Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set) [Box set]

Derek Hammond-Stroud (Performer), Norman Bailey (Performer), Norman Welsby (Performer), Richard [Classical] Wagner (Composer), Reginald Goodall (Conductor), English National Opera Movement Group (Performer), Ann Howard (Performer), Gillian Knight (Performer), Katherine Pring (Performer), Sarah Walker (Performer), Shilagh Squires (Performer), English National Opera Chorus & Orchestra (Orchestra), English National Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), Anne Collins (Performer), Anne Conoley (Performer), Anne Evans (Performer), Elizabeth Connell (Performer), Helen Attfield (Performer), Katie Clarke (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Derek Hammond-Stroud, Norman Bailey, Norman Welsby, English National Opera Movement Group, Ann Howard, et al.
• Orchestra: English National Opera Chorus & Orchestra, English National Opera Orchestra, Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra
• Conductor: Reginald Goodall
• Composer: Richard [Classical] Wagner
• Audio CD (July 24, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 16
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B00005LZVY
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,502 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goodall has done us a great service..., July 27, 2001

By 

Patrick T. Cassidy "Patrick" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set) (Audio CD)

Although some might dismiss them as a "second tier" orchestra and opera company, I am delighted with what Goodall and crew did. The immediacy of having The Ring in my own language has totally transformed my experience of it. I'll still be listening to the Solti, Karajan, and Levine Rings, but my appreciation of them will be enhanced by this production. Goodall and company may not be of the "highest" caliber, but they certainly give good, solid performances and they have made the work accessible to the common listener. This is no small achievement.

I wouldn't want this to be the only Ring I listened to, but after only one hearing I wouldn't want to be without it, either.

Some purists will undoubtedly object, but it is worth noting that some of the German press have indicated envy at English speakers having Wagner's Ring available to us in this intimate way while they have to struggle with the increasingly archaic brand of German Wagner wrote in.

Thank you to Goodall, cast, and Chandos for giving us this gift. I am thrilled!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 0393008673, April 20, 2003

By 

Bill King (Reno, Nv., United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set) (Audio CD)

The title of this review (ISBN #) leads you to Andrew Porter's English translation of the Ring. Its the best available because it lines up note for note with the German libretto. Check the user reviews of this book at Amazon.

However this same translation, in booklet form, will come with the liner notes inside this audio set, because Woodall used it as the score.

As I write this, there are now no sample sound files at Amazon.com, but not to worry, just move over to the English Amazon site at amazon.co.uk and sample the wonderful music and reviews from the Ring's four individual opera pages. Perhaps like me this will be more than enough to cause you to click the Buy Now button. But remember if you would rather buy American head back here first! :)

P.S. Are there any bad reviews of Goodall's version anywhere in cyberspace? I checked some classical music review sites and this set was universally praised!.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Mein Erbe nun nehm ich zu eigen.", May 14, 2007

By 

Eric S. Kim (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set) (Audio CD)

There are over 20 complete Ring recordings on the market, and all of them have different interpretations. There are those who follow the score as closely as possible: Janowski, Haitink, Haenchen. There are those who take a more mystical and more lyrical approach: Karajan, 50% Keilberth. There are those who go for slower tempi in order to enchance the music experience: Levine, Furtwangler, Knappertsbusch, Goodall. And there are those who go for the strongest energy ever imagined: Krauss, Bohm, Boulez, Solti.

This live English recording by Goodall and the English National Opera takes slow tempi to a whole new level. It sounds more Celtic than Germanic or Norse. While I do praise Goodall with his amazing attention to detail, his ridiculously sluggish tempi will tick some Wagnerites off: nothing is faster than andante. But I did enjoy listening to the slow beauty of his "Immolation".

The English National Opera Orchestra sounds nice, even if the sluggishness can bring them down at times. "Forging Scene" doesn't sound too good in a slow tempo, but the entire orchestra does sound lucid here. Siegfried Act Two Prelude is the creepiest; Act Three Prelude is the dullest. All of the leitmotivs are heard loud and clear, just like in Janowski's version.

And who can forget the marvelous singers? Norman Bailey has that divine spark that Hotter used to cherish. He's heavy and unblemished, and he handles the English text with flair and sheen. I enjoyed his singing during Siegfried Act One.

Rita Hunter is at her strongest in Walkure and Siegfried. She is at her weakest in Gotterdammerung. What may have caused her downfall in the fourth installment? "The world may never know."

Alberto Remedios (who also plays Siegfried) and Margaret Curphy are wonderful as Siegmund and Sieglinde. You would probably never think that these two sound great in the English language, but these two prove us wrong. As for Remedios singing as Siegfried . . . Wow! He never drags in either of the last two installments, and he uses the correct emotions in every scene that he is in.

Derek Hammond-Stroud is three-dimensional, but not that much. Still, he can sound very demanding in Rheingold Scene One and Siegfried Act Two Scene One. Gregory Dempsey isn't emotional enough as Mime. He doesn't sound fearful or depressed at all, which makes him the dullest nibelung for the Ring. Emile Belcourt isn't as good as Gerhard Stolze or Peter Schreier, but he certainly can make some of the best of an English-speaking Loge. THe rest of the cast make Ring wonderful to listen to.

All in all, this should NOT be your first Ring. But if you already have a bunch of Rings and would like to see how it sounds like in English, then this is the one for you.