Roberta Knie went on to sing Isolde to great effect. I disagree that her voice was too light for Wagnerian repertoire. As Knie herself was to say in interviews, the act of placing the voice in the mask and singing Wagner produced vibrations that detached her retinas. "I'd rather see than sing" she said, and promptly retired.

Roberta Knie was a fine singer whose career was undermined by illness and vocal issues. This Walkure finds her in very good form and shows why she was rapidly gaining a enviable reputation in the hochdramatisch repertoire. Her "Hojotohos" are dead on and she displays a warm, colorful soprano in the rest of the role. Brenneis sings beautifully as Siegmund with a more lyrical timbre than we normally hear in this role. I liked Napier more than Andy does; the timbre can be a little glassy, but she knows what she's supposed to do and does it with imagination. McIntyre is in great shape as Wotan, Reynolds is a majestic Fricka, Ridderbusch a luxury as Hunding. The Walkuren are quite good with Brenda Roberts a stand-out as Helmwige (she would go on to sing the Siegfried Brunnhilde in this cycle.)The sound is very good, but there is some annoying crosstalk with a German announcer during the latter half of Wotan's monologue and a small amount of music is missing after the Todesverkundigung scene (about two minutes). I'm glad we have what we have though if only to preserve Knie's Walkure Brunnhilde (none of her music is missing. )