It wuz goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood.

A fantastic performance. I avoided this performance for years because reviews stated that the sound was sub-par. I do not know what they were drinking. The sound is excellent for the year it was produced, on par with Keilberth 1953, only slightly behind Knappertsbusch 1957. Yet the performance is better than 1957 for the simple reason that Windgassen is Siegfried instead of Aldenhoff in the eponymous opera. Varney and Hotter are slightly passed their peaks of 53-55 but no matter, they are extraordinary. I prefer swifter Rings but knappertsbusch, along with Furtwangler 1953 and Karajan, show that the Ring can work at slower speeds so long as concentration and tension are maintained. Neidlinger gives what may be his best performance. A bargain and a steal. Get it.

Choosing between the three extant Knappertsbusch Bayreuth Ring cycles is a fruitless endeavor because all of them are terrific. So much of what one considers (the singing, the conducting, the sound) is so subjective. One cycle may be stronger in this or that role, scene, or opera; ultimately, it comes down to personal taste. But really there's no reason to choose since all three cycles (1956-58) are readily available on YouTube or CD. Since Walhall is no longer in business, the CDs have become more challenging to find, but Opera Depot is making them available again. Hopefully the 1958 cycle will emerge soon.And then there is the 1952 Keilberth cycle (Opera Depot has the Gotterdammerung already available) and the two 1953 cycles (Keilberth and Krauss). The 1954 cycle, though broadcast, has never been found (at least not yet). The 1955 Keilberth cycles were recorded commercially by Decca, but remained in the vaults until 2005 or so when the Testament label finally negotiated the release of the first stereo Ring. John Culshaw consigned those cycles to oblivion because he wanted to create the first studio Ring led by a Hungarian conductor named Georg Solti.If you love Wagner or the Ring, you need this Ring cycle. Now onto the 1958 cycle, Andy!

This is the best of the three Knappertsbusch Rings. The singers are at their peak vocally and interpretively.Voices are clear, but orchestra slightly recessed. The sound is still good, nevertheless.