Editorial Reviews

If this slim two-disc set is a listener's first encounter with Georg Solti's "Das Rheingold," he/she might be forgiven for thinking the recording was made in 2008 or 1988 or even 1968. But 1958? How could a recording this crisp, clean, detailed, full, deep, immediate, and overwhelmingly real have been recorded in 1958?

It could have been and it was. Thanks to the combined genius of Decca producer John Culshaw and engineer Gordon Parry, Solti's 1958 "Rheingold" sounds as if it could have been recorded yesterday. Indeed, it sounds as if it were not a recording at all but an aural mirage that makes the music appear to be happening right in front of and all around the listener. By the common consensus of generations of music lovers, there has never been a better sounding "Rheingold."

But the truly wonderful thing is that there has arguably never been a better performed "Rheingold." With the commandingly vigorous George London as Wotan, the magnificently glorious Kirsten Flagstad as Fricka, the brilliantly insidious Gustav Neidlinger as Alberich, the sweetly perfidious Set Svanholm as Loge, plus 10 other superlative singers, the cast was the gold standard for its time. And then as it is now, the orchestra is the world's pre-eminent opera pit orchetra, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and their suave strings, individualistic winds, heroic brass, and powerful percussion -- not forgetting to mention their astounding 16 tuned anvils -- turn in performances which has rarely been equaled and never been surpassed in recorded history.

And finally there's Georg Solti himself. Before this recording, there may have been more profound "Rheingolds" (Furtwängler's), more flowing "Rheingolds" (Knappertsbusch's), and more cosmic "Rheingolds" (Krauss'). And after it, there may have been faster "Rheingolds" (Böhm's), slower "Rheingolds" (Levine's), and cleaner "Rheingolds" (Boulez's). But there has never been a more theatrically intense "Rheingold." Solti grasps the work's many details, but always keeps its drama foremost in his mind. When combined with the conductor's characteristically forceful dynamics and inexorable tempos, the result is overwhelmingly compelling and unbearably exciting. Any Wagner true believer will want to hear the great "Rheingolds" before Solti's and sample some of the later recordings. But for a first "Rheingold" or an only "Rheingold," there is no finer choice than this. James Leonard, All Music Guide

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