We who love Martha Modl are very happy and grateful that this document of her only Fricka at Bayreuth exists at all, let alone in listenable sound. The tapist is clearly in the theater wings for Das Rheingold and (I'm guessing here) out in the house for Die Walkure. Neither is sumptuous, but the voices can be clearly heard and that's really all that matters. Modl is predictably a vivid, hectoring Fricka. Her voice is no longer what it was, but there's enough there to get the character across. If she had just spoken the part I would've been satisfied.The Bayreuth website lists Modl as having performed the Rheingold Fricka, but not the Walkure. Since the other voices in the scene are definitely those of Stewart and Dvorakova one wonders if this was taken from a rehearsal or the website is incorrect (I suspect the latter; there are a number of errors on the Bayreuth website). All Modl fans should have this!

Admirers of Martha Modl will want this fascinating document of her one apearance as Fricka at the Bayreuth Festival and certainly need not hesitate. Her voice is darker and less steady than it was in the 1950s but still wonderfully expressive and completely mesmerising - those familiar with her Gotterdamerung Waltraute in the comercially issued Bayreuth recording from 1966 under Karl Bohm will know exactly what to expect. The recorded sound is a bit oddly balanced but very clear, favouring the singers in the Rheingold excerpts and the orchestra in the Walkure ones.