I would like to hear more about this recording.

I assume that it is a live recording.

However, I've read that the moving platform used in the production was rather noisy and Solti was unsatisfied with the recording quality. Am I recalling this correctly?

I also remember reading that Solti found the Bayreuth sunken orchestral pit to be a challenge to his conducting. I believe the problem he experienced was aligning the tempo between the orchestra and the singers. I think that Wolfgang Wagner even permitted the removal of a portion of the overhanging caul--which I remember thinking was an extraordinary concession.

But Solti did not return the next year. Health reasons were the excuse, but I've always thought there were other, deeper unstated dissatisfactions. I'm intrigued to hear from gellio that he's impressed with what he has heard so far.

 

I just ripped it from YouTube to mp3. Conducting seems great to me.

 

I picked this up about a year ago and I love Solti's work on it. Vocally, however, I think it's very poor.

 

I agree with Oreb on this one.

If you specifically want a Solti recording. His studio cycle with the Vienna PO might be worth checking out. For many, it's the benchmark for studio Ring Cycles.

Normally, my recommendation for an entire cycle would be Bohm/1966 Bayreuth or for something more recent - Barenboim/1993 Bayreuth. However, the '55 Keilberth recording that was released a couple of years ago on the Testament label is possibly better than all of them.

If you enjoy the one you've got - that's all that matters...but if want to go a little further down the rabbit hole, these would be a good place to start.

 

Well, the whole thing started with a political scandal. Wolfgang Wagner had employed Simon Estes to sing Wotan, and Peter Hall insisted that all the Gods must then be sung by coloured singers or that Estes must use white make-up. When Estes was advised of this, he went ballistic, calling a press conference, accusing all of Racism and ultimately withdrew from the production, so we never did find out whether Hall would have resigned. (he insisted he would, had he been forced to accept "black and white gods" as he called it)
Meanwhile Solti arrives and after the first orchestra rehearsal in the pit insisted that unless part of the shell was removed, he would quit. It was removed, but it did not help. He disliked the experience so much, he cancelled his 1984 appearances.
Alberto Remedios was pencilled in to sing the Siegfrieds (having sung it at Covent Garden in 1980 and 82 in German) but he withdrew(a step too far - he said). Bayreuth had to revert to Manfred Jung, who had been singing it at Bayreuth for some time already. WW had problems replacing the Wotan(it ended up being split between Nimsgern and Norup,
Solti was very unhappy about Nimsgern (very light voice) and other aspects of casting.
Peter Hall's production was almost universally disliked and all in all, it is a miracle that the broadcast tapes sound so good.
Solti does conduct in his inimitable manner and Behrens as Brünnhilde is magnificent.
There are some very good things in this Ring, but it was not as good as the Rings Solti conducted at Covent Garden from 1964 to 1971.
However it is a great bonus for all who only ever heard the Decca Ring from Solti to hear him conduct a live Ring.

 

her Hall would have resigned. (he insisted he would, had he been forced to accept "black and white gods" as he called it)
Meanwhile Solti arrives and after the first orchestra rehearsal in the pit insisted that unless part of the shell was removed, he would quit. It was removed, but it did not help. He disliked the experience so much, he cancelled his 1984 appearances.
Alberto Remedios was pencilled in to sing the Siegfrieds (having sung it at Covent Garden in 1980 and 82 in German) but he withdrew(a step too far - he said). Bayreuth had to revert to Manfred Jung, who had been singing it at Bayreuth for some time already. WW had problems replacing the Wotan(it ended up being split between Nimsgern and Norup,
Solti was very unhappy about Nimsgern (very light voice) and other aspects of casting.
Peter Hall's production was almost universally disliked and all in all, it is a miracle that the broadcast tapes sound so good.
Solti does conduct in his inimitable manner and Behrens as Brünnhilde is magnificent.
There are some very good things in this Ring, but it was not as good as the Rings Solti conducted at Covent Garden from 1964 to 1971.
However it is a great bonus for all who only ever heard the Decca Ring from Solti to hear him conduct a live Ring.

The Siegfried who was booked in was Reiner Goldberg. Solti spent a lot of time working with him only to find he could not remember the words on stage, even though he was good with the score in front of him! That's why Jung took over at the last minute. It was remembered as 'a disaster too horrible to contemplate!'

 

I seem to recall Siegfried was booed volubly on this recording. What was going on with the staging that was so terrible?

Das Rheingold is the best of this cycle musically and vocally if memory serves.

 

I just got Barenboim's yesterday. Love his conducting and the orchestral playing. Solti's studio is my favorite. I have 13 1/2 Rings. I'm obsessed.

 

:lol: ...forget the rabbit hole - you're already lost in the warren.

 

I really can't help myself. It's an illness. About every six months I get Ring obsessed and it usually involves a new Ring. This time it was 4 1/2 - Thielemann Vienna, Kielberth '55, Karajan, Barenboim and Gergiev. I returned the Thielemann Vienna because the sound was awful.

 

I got rid of the Thielemann because the singing was so poor!

 

Does anyone know if the recent London Proms Ring was recorded for commercial release? What I have heard of it sounded mighty indeed and the reviews were stellar.

 

and the reviews were stellar.

Stellar reviews? Who wrote them, Humphrey Bogart and Sophia Loren?

 

that Solti '83 production sounds like a proper shambles. Cheers for the chuckle :tiphat:

 

The Solti Bayreuth Ring was recounted in a book I loaned from the library. Photos were great but it appears there was one disaster after another. Maybe because Hall decided to follow Wagner's impossible theatrical demands to the letter.

 

Where did you download this from?

 

I think it's available from Operadepot.com

 

Contemporary review of the Solti Ring

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...jlh_OP3e_MAhWmCMAKHf4gDZAQ6AEIYTAN#v=onepage&q=solti ring bayreuth 1983&f=false

Significant that both Solti and Hall fled the scene after the first year!

 

That review is a hoot. The juxtaposition of the Solti review with a review of cult classic film Liquid Sky makes it even better.

 

This review was not untypical. Solti says in his memoirs that while conducting at Bayreuth should have been a gratifying experience for him, "in the end it caused me endless suffering."

 

Greetings. My computer ate my download of Walküre and I’ve not since been able to find it? Are you agreeable to sharing it, perhaps in exchange for other Wagner broadcasts?

 

Greetings. My computer ate my download of Walküre and I've not since been able to find it? Are you agreeable to sharing it, perhaps in exchange for other Wagner broadcasts?

No can do a search of the entire computer for some key word, perhaps part of a track title?

 

Solti is not the only conductor to have found the sunken orchestra pit at Bayreuth difficult to handle . Many have .
Igor Markevitch was invited , I believe way back in the 1950s , to conduct either Tannhauser or Lohengrin, I'm not sure which one, and he was so upset trying to conduct there he withdrew from the production before it opened ! I believe Andre Cluytens stepped in for him at the last minute .