Der Ring des Nibelungen (CD, complete): Georg Solti
Das Rheingold
George London, Eberhard Wächter, Waldemar Kmentt, Set Svanholm, Gustav
Neidlinger, Paul Kuen, Walter Kreppel, Kurt Böhme, Kirsten Flagstad,
Claire Watson, Jean Madeira |
Die Walküre
James King, Régine Crespin, Hans
Hotter, Birgit Nilsson, Gottlob Frick,
Christa Ludwig, Helga Dernesch, Brigitte Fassbaender |
Siegfried
Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gerhard Stolze, Hans
Hotter, Gustav
Neidlinger |
Götterdämmerung
Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gustav Neidlinger,
Gottlob Frick, Claire Watson, Christa Ludwig, Lucia Popp |
Search for Georg Solti's recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen on Amazon
This Ring belongs in every Wagner collection!
The singers on the Solti Ring are on the whole as good as it gets, with
excellent performances by Set Svanholm (who really sings the Loge part), Gustav Neidlinger (the ultimate Alberich), Gerhard Stolze,
Birgit Nilsson, George London, Kirsten
Flagstad, Christa
Ludwig and Wolfgang
Windgassen, just to mention a few. You'll even find the totally adorable
Lucia Popp (1939–1993) there as Woglinde in Götterdämmerung.
The legendary producer John Culshaw at Decca was convinced
that a studio recording should create what he called ‘a theatre of
the mind’ with
effects parallelling a live performance. This was highly original at the
time of recording, but sounds rather exaggerated today. The lightning and swords clashing, and the thunder especially, sound very unconvincing to modern ears.
The Solti Ring was my first introduction to Wagner's world, so I obviously
have passionate feelings for it. Hearing the Boulez
Ring opened my
eyes to details in the orchestra that I now take for granted. It took some
years after this "revelation" before I could go back to the Solti Ring.
A documentary about the recording is available on DVD.
Search for Georg Solti's recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen on Amazon
The Solti Ring - commentary and reviews
The first complete cycle is still the most clearly recommendable. Even
if Solti's blazingly dynamic conducting isn't everyone's ideal, he unites
the most consistently superb casting with John Culshaw's still magnificent
recording. A classic of the recording era.
The
Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2008 
The
Golden Ring: The Making of Solti's recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen
on Amazon
An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen on Amazon