Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
The Golden Ring: Great Scenes from Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen
Wiener Philharmoniker/Sir Georg Solti
rec. 1958-64, Sofiensaal, Vienna
DECCA 4853364 SACD [76]
This “Golden Ring” is just a single CD sampler of “great scenes” from nearly fifteen hours of music, issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sir Georg Solti’s death on 5th September 1997, but they certainly are true highlights. The four complete operas of the Ring cycle are being re-released in instalments between November 2022 and May 2023 in a new remastering. Their recorded sound has always been justly celebrated and has since undergone a number of enhancements via digital remastering, but this latest one represents the finest sonic improvement yet, being the product of Dolby Atmos technology and half-speed mastering, a process whereby both the original source tape and the cutting are slowed by half, resulting in a yet cleaner, fuller sound. It is to be released on “audiophile vinyl” and Hybrid SACD.
It is a sobering thought that virtually all the artists who recorded the Solti Ring issued by Decca between 1959 and 1965 have now left us, the exceptions being Helga Dernesch, Brigitte Fassbaender and Gwyneth Jones, who sing secondary roles here and are now on their eighties and long since retired. The recording is therefore now a window on to a past age of Wagnerian singing.
The cast was of course phenomenal but not perfect; it is generally accepted that Hans Hotter was somewhat past his very best by the time he came to record Wotan in Die Walküre, and Wolfgang Windgassen’s Siegfried was never ideally youthful or heroic of tone and even the great Kirsten Flagstad sounds rather mature as Fricka, but such reservations are as nothing compared to the impact and success of the project as a whole. Reacquaintance with it in yet more striking sound merely emphasises the gulf between modern Wagner singing and what now sounds to modern ears like a golden age.
This is a SACD disc; however, I listened to this on regular CD, making comparison with two previous remasterings in my own collection, but I can still confirm that this latest incarnation consolidates its continued pre-eminence among recorded Ring cycles even after six decades since its first appearance.
I readily confess that the very opening track, the closing scene of Das Rheingold beginning with Donner’s “He da! He da! He do!” and the hammer-strike, instantly gave me goosebumps, as it invariably does – but even more so in this new manifestation. A succession of majestic voices – Eberhard Wächter, Waldemar Kmentt, George London, Kirsten Flagstad, Set Svanholm and an ideal trio of Rhinemaidens beautifully distanced and submerged, yet still perfectly audible – in turn complete the listener’s bliss; there is no more thrilling moment in the work than Wotan’s declamatory “So grüss’ Ich die Burg” and the orchestral coda is overwhelming. This latest remastering brings a new depth, fullness, and immediacy to proceedings and there is no tape hiss; this improvement is especially noticeable if one does as I did and progress from the original CD issue to the next remastering and conclude with this new one.
That enhanced sonic richness is confirmed by the same comparison of “The Ride of the Valkyries”. Even this new incarnation cannot quite conceal the small element of distortion noticeable especially in the voices engineered to suggest the riders approaching from a distance but that is negligible and, in any case, suggestive of mountainous chasms being traversed – or perhaps, more mundanely, the acoustic of a large opera house. The booklet illustration of the first page of Act 3 in Solti’s score, scrawled with notes in red and black ink markings, indicates the passion he injected into his reading. Hotter may be a tad rocky but his volume and authority carry the day – even if for me in this music no-one betters George London’s Wotan for Leinsdorf three years earlier. The pain and pathos of Hotter’s leave-taking of Brünnhilde are overwhelming, as are the sonority and virtuosity of the orchestral playing. The brass heralding Wotan’s “Loge, hör!” is now especially grand and Hotter’s final declamation, “Wer meines Speeres Spitze fürchtet durchschreite das Feuer nie!” (He who fears the point of my spear shall never pass through the fire!”) is magnificently steady, stern and monitory.
The vividness of the first clang of the Forging Scene jolts the listener alarmingly. Neither Windgassen nor Stolze has the most mellifluous of timbres but the drama certainly comes across and I can see why the producer opted for this excerpt to show off the new clarity and impact of this remastering; ”So schneidet Siegfrieds Schwert” is stunning. Much more emollient is the “Forest Murmurs” in which the beauty of the VPO’s playing has been lovingly amplified, while principal horn Roland Berger’s execution of Siegfried’s Horn Call is for ever a thing of beauty.
The emphasis upon the pre-eminence of the orchestral playing as opposed to the vocal prowess of this Ring is consolidated by the inclusion of the famous concert piece Siegfried’s Funeral March, of which there has surely never been a more powerful rendition. Solti’s genius for infusing a score with electric passion is newly revealed in all its glory. The climax to this compilation is rightly awarded to Nilsson’s Immolation Scene – an unparalleled triumph of singing. The famed laser-like quality of her high notes emerges cleanly but the remastering lends her tone extra warmth and roundness.
The disc is in a handsome brown and gold cardboard digipack with a 28-page booklet by producer Dominic Fyfe containing background information on the remastering process and the ethos behind the recording, synopses of the scenes and nostalgia-inducing photographs of the recording sessions – including the moment when a horse was led into the Sofiensaal to surprise Birgit Nilsson while she was recording the Immolation Scene. Unfortunately, the binding process – at least for my booklet – has been botched and the page order jumbled; perhaps that fault will be corrected in future printing. I am aghast that in a prestige project of this nature such a mistake can slip through the proofing. Nor are any timings for individual tracks provided, which is irritating – but let these things pass; this is still a revelation.
Ralph Moore
Contents
Das Rheingold, WWV 86A, Scene IV
Heda! Heda! Hedo! Zu mir, du Gedüft!
Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge
Rheingold! Rheingold!
Hetty Plumacher (contralto), Set Svanholm (tenor), Kirsten Flagstad (soprano), Ira Malaniuk (contralto), George London (baritone), Eberhard Wächter (baritone), Waldemar Kmentt (tenor), Oda Balsborg (soprano)
Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act III
Hojotoho! Heiaha! (Ride of the Valkyries)
Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind
Denn einer nur freie die Braut
Loge, hör! Lausche hieher!
Vera Schlosser (soprano), Claudia Hellmann (mezzo-soprano), Hans Hotter (bass), Berit Lindholm (soprano), Marilyn Tyler (soprano), Vera Little (mezzo-soprano), Helga Dernesch (soprano), Helen Watts (contralto), Brigitte Fassbaender (contralto)
Siegfried, WWV 86C
Act I:
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Schmiede, mein Hammer, ein hartes Schwert!
Wolfgang Windgassen (tenor), Gerhard Stolze (tenor)
Act III:
Meine Mutter, ein Menschenweib!
Siegfried’s Hornruf
Wolfgang Windgassen (tenor), Roland Berger (horn)
Götterdämmerung, WWV 86D, Act III
Trauermarsch
Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort
Mein Erbe nun nehm’ ich zu eigen
Fliegt heim, ihr Raben!
Birgit Nilsson (soprano), Gottlob Frick (bass)
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