I've been enjoying this Ring for the second or third time now. The final act in Götterdämmerung just blows me away. The orchestra is a force to be reckoned with, and Keilberth's vision is persistent and unwavering. Windgassen's Siegfried is as good as any other, and Martha Mödl is a gem. She was no Nilsson, but who is? There is a brief pause after the final orchestral notes before the Bayreuth applause begins, almost as if the audience is overcome with the sheer elegance and beauty of Wagner's score. While I love and admire Solti's studio Ring, the live performances at Bayreuth offer genuine organic emotions that are sometimes lost in the sterility of studio recordings. Highly recommended!

This performance of Gotterdammerung concludes a wonderful Ring cycle. It is not flawless: Modl and Windgassen occasionally sing wrong notes or words and the singers and orchestra are not always in sync with each other. But there are no disasters and the entire performance has a drive that sweeps everything before it like the Rhine sweeping away the Gibichung Hall at the end of the opera.Modl was in terrific voice that summer. She has no difficulty with any of her high notes, capping the Dawn duet with an excellent top C. She carries us with her through the performance, her intensity never letting up for a moment. The final scene is sung as persuasively as any I've ever heard. Windgassen too sings like a dream. Why critics rag on him is a mystery. Greindl brings his portrayal of evil to a head with his half human Hagen. His trill in the Vassals scene is stingy, but that's my only criticism. Uhde was always a convincing Gunther, splendidly sung. Hinsch-Grondahl is better than I remember her being. Wieland had an obsession with dark female voices and cast many of the soprano roles with mezzos. Speaking of dark female voices, the Norns here all have a similar vocal color and contribute a splendid scene to begin the opera. Keilberth's focus is always the music; his ability to tell a long story is evident in spades here.The Pirate Gods really smiled on Bayreuth in 1953; both this and the Krauss cycle are in excellent broadcast sound.