George London asserts himself as one of the greatest Wotans in the history of recorded sound. His burnished bass-baritone proves equally at home in the role’s dramatic bluster as in its more conversational passages, maintaining both authority and flexibility throughout. Elisabeth Schärtel offers a Fricka that may lack a degree of power, yet a youthful sheen in the voice lends the character a somewhat softened profile. Under Wolfgang Sawallisch, the score is shaped with a keen sense of orchestral color, the textures remaining full without becoming unduly heavy.