[Itullian]

Weigle and Simone Young complete RINGS on sale
23 usd each

 

[SixFootScowl]

Totally awesome deals. I put my order in at JPC for the Young Ring, which has been on my radar for a couple years but always was too expensive.

 

[Granate]

Still think the Weigle offers best conducting in modern times next to Thielemann Bayreuth 2007. But singing is awful for me.

 

[SixFootScowl]

How long does it normally take to receive something from JPC to the United States? I am hoping my Young Ring comes soon.

 

[Itullian]

How long does it normally take to receive something from JPC to the United States? I am hoping my Young Ring comes soon.

These days it varies with customs and all. 10 days to a few weeks sometimes.

 

[SixFootScowl]

These days it varies with customs and all. 10 days to a few weeks sometimes.

Right, should be here this month I hope.

 

[SixFootScowl]

My Simone Young Ring just arrived!

The packaging is very nice with each opera a different photograph on the cover sleeves. The photos are interesting and suggest that there must be a video production of this ring somewhere.

 

[Knorf]

Full report requested, Mr. Scowl.

 

[SixFootScowl]

Full report requested, Mr. Scowl.

I am not really qualified to give much of an analysis, but I will say ripping them on Brasero I only got track titles on 3 of the 14 disks.

I have listened to the first disk of Rheingold and am very pleased. Sound quality seems very good. I say seems as I have cheap computer speakers and a pseudo-subwoofer, so not an audiophile sound check.

Here are the cover designs for the four opera's cardboard sleeves:

Edit, I see when I tried to make a slight space between the top and bottom images I actually cut into the top image. No matter, close enough.

 

[SixFootScowl]

I do hope others will post their impressions of this ring here. I wonder if the thread should be retitled, Simone Young's Wagner Ring, or something like that.

Finished Rheingold second disk this morning and will say that clarity is excellent in this recording. Voices very clear. And there was a lot of drama. The singers really seemed to be living this story. I think that it is a live performance is a huge plus. Still wanting them to release this on DVD.

I did snoop ahead to the closing tracks of Gotterdammerung and while I think Brunnhilde does a fine job (remember I am not qualified, we need someone of Woodduck's stature to properly evaluate it), for me, there is something in Beheren's voice that I miss with any other Brunnhilde, so I don't know that any will ever replace her for me. No matter, this is certainly an awesome ring to me.

Up next: Walkure Act 1!

 

[wkasimer]

I do hope others will post their impressions of this ring here.

I haven't listened to this RING in a long time, but if I recall correctly, Christian Franz is the worst Siegfried on record.

 

[Art Rock]

I do hope others will post their impressions of this ring here. I wonder if the thread should be retitled, Simone Young's Wagner Ring, or something like that.

I got it last week, but I will not be playing it for a while, as I just finished Karajan's Ring (and that had been lying around unopened for a few months). Don't want to overdose.

 

[wkasimer]

I haven't listened to this RING in a long time, but if I recall correctly, Christian Franz is the worst Siegfried on record.

I just listened to a few bits of Siegfried. I recalled correctly.

 

[SixFootScowl]

I haven't listened to this RING in a long time, but if I recall correctly, Christian Franz is the worst Siegfried on record.

Always a crepe hanger in the bunch! :lol:

Well I likely won't get that far until next week. I'll reserve judgement till then. I am not your normal music listener, so may find this Siegfried not so bad.

 

[wkasimer]

Well I likely won't get that far until next week. I'll reserve judgement till then. I am not your normal music listener, so may find this Siegfried not so bad.

Well, you may not mind him so much if you're tone deaf. It certainly sounds like Franz is.

 

[SixFootScowl]

Well, you may not mind him so much if you're tone deaf. It certainly sounds like Franz is.

Perhaps that is why the set is on sale for about 75% off.

But the Weigle set is also on sale. Is that one ruined also?

 

[annaw]

Well, you may not mind him so much if you're tone deaf. It certainly sounds like Franz is.

Just out of interest listened to the first "Hoiho! Hoiho!" from Spotify. Indeed, an... interesting experience, the forging song is probably going to be even more interesting :lol:.

 

[wkasimer]

But the Weigle set is also on sale. Is that one ruined also?

I don't think so. Here's what I wrote on my Amazon review a couple of years ago:

=====================

I'm generally one of those people who emphasize the singers when I listen to Wagner. It's not that I don't think that the conducting is important - it's just that I usually place a premium on good singing. This recording, though, is an exception.

Much of the singing is little more than adequate, and unfortunately, some is even less than that, particularly Lance Ryan's Siegfried. He's fairly tireless, but his voice is one of the ugliest I've ever heard. The only singing that I'd consider truly distinguished is Kränzle's Gunther - he makes the character far less spineless than usual

But Weigle's conducting here is masterful. Tempi are well judged, transitions handled expertly, and there's a transparency to his handling of the score. And he is considerate of his singers, with tempi with which they are clearly comfortable, and he never makes them push to be heard. Weigle, and his singers, are helped immeasurably by the recording quality. The balance between orchestra and singers is exactly right, every detail can be clearly heard, and there's still a sense of hall ambience.

So in sum, this is a RING that may not look like much on paper, but is vastly greater than the sum of its parts. I found my copy inexpensively at Berkshire Record Outlet, and if you can find this recording at a reasonable price, it's worth hearing.

======================

Lance Ryan is certainly not a great Siegfried, but he's manifestly better than Franz. Ryan may have an ugly voice, but at least sings mostly the notes that Wagner wrote. Franz's is just as ugly, and he doesn't.

I note, BTW, that the Weigle RING is still available at Berkshire Record Outlet for $28 plus shipping.

 

[mountmccabe]

I listened to these Rings when I listened to 25 different Rings in 2017. My comments at the time:

2008-10 - Young - Hamburg - Young goes for the long lines. Polaski is great, Struckmann is very good, Franz is OK. Die Walküre is the best, Götterdämmerung more of a let down.

Das Rheingold
Quite like the start of Scene 3, with Wolfgang Koch as Alberich and Jürgen Sacher as Mime. Not sure what to think of Falk Struckmann as Wotan yet, but it's quite early for him. The orchestra sounds solid.

Die Walküre
I am on board with Skelton as Siegmund. I do not know Yvonne Naef but she impresses as Sieglinde. Struckmann and Polaski are great together through both Act 2 and 3. The Hamburg Philharmonic really sounds lovely. I like what Young is doing here; she's really going for the long lines.

Siegfried
In the first act Peter Galliard is a very good Mime, both with Siegfried and the Wanderer. He sounds a bit goofy, but not ridiculous. His Notung answer is wonderful, and everything here is progressing with strong dramatic purpose. This is one of those Rings where it's always clear what is going on, and why. Christian Franz is pretty good as Siegfried. He almost has the voice required, and his singing is intelligently detailed.

Götterdämmerung
Franz is less impressive in Götterdämmerung, but we get John Tomlinson as Hagen. And Deborah Polaski is quite good, back as Brünnhilde.

My overall impressions are very favorable. This is the best of the 21st century Rings I've heard.

[The above statement was made June 2017; I later listened to two 21st century recordings that I ranked ahead of the Young, the 2008 Thielemann from Bayreuth and the 2013 Barenboim at the BBC Proms].

 

[Ulfilas]

I bought the Simone Young ring (not on sale). I think it's the best, most consistently well-sung since Barenboim, and certainly has a better cast than Thielemann, Janowski et al.

Rheingold and Walküre are especially successful with Struckmann, Koch, Polaski all excellent and Skelton caught at his best.

Franz is obviously controversial, and tends to be inaccurate, however he has the right type of voice in my opinion, and is at least vivid and energetic (he doesn't sing in his throat like Siegfried Jerusalem with Barenboim, which I find distressing to hear!)

And having Petra Lang and John Tomlinson in the final instalment is luxury casting!

The American Record Guide raved about the final instalment:

"This new Götterdämmerung is…as good as any post-Karajan Götterdämmerung I know: more natural than Barenboim, more individual that De Billy, more alive and lyrical than Boulez, and more dramatic and concentrated than Levine..."