I have already reviewed the earlier 1953 Bayreuth Ring cycle under Keilberth, also available from Opera Depot. That one had exactly the same cast except for substituting Brünnhildes, there Martha Mödl, here Astrid Varnay. Both Keilberth and Krauss knew how to tell a story, where to linger, where to press on. I'm not going to express a preference for one over the other. Neither cycle is musically or textually flawless, but the minor live performance fluffs simply don't matter in this context. Both Mödl and Varnay offer classic portrayals. Windgassen makes some musical and textual errors (he was doing the role for the first time), but he's a great Siegfried, singing with a beauty of tone and line rarely heard in this role. Hotter is in his freshest voice and is godlike in all the right ways. Everyone else down the line gives their all. To make it even better, the Pirate Gods smiled benevolently on both cycles, both are in warm, clear broadcast sound.If you haven't heard the Krauss cycle yet, reward yourself now: you won't regret it.

This is Ring cycle is justly famous and the one many critics point to as the greatest ever recorded at Bayreuth. However a couple of casting issues keeps it out of my top 5 rings. Wolfgang Windgassen was new to the role of Siegfried and unfortunately it shows. His late entrance in the famous forging song appears to completely derail him as he then proceeds to make absolute hash out of this scene, which just so happens to be my favorite moment in the entire Ring saga. He also has a tendency to sing ahead of the beat, an annoying habit that would plague this artist for the rest of this career. But even more problematic for me is the Brunnhilde of Astrid Varnay. Power and extension she possesses in spades... No argument there. But that power and extension comes with an ugly mannerism, her infamous tendency to sing flat then "scoop" up to the note, which makes listening to her less than a pleasure. It's for this reason I actually prefer the earlier Bayreuth Ring of 1953 conducted by Joseph Keilberth (available at Opera Depot) and featuring Martha Modl as Brunnhilde. Her voice may not possess the power of Varnay's, but it is much more pleasing on the ear and despite a reliable top end, Modl is more than acceptable in the role. Windgassen's problems remain consistent in that earlier performance. Just so it doesn't seem that Windgassen and Varnay are the only reasons for my reserve regarding this famous Ring, let me just add that I also find Clemens Krauss' conducting less interesting than that of Knappertsbusch (Bayreuth 1956) and Furtwangler (Milan 1950). Both of these Ring cycles also available at Opera Depot.