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| Wagner Composing The Ring of the Nibelungen: L. Balestrieri |
It can be found on the upper left hand corner of any page you might be on. Alas, it will restart if you left click an item. We could resolve this by changing things so that a left hand mouse click automatically opens a new browser tab but some browsers may treat this as a "pop-up" and prevent the page opening. The easiest way to circumnavigate this issue is that for the first time you click on a new article to read, simply right click and chose "open in new tab". A pain we know, but an easy work around.
The details of the Ring Cycle playing can be found below. Should it prove popular we may add other Wagner works in the future.
Perhaps one of the greatest recorded Ring Cycles few people have heard and with an overall recording quality - with the exception of some acts (act three of Walkure being of especial note) - that, given its age, is truly astounding.
Ignoring it's "musicality" for a moment, Moralt's (nephew of Richard Strauss) Ring is important for a number of reasons:
It is the earliest uncut Ring Cycle (recorded between 1948 and 1949 and the first after WW 2). It predated - and may have guided - Furtwangler's 1953 Ring by being recorded act by act (hence the recording dates of 1948 - 49).It has fallen into legend that while attending Moralt's Walkure Furtwangler found his 1950 Siegmund in Günther Treptow.
Although this truly has a fine cast, particular attention should be given to Günther Treptow's Siegmund and Siegfried, Ferdinand Frantz's Wotan, Herbert Alsen's Hunding is a revelation (Ever thought it would be possible to "like" Hunding? Alsen nearly pulls it off), Hilde Konetzni's Sieglinde, and first (in Walkure) Helena Braun Brünnhilde taken up next in the cycle by Grob-Prandl.
Moralt is unjustifiable considered a "second rate" Wagner conductor but this (and to some degree his Parsifal) attests otherwise. But it is is easy to say these things - and "taste" is always highly subjective. However, it does, in-part allow us fulfill Wagner's wishes to make the Ring available freely to as many people as possible.
If you wish to buy a copy we believe the best remaster and transfer has been provided by MYTO
Cast:
Das Rheingold
Ferdinand Frantz (Wotan), Elisabeth Höngen (Fricka), Julius Pölzer (Loge), Adolf Vogel (Alberich), Ilona Steingruber (Freia), William Wernigk (Mime), Rosette Anday (Erda), Marjan Rus (Fasolt), Herbert Alsen (Fafner), Alfred Poell (Donner), Willy Friedrich (Froh), Esther Rethy (Woglinde), Martha Rons (Wellgunde), Sieglinde Wagner (Flosshilde)
Wiener Symphoniker, Rudolf Moralt
Die Walküre
Günther Treptow (Siegmund), Herbert Alsen (Hunding), Ferdinand Frantz (Wotan), Hilde Konetzni (Sieglinde), Helena Braun (Brünnhilde), Rosette Anday (Fricka)
Wiener Symphoniker, Rudolf Moralt
Siegfried
Günther Treptow (Siegfried), Gertrude Grob Prandl (Brünnhilde), Ferdinand Frantz (Der Wanderer), William Wernigk (Mime), Rosette Anday (Erda), Ruthilde Boesch (Woodbird)
Wiener Symphoniker, Rudolf Moralt
GötterdämmerungGünther Treptow (Siegfried), Gertrude Grob Prandl (Brünnhilde), Ludwig Weber (Hagen), Alberich (Adolf Vogel), Karl Kamann (Gunther), Hilde Konetzni (Gutrune - Acts One & Two/Dritte Norn), Judith Hellwig (Gutrune - Act Three), Rosette Anday (Waltraute/Erste Norn), Georgine von Milinkovic (Zweite Norn), Elisabeth Rutgers (Woglinde), Martha Rons (Wellgunde), Sieglinde Wagner (Flosshilde)
Wiener Symphoniker, Rudolf Moralt.
Also. If you are new to the Ring and can access Spotify, a good an introduction to the Ring in audio format as any commercially available can be found below from the ever reliable Naxos.
