Wagner: Das Rheingold - Ward, Veasey, Kelemen; Solti. London, 1970
$8.95
Listen to a Sample:
Recorded in concert in the Royal Albert Hall, this Das Rheingold features disappointing sound but an exquisite Weltanschauung from Georg Solti. The prelude is truly primordial, the gods sparkle with bombast and Loge's music flits and darts around him. Only a ponderous ascent from Nibelheim mars the structure of this opera, and only the distant sound mars the cast. David Ward is a dark-hued, effectively diffident Wotan, and John Dobson uses his limited vocal recourses well as a snide Loge. Martti Talvela, Michael Langdon, Josephine Veasey and Ava June all contribute enormously in their supporting roles, and there is a bewitching two-thirds of the Rhinemaiden trio (the Floßhilde, Elizabeth Bainbridge, is a bit heavy-handed). Best of all is Zoltan Kélémen's Alberich, effortlessly showing why he owned this role for about twenty years.
OD 11187-2
