WAGNER: DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN (BAYREUTH, LIVE 1953) - CLEMENS KRAUSS (13 CDS)

This 13 CD box set presents the complete recording of Richard Wagner's epoch-making cycle of four operas "Der Ring des Nibelungen" at the 1953 Bayreuth festival. It sees Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss conduct the festival orchestra and chorus, plus a whole host of star singers. These include Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gustav Neidlinger, Ramon Vinay and others.
The recording was greeted by national and international critics with great enthusiasm. The New York Times held it to be the best recording to date of Wagner's work. The superlatives heaped upon the achievements of the conductor Clemens Krauss were also applied to the outstanding ensemble of singers that in this quality and composition are still unsurpassed today.

They included Hans Hotter, without parallel at Wotan in the 1950s, and for many the best Wotan of all time; Astrid Varnay as the strong-voiced and impressive Brünnhilde; in the role of Siegfried Wolfgang Windgassen - ideally cast (and that would remain so for the next 15 years); Gustav Niedlinger as the Alberich; Erich Witte (Loge) and Josef Greindl (Fafner, Hunding, Hagen) no less perfectly cast. The same goes for the Siegmund in this production, the tenor Ramon Vinay. And the remaining members of the ensemble, Ira Malaniuk, Maria von Ilosvay, Regina Resnik, Hermann Uhde, Paul Kuën and Ludwig Weber made important contributions to this legendary performance.