Customer Reviews

Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen (Wilhelm Furtwangler, Italian Radio 1953, EMI)

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If you already geek on the Ring this set is a must have. It is Furtwangler's final and best testament to Wagner's tetrology, probably the interpretive forerunner to his studio recorded cycle which he did not live to complete. In its broad tempos and undulating rubato it represents his vision more fully than any other recorded account. In comparison with his Scala Ring, it is better cast--Flagstad not withstanding--and sung. The RAI orchestra--often maligned by critics--responds to the great maestro in putting out the richest tone colours. You actually hear phrases and sounds that other recordings do not bring out of the score. Furtwangler also brings out unrivalled interpretations from his superb post-war cast. Martha Modl's Brunnhilde has fire, pathos and the best diction. You actually hear her every word. Ludwig Suthaus is precisely the kind of bel canto Heldentenor Wagner had in mind for the role opf Siegfried. He has a unique honeyed timbre to his voice that I have heard in no other. You also have the luxury of Windgassen's Loge, a weepy self-pitying jewel of an interpretation. He also sings a vulnerable and lonely Siegmund--a role much more suited to him than all the Siegfrieds he sang. Ferdinand Franz' Wotan is dark and psychologically complex. Julius Patzak's Mime is a unique masterpiece which makes Siegfried a theatrical delight. There are other brilliant minor roles: Greindl's Fafner and Hagen, Jurinac's Gudrune, Streich's woodbird, Margarete Klose's phenomenal Erda ... The cast actually SING the Ring rather than declamating it, as for instance in the Solti Ring. The voices are always fresh, as they did only one act per night, with as much as two to three nights lapse in between. The great shaper and molder of it all of course is Furtwangler. He brings out every bit of beauty in the fifteen hours of music. The sound is definitely superior to the Scala Ring, and in contrast to the latter the audience noise is minimal to nil, as the invited guests were actually vetted for coughers! You will get addicted to this Ring.

I turn to this set again and again for the performances of Furtwangler and his singers, but the orchestra is, frankly, not as bad as legend would have it. Last night I listened to Act 3 of Siegfried, and I was struck by the quality of the string playing in particular. I consider this my "chamber" version of the Ring, as intimate as Schubert Lieder. Which, of course, the Ring was never meant to be. A work of the theatre, who could have imagined it contained on small, shiny discs to be reproduced in homes from Boston to Beijing?

The sound is less vivid than in the Knappertsbusch 1956 Bayreuth Ring on Music&Arts, which is blessed with excellent mono sound that, like this Furtwangler set, favors the singers over the orchestra -- only more so! The fabled Bayreuth sound places the orchestra at a distance from the singers, sometimes creating a Kareoke effect: Astrid Varnay and Wolfgang Windgassen seem to be accompanied by a recorded orchestra -- especially after their overwhelming duet leads into an underwhelming Siegfried's Rhine Journey. But this is a minor defect, really, in a set that puts the "Hollywood' productions of Solti and von Karajan to shame.

So to with this Furtwangler Ring. The singers, and they are fine in their roles, emerge from an orchestral texture that is at least competent in the first two music dramas, and nearly inspired in the final two. The quality of sound is not quite up to the '56 Bayreuth, but the balance between singers and orchestra is better.

Final note. I've been listening to so many 'historical' and mono recordings lately that stereo recordings sound like Barnum & Bailey fakes -- something unnatural concocted to sell records. One advantage to growing old is that the ears seem to get back to essentials, and shrug off the spectacular as so much audio baggage.

I'd like to quote some lines by the pianist Sviatoslav Richter, one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, on these recordings: "..This constitutes one of the most striking impressions of my entire life as a musician and the culmination of my relationship with Wagner. I've finally heard this work in the full force of its brilliant inspiration. Here I can put my finger on the gulf that separates Wagner from all other great musicians, writers and so on. Why? Because the interpretation is on a par with the work itself. Everything is subordinate to Furtwangler, and Furtwangler is connected to Wagner by a direct link. I'm convinced that it's impossible to wish for anything better. This is true happiness!" -from "Sviatoslav Richter" by B. Monsaingeon, p. 358.

If you do not find this Furtwängler RAI Ring one of the most moving recordings you've ever heard, you are not a true Wagnerite. Yes, it would have been wonderful had the conductor lived long enough to complete the EMI studio Ring begun so well with Die Walküre, but we should be greatful for this RAI performance, recorded an act at a time. All participants are in marvelous vocal estate. Suthaus is a terrific Siegfried, Mödl a mvoing Brünnhilde and Frantz a magnificent Wotan. Furtwängler's way with the score is inspired, on a par with (if not surpassing) Keilberth's 1952, 1953 and 1955 Bayreuth performances. The sound is decent mono ... and the performance I consider essential. At this price, how can you pass it up?

If this Ring recording had full librettos of all the operas it would be first choice for any collector of opera or anyone who are going to buy a first 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' recording. It has excellence in every department, especially the conducting by the legendary Wilhelm Furtwangler. The orchestra isn't nearly the best you could get on other recordings of this huge work, but Furtwangler brings his unique vision of the work. He is perhaps one of the two or three greatest conductors of the 20th Century. I can make this statement because of his musicianship. You always feel like witnessing an important event when hearing him conduct.
The cast of this great recording is also fantastic. Martha Modl and Ferdinand Frantz lead the cast as Brunnhilde and Wotan respectivly. Modl is fantastic throughout. She has the nobility and passion needed to make this character work well. She can't match Nilsson's high notes but she has a much warmer voice than Birgit Nilsson. Frantz is totally great as the troubled Wotan. This very complex character is expertly sung by the great bass-baritone. There are very few who can match his commitment, characterization and nobility and he thoroughly convincing in the role of the chief of the gods.
Ludwig Suthaus is Siegfried. He too is totally great. He makes the opera Siegfried a joy to listen to in addition to the great conducting. This is almost an impossible role to do successfully with all the energy that is required at all times in addition to the extremely taxing duet at the end. Also in Gotterdammerung he is totally great.
Wolfgang Windgassen is Siegmund and Loge. He is often heard as Siegfried so it is a rarity to hear his Siegmund. From what I understand there are only two complete Walkure recordings with him as Siegmund, this one and the Knappertsbusch Ring from Bayreuth 1956. He is perhaps better as the young Siegfried but he does a great job with Siegmund, heroic and tender in his scenes with Sieglinde. His Loge too is excellent. Hilde Konetzni is Sieglinde and she too is great as the sweet character. She depicts the her passion and plight perfectly, much better than her work four years earlier on the Moralt Ring. Gottlob Frick is Hunding and Fafner in Rheingold, and Josef Greindl is Hagen, Fafner in Siegfried and Fasolt in Rheingold, and both are really exeptional. Julius Patzak is a really treasure as Mime. Gustav Neidlinger is at his best as Alberich in Rheingold. Alois Pernerstorfer is Alberich in Siegfried and Gotterdammerung, and he isn't as good as Neidlinger (who is?) but still quite excellent.
We also have a very strong cast in the minor roles, such as Margarete Klose as Waltraute in Gotterdammerung, Elisabeth Grummer as Freia, Ira Malaniuk as Fricka in Rheingold, Elsa Cavelti as Fricka in Walkure, Sena Jurinac as Gutrune and Rita Streich as the Woodbird.

So if this one would have a better documentation it would be a very clear first recommendation. The librettos of the operas are available to buy at quite a low cost. The only snag is that this performance is in mono and the sound is a little dry sometimes, but this is a minor problem. On the whole is the sound good and it represents a rare opportunity to hear perhaps the greatest master of this gigantic work in top form with some really exceptional artists. So to close I have to say that I highly recommend this recording as a first buy of this ever-facinating work.

I entirely disagree with reviewers who call Solti's Ring "the essential" or the one to buy if you can only afford one. In my case, I never truly appreciated Wagner's tetralogy until I heard Furtwangler's Scala version. Coughing and poor quality sound could not diminish its beauty for me. I find the rendition by singers such as Flagstadt, Treptow, Konetzni and others incomparable. As a total, the set is unmatched in my opinion. But for those who must have better sound, Furtwangler RAI Ring might be a first choice. Clemens Krauss, Bayreuth '52, would be my second or third. Goodall is good for those who don't mind Wagner in English.
But Solti would be on the bottom of my list, ranking only higher than Boulez and Levine. I appreciate the booklets and packaging in Solti's Ring and, surely, there are many fine moments, but not enough to sustain the level of excitement and attention all the way through.
So my recommendation to those who can only afford one Ring is: listen to them all before you make your choice! You may like one that no one else does. Don't get swayed by those "in the know" because they probably have several sets and can afford to keep their Solti on the shelf.

I was given this Box set of the Ring as a present as a teenager, and it remains the only one that satisfies me musically. I do not wish to comment on the merits of the performance, as I believe they are unquestionable. Rather, I would like to comment on the sonic quality of this compilation.
In 1986 EMI reissued this Ring on vinyl, digitally remastered. It was a big disappointment: all the depth was gone, it sounded flat and ridiculous. (As a matter of fact, the only improvement was the inclusion of applause, which in the 1972 version was edited away, probably because people in those days yourned for a recording free of those annoying coughs and nose-wiping that were present in earlier recordings. Central heating was probably not at its best in post-war Europe!).
Then in 1990, the Furtwaengler Ring was issued on CD, fron a new digital master. I bought just the Rhinegold to see how it compared to the other two issues.
Well, It's certainly better than the first 'digital' one, but compared to the original analog issue, it still leaves a lot to
be desired. The instruments are lacking their natural timbre (harmonics), making them sound less 'present'. Double bass and percussion suffer the most, but all instruments in general are missing 'that which defines what they are'.
One should be very careful when trying to 'improve' a historic recording, to make sure that, together with noise and scratches, one doesn't remove part of the music as well!
I believe this historic recording deserves a reissue on SACD, to be made from a new digital master, using faster sampling rates. This would preserve the preciously little harmonics of the original recording (which are allways present on any analog recording, even on 78s, and which only the digital technology has managed to remove completely) and ameliorate the effects of any 'improvements' that might be made.

I agree with the prior reviewer, Mr. Brown. I find myself going back to this performance more than any other. Furtwangler's conducting has a "rightness" about it that is constantly compelling and even astonishing. This performance is more gripping than any other, and the proof of that is the fact that I am completely involved from the moment I put it on and there is no libretto! For a conductor and cast to pull you into the drama and music with that kind of immediacy without being able to follow the trext is truly a testament to their collective abilities. The RAI orchestra is not the Vienna Philharmonic, but it certainly doesn't deserve the bum rap it's gotten all these years, they sound just fine in the mono sound. And one thing they do better than the more polished orchestras is play with dramatic and theatrical flair, probably comes with the fact that they're Italian.

The cast is superb and very consistent. Modl's Brunhilde is intense and well sung, she even makes a good stab at most of the trills, the exception being the one in Gotterdammerung Act II which she omits, even though the one in Act I had been just fine. Her diction, from what I can tell, I don't speak fluent German, is clear, she seems to sing "off the words" something that has apparently gone out of style. Windgassen is a fine Seigmund, Suthaus an excellent very under-rated Seigfried, even though he sounds very baritonal. Smaller roles are well taken by singers like Grummer and Jurinac no less. My favorite all around Ring, just edging out Kraus at Bayreuth from the same year. Fortunately both are at budget price and therefore one can have both. For a digital stereo recommendation, the Levine Met is fine at the new budget price, a better performance that I thought it would be with Behrens singing better than in the house, Golberg less objectionable that I had been led to believe, Morris excellent and the supporting cast quite fine. The orchestra is superb and the sound is certainly state of the art. But the real performances to get are this one and the Kraus. I hope EMI will remaster for its 50th anniversary.

I am not musician enough to be able to explain why Furtwangler's technique is so awe inspiring. I can only say that it is. His performances-particularly of the 19th century German repertoire-are simply amazing. He owns Bruckner. He teases out of Brahms things I've never heard before. His interpretation of Beethoven is transcendental. But when it comes to Wagner, Furtwangler rocks.

As I listened to Furtwangler's RAI Ring Cycle, I did a comparison with Levine's 1983 Ring on DVD. Levine's Ring has everything that Furtwangler's RAI Ring lacks-a world class orchestra (including an outstanding brass section) versus an RAI brass section that many times made me wince, outstanding audio (5.1 surround versus muffled mono for the RAI), and of course images versus an audio CD. But Furtwangler is all over Levine where it counts. Furtwangler's RAI Ring is highly dramatic, often spine tingling. In short, it lives. And isn't that what music is all about?

Sure there are enough technical blunders to fill a phone book. The recording is uneven, voices sometimes drop out and are barely audible. The overall sound is muffled. And this is the first time I was able to pick out a definitive flubbed note (by the brass of course, at the very end of Das Rheingold-not exactly the best place to blow it). But in a sense, these problems seem to be the frame within which Furtwangler is at his best. Whether conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in the darkest days of WWII, when his own life was threatened by the Nazi regime, or when he produced the best recorded Tristan with a 57 year old Isolde and a less than ideal Tristan, or here (less dramatically), when driving a second tier orchestra to amazing heights, Furtwangler shines when his back is against the wall.

Some other reviews have said that this probably should not be the first introduction to the Ring. I disagree. It is a perfect introduction because it encapsulates Wagner's philosophy of struggle to create great art. If more people could appreciate this-and if more artists would emulate it-classical music would not be in the doldrums it finds itself today.

This Ring recording, recorded live in 1953 with Wilhelm Furtwangler and the RAI Rome, is one of the finest recordings in the classical library. But it's unfortunate that EMI didn't have the right stuff back then: the heavy filtering somewhat ruins the experience. But all is not lost: Gebhardt has re-issued this ring with superior 24-bit remastering. I'd go for that one if I were you. Anyway, back to this Furtwangler RING . . .

The 1953 RAI Ring should be a must-have (even if you have another Ring on your shelf). Yes, it's true that Furtwangler favors slow tempi, but he makes even the slowest of his tempi intense and spine-tingling. Just listen to how he handles "Hagen's Night Watch" and "Descent/Ascent into/from Nibelheim". Now you can't call that atrocious, can you?

I think that much of the criticism that's been given to RAI are simply insensitive. Yes, it doesn't rank with other, more experienced orchestras, but what you get is the final result of what the great Furtwangler wanted. Woodwinds in "Wotan's Farewell" are marvelous, the brass in "Wotan Summons Erda" simply stunning. Maybe if people listened to the Gebhardt release instead of the EMI, then they would appreciate the orchestral playing a bit more.

The singers make it all the more fantastic. Ferdinand Frantz has something that other Wotans can't touch. Maybe it's that when he sings "Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge" he makes people swoon (back in the day, of course). Maybe it's that when he sings "In eig'ner Fessel fing ich mich" he scares the hell out of people. I think it's that when he sings "Auf wolkigen Hoh'n wohnen die Gotter" amazement spreads like . . . I can't think of a perfect simile at the moment. So anyway, Frantz is a great Wotan.

The only thing that Martha Modl's voice lacks is sensitivity. She's rough, she's sensuous, she's lyrical, and that's pretty much it. There seems to be no innocence or intelligence in the voice. But I could be wrong, since my ears are different than everyone else's.

Wolfgang Windgassen and Hilde Konetzi are simply stunning as Siegmund and Sieglinde. Maybe they're not on par with Vickers and Janowitz in the Karajan recording, but they work very well with each other. Personally, I prefer Windgassen as Siegfried, but here he never loses it. Konetzi may sound a bit weak at times, but she's an exceptional Sieglinde nonetheless.

I'll just describe the singing of Ludwig Suthaus in three words: Oh So Good! His Siegfried is near ideal for many ages, but Windgassen is still the golden standard. His Forging Scene is powerful, and his presence in Gotterdammerung Scene One amesk it all more uplifting.

Gustav Niedlinger as Alberich has a heaviness that overwhelms a few other baritones. When he sings his only sequence in Gotterdammerung Act Two Scene One, his emotion is so pure that his son Hagen would've drowned himself in tears (Too melodramatic? Sorry about that.). The only problem is that his character sounds too one-dimensional. Alberich isn't just some cardboard-cutout bad guy. He has a very good reason why he wants to take revenge on the world. Overall, Niedlinger is amazing throughout Wagner's Ring (He deserves many awards for "Bin ich nun frei?"). Reminder: In Furtwangler, Neidlinger is replaced by Alois Pernerstorfer in Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.

What do Julius Patzak and Paul Kuen (in the Krauss Ring) have in common? Why, they both sing their parts without any caricaturing in the way. They both sound luminous and painless in every way possible. Kuen is slightly below Patzak's level, but that's okay. They're both excellent Mimes.

Why the heck would the conductor have Wolfgang Windgassen play both Siegmund AND Loge? The demi-god needs to sound different from a Walsung. All in all, a Loge that's marred by lack of cunning.

The other singers are good, too. Josef Griendl is a grand Hagen, but not as grand as Matti Salminen (from Janowski, Levine, and Sawallisch Rings). Donner, Froh, and Freia make it all okay in Rheingold. Gottlob Frick as Hunding sounds creepy. The two Erdas (Ruth Siewert in Rheingold and Margarete Klose in Siegfried) both sound equally ethereal and memorable. Ira Malaniuk's Fricka is a notch better in terms of tone than Elsa Cavelti's. Rheindaughers and Valkyries have it good, too.

Gebhardt's 24-bit remastering has really done this Ring justice. I recommend this over EMI's inferior sound quality.