For one who is not a specialist in opera recordings, let alone in Bayreuth Rings, the multiplity of Keilberth Rings is baffling. I for one meant to acquire the first installment of the historic stereo Ring (the first ever stereo Ring), with the purpose to acquire the whole tetralogy subsequently. The possibility to dip into the tetralogy one opera at a time seemed an enticing deal of this much raved, legendary project that many Wagnerians seem to regard the ultimate in Ringdom.
Now, this is not the stereo Ring, but luckily for me, I am not a diehard audiophile. The recording sounds good enough even if in 1952 mono. Keilberth has a constant forward drive a grip of the score, but moreover: the singers are real Wagner voices. The real star of the show is Astrid Varnay, who for me is probably the most convincing female Wagner voice I have heard. This recording became my favourite, ahead of my Solti and Furtwängler.
So, all good. Yet I would advise the publisher (called Austromechana) to get their act together and print on the front cover which version the recording is (Keilberth has three Bayreuth Rings; this one in question is the earliest one from 1952 and the two later ones date from 1953 and the stereo one from 1955). For someone the version in question may well be a dealbreaker. A sloppy production reduces one star of an otherwise five-star-recording.
My review is also released at Amazon.co.uk.
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