with alacrity and exuberance, ranging from the burg Easter Festival; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von sultry Andalouse of Le Cid to the raucous Karajan Bonus: Die Weilkiire, selections from Acts I& II celebration of the "Fete Boheme" from Scenes Birgit Nilsson, Brünnhilde; Leonie Rysanek, Sieglinde; Pittoresques. Along the way are moments of Ludwig Suthaus, Siegmund; recorded April 21, 1958, rarefied tenderness, as in the Last Sleep and La Scala, Milan; Herbert von Karajan Dance of the Sylphs, that are made quintessen- Hunt 12CDKAR 223 (12 mono CDs only). ADD. IT tially serene by their contrast to the verve and 15:09:38 WAGNER: Der Ring des Nibelungen spirit of the surrounding Bacchanalia. Both Das Rbelngola, Die Winkiire, Siegfried, Ginterdiim- conductor and orchestra have dug to the very rnerung roots of this music and brought its celebratory Ferdinand Frantz, Wotan; Martha MOW, Brünnhilde; Lud- essence to full flower. The orchestra's playing wig Suthaus. Siegfried: Wolfgang Windgassen, Loge. is superb in its disciplined abandon. Siegmund; Hilde Konetzni, Sieglinde; Ira Malaniuk. The sound is just as sparkling as the music. Fricka I, Rossweisse; Elsa Cavelti, Fricka II, Grimgerde; Gottloh Frick, Fafner I. Hunding; Josef Greindl, Fasolt. The perspective is fairly close-up in abig hall, Fafner II. Hagen; Gustav Neidlinger, Alberich I; Alois and you can clearly hear the wide-open spaces. Pernenstorfer, Alberich II & III; Julius Patzak, Mime; Trombones blat just like in real life, and you can Ruth Siewert, Fada I; Margarete Klose, Erda II, Waltraute hear the air around the bass drum vibrate II, First Nom; Alfred Porn, Donner, Gunther; Lorenz Fehenberger, Fmh; Elisabeth Grümmer, Freia; Sena powerfully and cleanly. The maracas in Le Cid Jurinac, Woglinde, Third Nom, Gutrune; Magda are carved out of the soundstage with razor- Gabory. Wellgunde, Ortlinde: Hilde Riissl-Majdan. edged keenness. In short, this is among avery Flosshilde. Schwertleite, Second Nom; Rita Streich. For- small handful of the finest recorded orchestral est Bird; others; recorded 1953; RAI Symphony Orches- presentations Ihave heard. tra & Chorus, Wilhelm Furtwângler Angel CDZM 67123 (13 mono CDs only). Michael Gray, The CD gives you three extra selections, remastering. ADD. TT: 15:04:18 which is just more of agood thing. It also gives you aslightly colder sound than the LP but Yet two more Rings on CD? Yes, and both of with greater detail and inner definition. Tim- great value—one aknown quantity, the other bres on the LP are abit more faithful than on abig surprise. First, the known: CD, and the vinyl also has agreater feeling of Each of the ten acts of the Furtwângler RAI smoothness and liquidity. The only sonic draw- Ring was recorded and broadcast from asep- back is that the violins get abit cold and steely arate concert performance before a live at times on both LP and CD. While Iwas re- audience (whose applause is included on these viewing these discs, though, Iauditioned an CDs, though not on the earlier LP editions). Adcom GFP-565 in place of my GFP-555, and This is its third release since 1972, when EMI the strings became much smoother and silk- finally obtained the transcription safety masters ier, especially through the phono stage. That's from Radiotelevisione Italiana. Though the cast quite apreamp. And this is quite arecording, and Furtwângler himself are not as exciting as no matter which medium you choose. Hell, in the 1951 La Scala bootleg with Flagstadt and buy both. You'll have the pure analog bliss of Svanholm (now available on 12 Hunt CDs), the the LP and the added selections of the CD. Kind sound is better, and as adocument of the work of like having your cake and well, you know. of one of the most important Wagner conduc- —Robert Hesson tors of the century—many would say the most important—this set is of serious historical Wagner: importance. The 1972 LP set, released here on Seraphim, Two new/old Rings sonically left alot to be desired: harsh strings and brass, quite abit of distortion, and crackly WAGNER: Der Ring des Nibelungen master discs (the new set says "master tapes," Das Rbeingotd, Die Watizare, Siegfried, Gatlerdiim- though EMI claimed years ago that these were merging Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Wotan I; Thomas Stewart, destroyed immediately after the broadcasts). Wotan II & III. Gunther; Régine Crespin. Brünnhilde The recordings were digitally remastered and I; Helga Dernesch. Brünnhilde Il & III; Jess Thomas. reissued in 1986, again on LP; though only Siegfried I; Helge Brilioth. Siegfried II:Jon Vickers. Sieg- briefly available, that set's sound was acon- mund; Gundula Janowitz. Sieglinde, Gutrune: Christs siderable improvement. The 13 CDs on this Ludwig. Fricka II, Waltraute II, Second Nom; Karl Rid- derhusch, Fafner, Hagen; Zoltan Kelemen, Alberich; new release were prepared from new digital Gerhard Stolze. Loge. Mime IL Martti Talvela, Fasolt, masters, employing de-clicking software and Hunding; Omaha Dominguez. Erda; Josephine Veasey, what EMI calls "the latest computerized de- Fricka I; Robert Kerns, Donner; Donald Grobe, Froh; noising techniques"—almost certainly NoNoise Simone Mangelsdorff, Frria: Litiellnit Rebmann, or EMI's own CEDAR process. Woglintle; Edda Moser. Wellgunde; Anna Reynolds, Flosshilde; Lili Chookasian, First Norm Catarina With such hoary original recordings, it's hard Ligendzi. Third Nom; others; recorded 1967-70. Salz- to justify being absolutely true to the source,

176 Stereophile, May 1991