the original Decca CD masterings, they turned wiry and harsh. This was a shocking thing to do to the greatest Ring cycle, whatever one might say about Solti's high-voltage, take no prisoners conducting.
Now the error has been corrected to a great degree. The latest remastering is much more listenable, less harsh and wiry. But we still have a ways to go. Perhaps in the future some new digital technology will bring back the beautiful sonics of the original Lps.
Free Music Review: A Revelation in Every Way
Hit: 5 Stars
There are so many fine reviews of this set before you, that you probably don't need one more, but like so many others here, I feel too strongly about this RING not to throw my two cents in. So here goes.
First a tiny bit of background: I am a composer, and in particular, have written music for film/drama. I have read much about Wagner's desire to fuse music and drama in a way that is completely organic, and feel very sympathetic to it. I am also an avid listener, and am interested in the problems of interpretation as they apply to different mediums (stage, concert, recording). It is with these interests I began listening to different recordings of Wagner Rings, and Wagner operas, in general. The experience has been nothing short of amazing.
Now on the the recording featured here:
I have listened to at least major parts of different rings, and approached them comparatively (Furtwangler's Walkure, followed by Solti's, etc.), and in doing so have familiarized myself with so many details of the score. One of the things I've noticed about Solti and Culshaw's approach-and incidently, the one major aspect that has drawn the most dissent AND praise at the same time by reviewers, is their approach to the medium of recording as a "thing" in and of itself. A listener who has not actually been to a lot (or possibly any) live RING performances, and has only seen it on video will not fill in a lot of the "incidental" sounds coming through their speakers with much of their own visual memories. Therefore, a spear hitting a rock, as overheard by a recording mic during a live taping will simply not have the same impact at home as it did in the opera house, unless the listener has built up a fair share of aural/visual memory over the years of actually "being there". To the rest of us, it loses a little bit in the translation (you just hear a little "ting" between musical phrases). It is home listeners like us, that I believe Solti and Culshaw had in mind when they worked out all the important "noises" in the fabric of the drama, and even in the pure musical moments of the orchestra's part. It is this single factor, I believe, that has inspired so much contention among listeners and critics. Did Solti and Culshaw go too far and sacrifice too much to carry the "visual" element over to recordings? Are the markings on the score still being obeyed? Is some subtlety lost? I think the answer among listeners can only be a subjective one, and the reason for that is this: This man Wagner wrote a work that (especially at that time) could never adequately transfer from the imagination to the stage. There weren't (and still aren't) the kind of "special effects" available to make the kinds of things you're supposed to see and experience real. Every production, no matter how much money is thrown into it, will never be anything but a poor compromise. Read Wagner's own notes, and that becomes painfully clear. Live recordings become even more of a diminishment, without the listener already having a strong imagination, and a complete grasp of everything that's going on. In essence, a "traditional" approach to recording this work piles yet one more compromise on top of all the others, and the result is a "you really had to be there" experience for those among us that I've already described.
I think that Solti and Culshaw do a fantastic job of closing the gap, and after hearing other conductors, I believe Solti's approach to the score is essentially a faithful, if somewhat personal one. He DOES push the climaxes a bit, but not, I think, at the expense of the music. I still hear plenty of subtlety and wonderful musicality. The lyricism of the score is completely intact, and everything flows. AND it is a very exciting interpretation. If one prefers a more understated approach, there are other options, but for me, this version has the best combination of all elements, and is by far the best suited to the medium of recording for home listening.
The singers are a combination of having the best chops for this kind of work, or at least (in the case of Hotter), enough interpretive brilliance to more than offset any lack of vocal ease in this demanding writing. Others have already said everything I could want to say about the vocal talent here.
That is all I will say about this recording. There is a reason that it is one of the most discussed recorded releases of the 20th century. There will never be another like it.
Free Music Review: The greatest recording ever??
Hit: 5 Stars
Of the 15 or so complete Rings + numerous recordings of the separate operas that sit on my shelves, this was the first I acquired, originally bought as the sets were issued. So is it just because these were the performances from which I learnt my Ring that this is the version I still return to most often? Krauss is probably the best available performance, but the sound is fragile and friable. Windgassen and Nilsson are both more exciting in the live environment of Bohm's recording, but I'd like to shoot that prompter. Goodall is full, for me, of memories in the theatre and provides the best large-scale symphonic view, but his orchestra is good rather than great. Boulez is, as always, refreshing and elucidating, but let down by the quality of his singers.
So I keep coming back to Solti. Not perfect by any means, but still the best combination of sound, performance, interpretation and production you'll find. The casting is top-notch and often inspired - from Flagstad's first glorious Fricka in Rheingold to Fischer-Dieskau's flawed and vulnerable Gunther (he once famously described Gotterdammerung as 'a family tragedy'). Rhinemaidens, Valkyries and Norns include many a future Brunnhilde and the like - the Waldvogel is no less than Joan Sutherland!
Solti's conducting, much hailed at the time of release, has come in for increasing criticism over the years. Yes, he can be a bit hard-driven: yes, he can be too episodic: yes, he can pile pilion on ossa at some of the climaxes (though not as much as in the theatre). But he undoubtedly has a vision of the whole work which he sticks to. And he does draw the most glorious sounds and playing from the Vienna Philharmonic.
And then there's the contribution of John Culshaw and his team. The sound, even after all these years, is still about the best you can get in these works - clean and analytical but also full-bodied with masses of depth and perspective. More than a match for later studio recordings like Levine and Haitink. And the production and effects still work, too - from Rheingold's anvils to that famous distant rumble of thunder on Brunnhilde's rock that had Solti looking out of the control room window - not to mention the collapse of the Gibichung Hall; a real cartridge-tester, that, in the days of vinyl).
Put it all together and this remains the best all-round recommendation for a first Ring. 'The greatest achievement of gramophone history' it was called at the release of Gotterdammerung. Probably it still is. But I wouldn't want to be without quite a few of those other 14 versions on the shelf - it can get addictive, this Ring business.
Free Music Review: The best 'set'...for what that's worth...
Hit: 4 Stars
Personally, I find the idea that one particular set satisfies the many demands of the ring on orchestra, conductor and cast, to be specious and unrealistic. The thought that one cycle can be all you want the ring to be is of course an inviting one, if only to admire in your collection. The reality is, however, that no conductor or cast has successfully managed to sustain themselves over the 4 operas and the fourteen or so hours of music they contain. The Solti set, it can be argued, comes as close as any to realizing this utopia. It is not perfect, however, and a more profound experience, I think, can be found is using as many as four or five different sets to complete the whole experience.
The Solti set is deservedly famous. It is Wagner as the uncouth rabble imagines Wagner to be; power, intensity and orchestral climaxes to blow your speakers. There is not necessarily anything wrong with that. There are orchestral moments in `Das Rheingold' and `Gotterdammerung' that are irreplaceable. It does however often mean the more sensual, intimate and ultimately more intense and thrilling moments of the Opera are often left somewhat undeveloped. `Das Rheingold' is powerful and often rousing. It might also be called rough and ready with little in the way of subtle expression. Act 1 of `Die Walkure' CAN be exceptionally erotic, sensual and thrilling. Siegmund's serenade to the sleeping Sieglinde in act 2 CAN be overwhelmingly tender, and Wotan's farewell to Brunnhilde CAN be suffocatingly beautiful. Unfortunately, in the Solti set, they are not. Hans Hotter is a towering Wotan, but overall it seems poetry and deep meaning have truly been sacrificed for `sonic power'. `Siegfried' and `Gotterdammerung' are, however, exceptional. Solti's Siegfried comes close to being the best on CD. His command of the orchestra in the well known forest murmurs is excellent and Windgassen is in fine voice. The Solti `Gotterdammerung' is equally impressive.
If you are interested in purchasing this set it may well be that you are after a set that encapsulates the `whole' Ring, one that 'does it all', as it were. The Solti set is certainly the most consistent and unlike its two `commercial' competitors, The Bohm and Karajan cycles, it is not plagued by poor performances in critical roles. The Karajan cycle is often laughable. While it has its moments, the languid pacing of the score is sleep inducing at the best of times. Jess Thomas is a great letdown as Siegfried, struggling to perform in any way like a heroic tenor. The Entry of the Gods into Valhalla is compellingly dull and Vicker's `Wintersturme...' is quite awful. Had this been my first ring cycle, I seriously doubt I would have gone on to hear the Ring more than twice in my lifetime. The Bohm set is comparatively less affected and more `Wagneresque'. The live performance is well recorded and captures much of the works spontaneous excitement. Despite the presence of James Kng and Windgassen the cast is let down, however, in its major and minor roles throughout the cycle; Theo Adam as Wotan is particularly turgid and his participation is `Die Walkure'e destroys the Opera. It is a shame really, because James King is a very, very good Siegmund.
Tragically, many people's obsession with these three recordings limits their exposure to many more excellent modern recordings. There is a lot to be said, for example, for Levine's cycle with the Met. If you haven't heard James Morris' farewell to Brunnhilde then you are really missing something. I also find it a personal source of frustration that Boulez' `Die Walkure' is less celebrated than it deserves to be. His Act 1 is perhaps, in my humble opinion, the most perfect single act of Wagner's Ring available. Jerusalem's Seigfried in the Haitink set is also exquisite. I have purchased and listened to perhaps seven sets and the tendency of the devotees of a particular recording to absolutely dismiss the virtues of many of these other recording is really a poor reflection of the critic rather than the recording. There is something positive to be found in any recording. That said, I would warn even my worst enemy away from the Karajan... Solti is a good option, either as an introduction or as a `set', if that is what you are after. There are, however, other roads we can take.
Free Music Review: The couch potato's RING of choice
Hit: 5 Stars
As a consumer with limited resources, I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring and state my case for Solti's RING series. I bought the 1984 CD set piecemeal (one every couple of months) in 1996. Then in 1997 Decca came out with this "remastered" version. Fie! With my limited resources, I naturally shunned it. Nor have I heard many other versions, apart from the Levine/Met GOTTERDAMMERUNG and several CDs of RING "highlights" (most of which are worthless - George Szell's purely orchestral disc is the best).
The Solti series has never let me down, although it is not perfect. WALKURE is patchy, due to the erratic singing of Hans Hotter (Wotan). Otherwise, no complaints that don't go to the essence of the thing itself, i.e. Wagner's occasional turgidity and the language barrier that makes me have to sit with a libretto to really understand what I'm hearing.
The Decca set is still ahead of its time, in the way it approached the task of creating a "living" performance that could be bottled and sold without losing any flavor or fizz along the way. It's fundamentally different from "live" performances recorded at Bayreuth or the Met, because here is a RING conceived for your record player! In that respect, the Decca RING is uniquely spectacular. Solti and the engineer, J. Culshaw, worked hand in hand to bring this off, and the performers gave their very best as well.
This is the SGT. PEPPER of opera recordings - maybe not for every taste, but admirably progressive and impossible to ignore. Too bad so few record companies followed Decca's lead - one reason there are so many "live" recordings is that they are less expensive and less troublesome to record. Despite its claim to greater authenticity, a "live" performance that you can put on a shelf is a fossil, pure and simple. An artful studio recording will nearly always trump a good live recording, if you accept that both are unreal representations of a work that truly "lives" only on stage or in the mind. So, if you can't attend a certain performance of RHEINGOLD, I believe you'd be better served by Solti's highly artificial studio version than by a "live" recording of that performance you missed, unless it was utterly brilliant or you're some kind of "collector."
The bottom line: even with the crude 1984 CD set, even with Hans Hotter hitting notes that do not exist in Western music, I am perfectly satisfied and have no interest in buying another version of the RING. If I want to hear a good Wotan, I will buy a ticket when he comes to town.