第一套立体声的指环，Keilberth现在的人很陌生了，也许这套录音的发行会让更多的爱好者留意到他。
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WAGNER
Der Ring der Nibelungen
(Recorded in stereo live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival)
Testament will issue the first-ever stereo recording of The Ring Cycle
with Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay and Wolfgang Windgassen
In January 2006 Testament will release a new Siegfried, the first instalment of a 'lost' Ring recorded at the Bayreuth Festival in 1955. Thrillingly conducted by Joseph Keilberth (called by Astrid Varnay "a conductor with so much love, who was always there for you"), the cycle provides the opportunity to hear complete for the first time on commercial release the definitive performances of Hans Hotter (Wotan/Wanderer), Astrid Varnay (Brünnhilde), Ramon Vinay (Siegmund), Josef Greindl (Hagen) and Paul Kuen (Mime), in addition to the much-loved Siegfried of Wolfgang Windgassen, here heard in his prime.
These 'live' Bayreuth performances were taped by a Decca team led by Peter Andry and including the noted engineers Kenneth Wilkinson and Roy Wallace, with Gordon Parry as assistant. Using a new six-channel mixer designed by Wallace, the team made both stereo and mono recordings of each opera. Three microphones were placed in the sunken orchestra pit and three hung from a lighting bridge about 20 feet above the stage. "This was brilliant; it worked beautifully", remembers Wallace. The company prepared for an expected release, but John Culshaw, recently returned to Decca, vetoed the project. He disliked 'live' recordings and already had plans for a studio Ring with Solti which began four years later.
Decca's recording vividly captures in wonderful stereo sound the unique acoustic and stage/pit balance of the Bayreuth Festival theatre with its sunken orchestra, in addition to preserving the leading singers from a Wagnerian golden age in 'live' performance.
The remaining operas in the cycle will appear in March, May and July 2006.
SBT2 1390 (2-CD set)
Wagner
Das Rheingold
Jutta Vulpius · Elisabeth Schartel · Maria Graf · Gustav Neidlinger
Georgine von Milinkovic · Hans Hotter · Herta Wilfert · Ludwig Weber
Josef Greindl · Josef Traxel · Toni Blankenheim · Rudolf Lustig · Paul Kuen · Maria von Ilosvay
Bayreuth Festival Chorus & Orchestra
SBT4 1391 (4-CD set)
Die Walküre
Georgine von Milinkovic · Hans Hotter · Ramon Vinay · Gre Brouwenstijn
Josef Greindl · Astrid Varnay · Gerda Lammers · Elisabeth Schartel · Maria von Ilosvay
Hilde Scheppan · Jean Watson · Maria Graf · Herta Wilfert
Bayreuth Festival Chorus & Orchestra
SBT4 1392 (4-CD set)
Siegfried
Gustav Neidlinger · Hans Hotter · Josef Greindl · Paul Kuen · Maria von Ilosvay
Astrid Varnay · Wolfgang Windgassen · Ilse Hollweg
Bayreuth Festival Chorus & Orchestra
SBT4 1393 (4-CD set)
Götterdämmerung
Jutta Vulpius · Elisabeth Schartel · Maria Graf · Gustav Neidlinger
Astrid Varnay · Maria von Ilosvay · Wolfgang Windgassen · Georgine von Milinkovic
Mina Bolotine · Hermann Uhde · Josef Greindl · Gre Brouwenstijn
Bayreuth Festival Chorus & Orchestra
These sets will also be available on Audiophile vinyl
