The Wagner Journal
David Breckbill, Reviews of Knappertsbusch and Keilberth recordings
David Breckbill, Reviews of Knappertsbusch and Keilberth recordings
Couldn't load pickup availability
Reviews of Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted Keilberth, Bayreuth, 1955 (Testament, 14 CDs); Die Walküre, conducted Keilberth, Barcelona, 1955 (Walhall, 3 CDs); Der fliegende Holländer, conducted Keilberth, Bayreuth, 1955 (Testament, 2 CDs); Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1956 (Orfeo, 13 CDs); Götterdämmerung, conducted Fjeldstad, Oslo, 1955 and Tristan und Isolde, Act I, conducted Rankl, Royal Opera House, London, 1950 (Walhall, 4 CDs).
March 2007, Volume 1, Number 1, 54–61.
In a world teeming with Wagner recordings – and especially in an age in which video Wagner productions are readily available and have become the first choice for many younger ‘listeners’ – it may seem unreasonable to expect a new audio-only recording of Wagner’s Ring to make much of a splash. Yet that is precisely what Testament’s belated release of Decca’s 1955 Ring, made in Bayreuth in stereo, has done. The reasons for this impact are numerous and varied. For one thing, its appearance ties up a loose thread that has been dangling conspicuously ever since the existence of this recording was made widely known in John Culshaw’s Ring Resounding of 1967.