Careers are often made on the cancellation of star singers. One such indisposition in the summer of 1974 afforded three budding Wagnerians the opportunity of a lifetime to sing Brünnhilde at Wagner's own theater. Of the three, the only soprano to go on to international acclaim was Gwyneth Jones, but don't let that diminish your expectations for Roberta Knie, whose steely, athletic soprano feels entirely at home as the Walküre Brünnhilde, or Brenda Roberts, who delivers one of the most stunning Siegfried Brünnhildes I have ever heard (she also holds the distinction of being the youngest Brünnhilde in the history of the festival). Why Knie and Roberts did not go on to conquer the world is an entirely different discussion, but captured here at the onset of their careers, they display promise that should have made the more established dramatic sopranos of the day nervous.

Jean Cox brings his familiar Siegfried back for another summer and displays a youthful, if somewhat monochromatic, voice that never buckles under the pressure of the orchestra. Donald McIntyre's commanding yet avuncular Wotan is in remarkably fresh voice, displaying a beauty of tone that had faded slightly by the time he recorded the role for Philips. The rest of the cast is peppered with excellent cameos, the standouts being Karl Ridderbusch's Fasolt and subsequent Hagen, Franz Mazura's Alberich and subsequent Gunther, a scene-stealing Mime courtesy of Heinz Zednik, and an opulent Gutrune from Eva Randová.

Conductor Horst Stein's masterful touch keeps the operas from ever getting bogged down in the heaviness of Wagner's orchestration.