| Richard
Wagner's RING OF THE NIBELUNG (Der Ring des Nibelungen) |
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It is almost as daunting a task technically and artistically to produce a studio recording as it is to stage a complete production of the Ring Cycle. The entire cycle, which runs over 15 hours, would have taken well over one hundred 78rpm-vinyl records. Thus, it was only with the invention of the LP that a complete studio recording of the Cycle was seriously considered. Today, the Cycle comes in sets of 14 or 15 CDs!
The controversial German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler (incidentally the subject of a Broadway play) was to have conducted the first complete cycle for EMI but he died after recording only Die Walküre. It was a young Georg Solti who rose to the task in 1958, recording the Cycle for Decca with a stellar cast that included the premier Wagnerian singers of the time. Considered a milestone in recording history, the project took 7 years to complete, attesting to the complexity of this Wagnerian masterpiece.
Recent record catalogues list over a dozen complete Ring Cycle sets, although there are a few separate recordings of the individual operas, in particular Die Walküre which is the most popular of the tetralogy. The remastering of old recordings on today's CD format has been a boon to Ring devotees.
Below are some of the available audio and video recordings, including the names of the artists who sang the major roles. The older audio recordings have been remastered for compact disc and a good number are recordings of live performances. A few years ago, Media Cafe Publishing came out with an interactive guide to Wagner's Ring Cycle on CD-ROM, appropriately called "The Ring Disc". It is a computer-searchable database containing 14.5 hours of music from the historic Solti recording, the complete German libretto with English translation, images from historical documents and various Ring productions , comprehensive analyses and expert commentary.
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Some RING CYCLE Recordings Click on CONDUCTOR to BUY from Amazon.com or GO TO FanFaire's NEW WAGNERmania aSTORE |
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| LABEL | CONDUCTOR/ ORCHESTRA |
CAST (partial listing) | |||||
| AUDIO | Brunnhilde | Siegfried | Wotan | Sieglinde | Siegmund | Fricka | |
| RAI
(Live) 1953 CZS7 67123-2 |
Wilhelm Furtwängler / Orchestra Sinfonica della Radio Italiana | Martha Modl | Ludwig Suthaus | Ferdinand Frantz | Anny Konetzni | Wolfgang Windgassen | Cavelti |
| Gala/BMG
(Live) 1953 GL999791 Foyer Laudis CF2011 |
Clemens Krauss/ Bayreuth Festival Orchestra | Astrid Varnay | Wolfgang Windgassen | Hans Hotter | Regina Resnik | Ramon Vinay | Malaniuk |
| Decca
(Studio)1958-65 414 100-2DM15 |
Sir Georg Solti/ Vienna State Opera | Birgit Nilsson | Wolfgang Windgassen | Hans Hotter | Regine Crespin | James King | Christa Ludwig |
| Philips
(Live) 1966-67 446 057-2PB14 420 325-2 Philips (Live) 1966-67 new rel Sep 12, 2006 |
Karl
Böhm/ Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Karl Böhm/ Bayreuth Festival Orchestra |
Birgit
Nilsson |
Wolfgang Windgassen | Theo Adam | Leonie Rysanek | James King | Annelies Burmeister |
| DG
(Studio) 1967-70 435-211-2 |
Herbert von Karajan/ Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra | Regine Crespin | Jess Thomas | Thomas Stewart | Gundula Janowitz | Jon Vickers | Josephine Veasey |
| EMI
(Live)1973-77 (Sung in English) |
Reginald Goodall/English National Opera Orchestra | Rita Hunter | Alberto Remedios | Norman Bailey | Margaret Curphy | Alberto Remedios | Ann Howard |
| Eurodisc
(Studio) 1980-83 GD 69003 |
Marek Janowski/ Dresden Staatskapelle | Jeannine Altmeyer | Rene Kollo | Theo Adam | Jessye Norman | Siegfried Jerusalem | Yvonne Minton |
| DG (Studio) 1987-89 | James Levine/ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra | Hildegard Behrens | Siegfried Jerusalem | James Morris | Jessye Norman | Gary Lakes | Christa Ludwig |
| EMI Classics 1989 | Wolfgang Sawallisch/ Bavarian State Opera | Hildegard Behrens | Rene Kollo | Robert Hale | Julia Varady | Robert Schunk | Mariana Lipovsek |
| EMI (Studio) 1988-91 | Bernard Haitink /Symphonieorchester des Bayerischesn Rundfunks | Eva Marton | Siegfried Jerusalem | James Morris | Cheryl Studer | Reiner Goldberg | Waltraud Meier |
| Teldec
(Live) 1991 0630-0010-2 |
Daniel Barenboim/ Bayreuth Festival Orchestra | Anne Evans | Siegfried Jerusalem | John Tomlinson | Nadine Secunde | Elming | Linda Finnie |
| Documents 2007 |
Gunther
Neuhold / Badische Staatskapelle |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| VIDEO | |||||||
| Philips 1980 | Pierre Boulez/ Bayreuth Festival Orchestra (1980) | Gwyneth Jones | Manfred Jung | Donald McIntyre | Jeannine Altmeyer | Peter Hofmann | Hanna Schwarz |
| DGG 2005 | Pierre Boulez/ Bayreuth Festival Orchestra (1980) | Gwyneth Jones | Manfred Jung | Donald McIntyre | Jeannine Altmeyer | Peter Hofmann | Hanna Schwarz |
| EMI 1989 | Wolfgang Sawallisch / Bayerische Staatorchester | Hildegard Behrens | Rene Kollo | Robert Hale | Julia Varady | Robert Schunk | Marjana Lipovsek |
| DG 1990 | James Levine/ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra | Hildegard Behrens | Siegfried Jerusalem | James Morris | Jessye Norman | Gary Lakes | Christa Ludwig |
| TDK 2004 | Lothar Zagrosek / Staatsoper Stuttgart | Renata Behle / Lisa Gasteen / Luana De Vol | Jon Fredric West | Jan-Hendrik Rootering | Angela Denoke | Robert Gambill | Tichina Vaughn |
| BBC / Opus Arte 2006 | de Billy, Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona Opera) () | Deborah Polaski | John Treleaven | Falk Struckmann | Linda Watson | Richard Berkeley-Steele | Lioba Braun |
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