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Wagner Ring Solti Decca CD masterings

indeed it can - I re-did this a few weeks ago and now have all the individual tracks. The sound of the 2012 Blu-ray is very good - more detailed than I remember previous late 1980s CD set. Still a bit fierce at times, in line with Solti's interpretation.

Other Ring Cycles are available in good sound - Marek Janowski's Dresden set from early 1980s has always had very good reviews, and the ongoing set by Jap van Zweden and Hong Kong Philharmonic on Naxos is gathering very strong praise.
And look at the price of the entire Janowski set!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Ring-Nibelungen-Marek-Janowski/dp/B006XOBFJC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521998106&sr=8-1&keywords=Janowski+wagner&dpID=51Wr2%2BkV1FL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I’ve been very tempted by some of his more recent Berlin RSO Wagner recordings on SACD, though you’re going to have to pay a more real world price for a modern Ring recording-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01D5OXYWS/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I keep telling myself I need a new Parsifal to update my Barenboim Erato.
 
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And look at the price of the entire Janowski set!

The 1980-83 Janowski is my usual recommendation for someone wanting to dip their toes in the Rhine and requesting a good modern recording. Altmeyer is a little under-powered compared with Varnay, Flagstad, or Nilsson, but the rest of the cast are at least very good and the overall performance is excellent to my mind.
 
There's an icon at the top left or right of the app window that makes the software search for the relevant metadata. In some cases, it can't find it and you have to enter the data manually. I spent ages doing it manually before I discovered the auto-fill option.
 
Is it true that for both the 1997 and 2012 alternate takes had to be used for the sections of mastertape that were too badly damaged to be used? I wish I could remember where I saw this mentioned. If so doesn’t that make the 1984 edition the only way to get the original ‘conductor approved’ performance?

I reckon this is an urban myth, probably put about by one person trying to flog some older versions. It's remarkable how quickly such things can spread. What I have read (in Stereophile https://www.stereophile.com/content/solti-iringi-remasteredagain) is that the last transfer at 24/48 was the last, as the tapes fell apart shortly afterwards.
 
There's an icon at the top left or right of the app window that makes the software search for the relevant metadata. In some cases, it can't find it and you have to enter the data manually. I spent ages doing it manually before I discovered the auto-fill option.

Thanks. Fingers crossed it’s been entered a few times now since its release in 2012.
 
I reckon this is an urban myth, probably put about by one person trying to flog some older versions. It's remarkable how quickly such things can spread. What I have read (in Stereophile https://www.stereophile.com/content/solti-iringi-remasteredagain) is that the last transfer at 24/48 was the last, as the tapes fell apart shortly afterwards.

I’ll have a good look through the ‘sleeve’ notes when it arrives. I read another mention of it in a blog review over the weekend, but as you say it could just be a myth that’s spread.
 
And look at the price of the entire Janowski set!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Ring-Nibelungen-Marek-Janowski/dp/B006XOBFJC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521998106&sr=8-1&keywords=Janowski+wagner&dpID=51Wr2%2BkV1FL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I’ve been very tempted by some of his more recent Berlin RSO Wagner recordings on SACD, though you’re going to have to pay a more real world price for a modern Ring recording-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01D5OXYWS/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I keep telling myself I need a new Parsifal to update my Barenboim Erato.
How is the Janowski's conducting and tempi compared to Solti?
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I have the Decca Solti Ring on LP as the original individual sets, not the complete wooden box set with Deryck Cooke introduction and although there is some tape hiss I don't find it effensive. The sound is the typical high quality that was coming from Decca at that time.

What I would still like to get though is the ENO Goodall Cycle as I saw this complete cycle with Goodall at the ENO twice. Not sure why I never brought the recordings, finance probably. I think it was always more expensive than the Solti?

But which is the best mastering of that set? The 1991 CD EMI set, The 2001 Chandos CD set, the 2013 Chandos CD set or try for a decent set of each opera on LP from around 1975. The LP's seem to go for £20 - £30 an opera for supposedly NM, but it may difficult to get the cycle without LP faults?
 
I have the Decca Solti Ring on LP as the original individual sets, not the complete wooden box set with Deryck Cooke introduction and although there is some tape hiss I don't find it effensive. The sound is the typical high quality that was coming from Decca at that time.

What I would still like to get though is the ENO Goodall Cycle as I saw this complete cycle with Goodall at the ENO twice. Not sure why I never brought the recordings, finance probably. I think it was always more expensive than the Solti?

But which is the best mastering of that set? The 1991 CD EMI set, The 2001 Chandos CD set, the 2013 Chandos CD set or try for a decent set of each opera on LP from around 1975. The LP's seem to go for £20 - £30 an opera for supposedly NM, but it may difficult to get the cycle without LP faults?

If you stream then they should be available - they certainly are on Qobuz - that may give you an idea of whether you still want the set. On Qobuz it looks as if they have the 2001 set.

I have the set on LP, bought second hand and not listened to in ages, you’ve piqued my interest in having another listen.
 
If you stream then they should be available - they certainly are on Qobuz - that may give you an idea of whether you still want the set. On Qobuz it looks as if they have the 2001 set.

I have the set on LP, bought second hand and not listened to in ages, you’ve piqued my interest in having another listen.
Thanks, but I don't 'stream' music and even the other sort of streaming is more difficult these days. ;)

I suppose I want this Ring Cycle out of nostalgia as much as anything, but having also seen in the past both the Covent Garden and WNO Rings as well as the ENO I still remember this as my favourite production and performances. I doubt I will last long enough to make it worth putting my name down for Bauyreth. :( There is also only so much time available to play Wagner operas so the it would not get played often as it seems you have also found? :)
 
I've tried listening to the Goodall set in the past but find it absurdly slow. Doesn't work for me. .....17

Live it was the added beauty and space brought out by Goodall's leisurely pace that made his conducting of the cycle so wonderful. The extra time in the bloody uncomfortable seats at the Coliseum that were the only ones I could afford at the time wasn't welcome though! :(;)
 
Thanks, but I don't 'stream' music and even the other sort of streaming is more difficult these days. ;)

I suppose I want this Ring Cycle out of nostalgia as much as anything, but having also seen in the past both the Covent Garden and WNO Rings as well as the ENO I still remember this as my favourite production and performances. I doubt I will last long enough to make it worth putting my name down for Bauyreth. :( There is also only so much time available to play Wagner operas so the it would not get played often as it seems you have also found? :)

I had a listen to the first LP in The Valkirie. The sound was pretty good for a live recording. If you do go for the LPs bear in mind that they are quadrophonic encoded using the SQ matrix system - as were all/most EMI classical recordings of the era. I can’t say I noticed any image instability.
 
I saw the Goodall cycle at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow sometime in the mid seventies. The music was wonderful, but I couldn't get along with the English translation bit. The lyrics sound much better in German and they're pretty unintelligible sung in English anyway.
 
I haven't heard the Janowski set, but can recommend Christian Thielemann's live recording from Bayreuth 2008, which is dramatic and powerful, with some excellent singing. In fact, the 2007 performances were even better, but they haven't been released commercially.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I had a listen to the first LP in The Valkirie. The sound was pretty good for a live recording. If you do go for the LPs bear in mind that they are quadrophonic encoded using the SQ matrix system - as were all/most EMI classical recordings of the era. I can’t say I noticed any image instability.

I have quiet a few HMI ASD SQ's and I can remember any being problematic and some sound really excellent.
 
I saw the Goodall cycle at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow sometime in the mid seventies. The music was wonderful, but I couldn't get along with the English translation bit. The lyrics sound much better in German and they're pretty unintelligible sung in English anyway.

Well the English always raised at least a 'titter' every time at the Coliseum when Sigfried (Albert Remedios) removed Brunnhilde's (the rather well endowed Rita Hunter's) breast plate when awakening her and declares "Not a Man"! :)
 
Listening to act 1 of the Valkyrie right now... Karl Bohm/Bayreuth 1967.... Sounds pretty good. James King in fine voice... though Leonie Rysanek isn't Regine Crespin. I prefer Bohm's way with the orchestra to Solti's.
 


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