Propulsive but never superficial conducting by Horst Stein is arguably the biggest attraction of this "Gotterdammerung" but the sum of the parts adds up more convincingly than the same year's "Siegfried." Jean Cox owns the heroic metal for Siegfried and is able to darken his predominantly bright voice convincingly for the Siegfried-as-Gunther hoax. Catarina Ligendza's straight-toned vocal production takes some acclimation but she's got the gunpower and fire for Brünnhilde.To get the downsides out of the way, the Norns are -- Marga Hoeffgen excepted -- a nondescript threesome (the Rhinemaidens are a far more felicitous trio), Anna Reyonlds is an unexceptional Waltraute and the Gutrune is subpar. On the plus side, Karl Ridderbusch's saturnine Hagen is smoothly voiced, Franz Mazura's granitic Gunther is one of Bayreuth's best and Gustav Neidlinger, well into his sixties, is an unforgettable Alberich. Beware: The original recordist must have had a defective pinch roller and capstan on his tape deck: The opening minutes of Act II slew from left channel to right and back again.

3 Brunnhilde’s plus 2 in the wings in Jones and Napier.=,would that this was the case today.Voigt ,Watson and Bullock don’t really cut it. Ligendza was a very good soprano but cancelled more times than not, she was scared of the big challenge and it showed.

Three very great Brünnhildes, Lindholm and Ligendza both Swedish. I have made music together with Ligendza’s parents, they were during 30 years leading singers at the Royal Opera in Stockholm and sang everything from operetta to Tristan and Brünnhilde! Nice people. Ligendza did not cancel in Stockholm, so I have heard her in a complete Ring, and as Elisabeth and Elsa. I was impressed, indeed.Lindholm is a favourite of mine. She has a fanpage on http://www.facebook.se and on http://www.wikipedia.se you can find a very impressive discography of hers, almost complete. I will add the Walküre in this Ring soon!Schröder-Feinen was world famous when she got a severe depression and when cured after some years no opera house dared to engage her, afraid of cancellations.