Listen to a Sample:

For a limited time we are include 5 discs of bonus material which include a complete performance of Götterdämmerung and Act III, scene ii of Siegfried both taken on different evenings of the run.

Pros:

• This very well may be one of my all-time favorite Rings. Flagstad and Furtwängler are the big draws, but in truth almost the entire cast is at their caliber.
• The brilliance of Furtwängler's interpretation cannot be summed up by a particular overarching approach to the work. Instead, he effortlessly creates textures that are at times savage, tender, delicate, capricious to name only a few. It is as if he is experiencing the work entirely in the moment and responding to it organically without trying to put it into any kind of stylistic context.
• He is aided by the superlative playing of the orchestra of La Scala. In addition to their technical mastery of the notoriously difficult score, they also play with a lyricism I have never ever heard in Wagner, using portamentos very effectively and tastefully.
• Often times with great singers from the past, the reality of their talent doesn't quite live up to their mythology. In Kirsten Flagstad's case, it is fair to say that her brilliance actually surpasses her legend. The beauty of her voice never dimishes even while soaring over the massive orchestra.
• The rest of the remarkable cast includes Set Svanholm and Max Lorenz who split duties as Siegfried, Ferdinand Frantz (a remarkably sumptuous Wotan), Elisabeth Höngen as Fricka, Erda and Waltraute, Günther Treptow as Siegmund and Froh, and Hilde Konetzni as Sieglinde, the Third Norn and Gutrune.

Cons:

• None to mention

CORRECTION:

This set was previously listed as being in stereo. It is actually in mono. We apologize for the mistake.

In Mono

OD 11572-13