Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have three complete RINGs on CD, this one and two live recordings from Bayreuth (Bohm '67 and Clemens Kraus '53). I also have two complete RINGS on laser disc, both from Bayreuth (the Chereau and Kupfer productions) and one on VHS (Met-Levine). One day I'm sure I'll have more. Since I have only heard bits of what appears to be this set's main competition (Karajan), I can't make a reliable comparison. Also, insofar as this review compares sets, it does just that. I take no position here as to whether one might mix and match. That said, if I had to choose a Desert Island RING, I'd choose this one for a number of reasons. (If anyone wants to donate their Karajan set, my email is on my profile page...) The foremost reason is the quality of the singing. For my money, there is not a cast that is more consistently thrilling. I'm not saying that different choices could have been made in some of the series (e.g., for all its sentimental and historical value, Fricka was not Flagstad's greatest role, nor was Flagstad the perfect Fricka). It's just that, on the whole, the principles, are the best ensemble on record, and, especially in Gotterdammerung, sang better here than on practically anything else they ever recorded. Nilsson is... well, not only is she one of the two or three greatest dramatic sopranos on record, she is so clearly focused here, so thoroughly transcendent. Hers was a voice that was entirely convincing as a god-become-mortal. Windgassen is the finest Siegfried on stereo - and his silky, lyrical, yet completely heroic tenor is better than any other recorded Siegfried, and maybe better than anything else even *he* ever recorded. Although it would seem to go without saying, mysteriously, it does not: It can't be stressed enough how important it is to have a good Siegfried. This is where every other set fails most remarkably (S. Jerusalem on Levine, for example almost dies trying to get through his last scene in Gotterdammerung; even where Windgassen reprises his role for Bohm, he's much more pleasing here). As Wotan, Hans Hotter's performance here has been somewhat controversial because people generally say he was too old. (Hotter sings on Walkure and Siegfriend; George London is Wotan on Rhinegold.) On the contrary, his Wotan is the most heartbreaking on record for me precisely because it comes at the end of a long career of studying and singing this role, finding its depths, and reaching for dramatic resonance that no one else equals, IMHO. Sure Morris is great, but while his Wotan is bigger more furious, Hotter's is wiser and more deeply resigned. Anyway, are you going to buy a whole set for Morris? Neidlinger's Alberich is terrifying. Gustav Neidlinger's Alberich is a combination of absolute musicality with unsurpassed dramatic rigor. He is existentially terrifying in every scene that he's in. James King and Regine Crespin are fine as the twins. This Walkure is generally regarded as the weakest leg on this set. I think that's only because the human mind, and particularly the mind of the typical "operatchik," works that way - it is essential to find fault. Nothing is perfect but that unrecorded ideal performance in the misty past... I don't have a clue what is objectionable here. The only thing I can think of is that, of all the parts of this RING, it is possible to imagine a cast that's equally as good as that of Walkure here. The second string is equally inimitable: Gottlob Frick's amazing Hagen and almost as amazing Hunding , Fischer-Dieskau's Gunther, Claire Watson's Gutrune, and Christa Ludwig's fine Waltraute. Of equal interests are such "incidentals" such as Joan Sutherland's Woodbird, the Rhinemaiden trio in Gotterdammerung of Lucia Popp, Gwyneth Jones and Maureen Guy (who?), the amazing Gerhard Stolze as Mime on Siegfried, and of course, Flagstad's Fricka only add miracles upon miracles. Does anyone think that we'll ever see a comparable cast? As for Solti and the VPO, well, first, I don't think Vienna has ever been touched for its pure sensuality. I love the moods. I love the thunder. I love the horns and the voluptuous strings. As for Solti, I'm a fan: I love his drama and his melodrama. I totally disagree with his detractors who complain of his alleged bombast. Shouldn't an authentic Wagnerian show a little bombast? And shouldn't a RING orchestra stand as something far more than a huge "guitar" in any performance? Not only that, but to read some reviewers, you would think that "bombast" was this recording's main characteristic. Frankly, I just don't understand that view. I think the orchestral performance here, whether attributable mainly to Solti, producer Culshaw, the VPO or all three, has not been surpassed in subtlety and insight on anything I've ever heard. Finally, there's the Culshaw factor. Those who know what he was doing here will have their opinions. I think it was a monumental project that took as its touchstone an truth about this drama that is too often ignored: This music was written for the stage. Any audio recording then, will be ultimately lacking. What Culshaw did, more successfully than any other producer, was give us an audio RING that, by explointing stereo/hi-fi technology, approximates a theatrical experience. I could go on. But ultimately, it is my opinion that at least here, you can believe the hype.