The Ring in modern sound.
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 2:55PM
Recommendations for Wagners Ring Cycle in modern (post 1970) sound. Not the ring as a complete box set but individual operas. And don't worry about completeness, if only 1 or 2 recordings take your fancy then fine. Yes I know the best Wagner singers were from a previous generation but these are as a suppliment to older recordings.
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 4:48PM
#2
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
Separate recommemdations for the operas. The Janowski is my preferred Siegfried anyway but what about the other three. I Just don't want to buy a set.
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 4:55PM
#3
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
Well, the Barenboim are all very good and available separately. Individually, I was also impressed by the Mark Elder Götterdämmerung, the Karajan Rheingold (though that's 1967) and possibly the Elder Walküre as well (though I didn't like it as much as his Götterdämmerung). All the rest I like are - I'm afraid - pre-1970.
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 6:16PM
#4
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
The budget set on Brilliant Classics with Neuhold and the Badische Staatskapelle has very good orchestral playing, the excitement offered by a live performance (something I find missing in Janowski's first set) but the soloists are very uneven. I'd stay away from the 2 final operas in the set since you've got 1 Brünnhilde and 2 (!) Siegfrieds who are far from ideal, but Rheingold and Walküre don't leave much to be desired. I guess you can only get it as a complete set, though - but even so, it's worth every penny.
I agree on Barenboim - I've got his 1991 Bayreuth Ring on video, the (in)famous Harry Kupfer staging, and I think it's the best you can get in modern sound, with a solid cast and Barenboim's neo-Furtwänglerian conducting that never fails to impress.
The DDR-Ring (Janowski) has great sound, a brilliant cast and possibly the best orchestal playing of all, but lacks theatre atmosphere, which is absolutely essential in Wagner. Same goes for the legendary, but overrated Solti, Karajan and Haitink (dull).
Best Ring regardless of recording is still Furtwängler's 1950 Scala performance to me - but it's far from hi-fi. (Sacrilege or not, I found the best place to enjoy it is in the car, on my way to work and back. The tape hiss nicely blends in with the wind and motor noise ;))
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 6:13PM
#5
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
Schiller, you always try to put some almost impossible and bizarre tasks.
The Ring is a unified work that has to be faced and, subsequently, listen to as such. You cannot have a proper picture of it with only or mostly separate performances by various artists, recordings and performances. So, I can give you some very good and reliable post 70s ones and you may choose which you wish to buy from each one of them.
- In the early 80s, we have the superb, in many ways, first cycle of Janowski, in Dresden. An overall balanced and very Wagnerian in style Ring. Die Walkure is very fine indeed. There have been various re-releases from RCA and Sony from the original Eurodisc.
- In the 90s, we have Levine (from the Met) with some very Wagnerian voices, impressive conducting, great sound from DG. Der Gotterdammerung sounds truly impressive.
- Then, we have the quite well praised Barenboim set, on Teldec (re-released on Warner), "live" from Bayreuth. Great sound (for live), some good for that time soloists and the usual Barenboim conducting of the "Ring".
- From the more recent ones, Thielemann from Bayreuth, Simone Young from Hamburgh and Sebastian Weigle from Frankfurt (both on OEHMS) are very fine recordings with some of the most decent soloists from our time.
- From the future ones, definitely, the new Janowski, in great SACD sound from Pentatone, should be something to yearn for.
Finally, if you can stand a "Ring" in English, with an all-English staff, try the superb set of Goodall, released on CD by Chandos. A "must" for Wagner loyals.
Parla
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 7:21PM
#6
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
I always have found the Levine/MET Walkure recording is a very fine recording with very fine sound. Levine's Wagner is certainly sumptuous and some may find it a little too rich but for me the performance offers a huge grandeur. As Parla indicates the same team's Gotterdammerung is also a very big performance that really presents this a 'grand opera'.
I have the Thielemann cycle from Bayreuth and while it is very well played none of the singing stands out to me as being of the highest quality. It will be interesting to hear the Gergiev and possibly the new Janowski.
Sun, Feb 10 2013, 10:39PM
#7
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
The Ring is a unified work that has to be faced and, subsequently, listen to as such. You cannot have a proper picture of it with only or mostly separate performances by various artists, recordings and performances.
Parla
Surely not Parla. Can one not watch James Bond with Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig in subsequent films yet still feel the thrill of Bond. When Blofeld strokes his cat and says 'Arh mister Bond, we've been expecting you.' Does it matter who walks in as Bond, so long as it's not Timothy Dalton.
Mon, Feb 11 2013, 2:35AM
#8
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
Mr. Kant, if you see The Ring as Mr. Bond's adventures, then, I guess anything can go, forgetting Wagner, neglecting Bayreuth, ignoring tradition and many more.
In addition to what I have mentioned in my post, I have to say that I haven't yet received the Gergiev's Walkure. So, I can't really say much, since his Parsifal left me with some kind of question marks. He is a conductor of great vision, which, however, may be blurry, and a talent that can overshadow the actual work he's conducting. However, his SACD from Mariinsky has a strong cast, based on what is available today in Wagner's forces, and the recording should be first class.
As for the Elder ongoing set, I could not share the high praise of Gramophone (and few others). The recording, for today's standards, was not that bright and detailed. The singers were adequate enough and Elmer's conducting less Wagnerian, more polished (let's say more Britannic).
Finally, the Brilliant set is the worst I have ever heard, particularly in terms of the recording (Wagner requires space, ambience, clear and detailed sound...). As for the singers, they are simply acceptable and the conducting, for what one may hear, doesn't sound Wagnerian. Almost not at all. (I cannot possibly blame my system for that: Krell, Classe Audio and Wilson Audio).
Parla
Mon, Feb 11 2013, 10:06AM
#9
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
Regardless of the problems some have found with the staging of the Zagrosek has anyone heard the Naxos set on CD.
Mon, Feb 11 2013, 11:29AM
#10
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
It is a bit "better" than it was staged, but it cannot be possibly competitive, Schiller. It's almost flat as for the conducting and indifferent as for the singers.
Likewise, Haitink is "dull", as 50m already claimed, but not indifferent or bad. The "Live" from Netherlands with Haenchen, despite it is SACD, fails to impress and it is too fast, but it has its exciting moments. Somehow, the first SACD "Ring" from Melba, with an all Australian forces staff sounds much more impressive and better than it could be possibly expected. However, it is expensive for all it might be worth.
Parla
Mon, Feb 11 2013, 2:31PM
#11
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
I have Walkure on DVD by the Met, which sounds good though a touch too polite compared with the old Solti (which I still have on LP).
If you read Gramophone, it seems to strongly recommend the Copenhagen version on DVD.
Having attended the Opera North ring (so far), I was wondering if any of the record companies had thought about recording this, perhaps even Naxos. The performance of Die Walkure in Leeds Town Hall was first rate.
DSM
Mon, Feb 11 2013, 2:48PM
#12
RE: The Ring in modern sound.
Yes DSM, Opera North are an excellent company, if stretched a little thinly at times. Their Peter Grimes from many years ago I have never seen bettered. The Welsh National Opera are excellent too. Their Kata Kabanova of a few years ago again beats anything else I have seen. How lucky we are not to live in London who have to suffer the top companies every night. Who knows, the BBC and the 3 main political parties may one day venture out of London.
Thielemann's Die Valkure with Linda Watson, she has recorded this opera quite a lot lately is looking appealing, no don't talk me out of it. A pity that Levine's DG Gotterdammerung is not available without the rest of the bunch.
Not sure what you mean by "Not the ring as a complete box set but individual operas", but if asked for a favourite "modern" Ring I'd probably go for the Barenboim/Bayreuth for sheer beauty of sound and eagerly await what Marek Janowski will produce with his upcoming Ring cycle - judging from his outstanding recent Wagner releases it promises to be outstanding. That should appear this year.