Stein's Siegfried is extremely well conducted and paced. There is a forward motion that keeps everything moving until that final joyous C-major. His cast is very impressive. Paskuda's whiny timbre suits Mime to a T and he and Neidlinger make the most of their one together. Cox is sturdy and dependable; most audiences dismissed him as nothing more than that, but we'd be happy to have him today. Ligendza sings a lovely Brunnhilde with terrific top B's and C's (the final one held out ala another Swedish soprano). She sang only one Fidelio at the Met and declined to come back a few weeks later to sing Isolde with Vickers causing consternation on the part of the management. Perhaps she thought the house too big for her lyric voice - who knows?Peter Meven sings Fafner beautifully (no roars though) and Elisabeth Volkman delivers a lovely Woodbird with excellent diction (I heard her sing Butterfly with Michigan Opera Theater five or six years later.) Hoffgen remains an excellent Erda.The sound is very good, stereo through most of the performance although the last 30 minutes of Act One are mono. There are a few glitches that probably derive from the mastertape, but nothing too serious.Onto Gotterdammerung!

Sicher, der Sound der 1970er Aufnahme ist besser als bei dieser aus dem Folgejahr, die Stimme der Lindholm kräftiger als die der Ligendza. Und doch packt mich die 1971er Aufführung mehr, vor allem die Paarung Cox-Ligendza steigert sich am Ende zu einem fulminanten Finale.