The third installment of the Kempe 1960 Bayreuth Ring cycle continues with this stirling performance of Siegfried. Hopf is usually no one's favorite tenor, but he sings steadily here. The baritonal, rather heavy timbre will not please all listeners though his top notes ring out effectively. He is sensitive to the text and paces himself well so that the end of the opera finds him still sounding fresh. He ducks the tricky top C at his entrance, but many Siegfrieds do that. Nilsson is more in her element in this part of the cycle, the higher tessitura a boon to her. Her top notes are predictably thrilling. Uhde is certainly good as the Wanderer and textually very specific. He finds the tessitura heavy going, especially in the third act where one begins to hear some effort in his singing. Herold Kraus is a creepy, sturdy Mime and his namesake (they were unrelated) Otakar Kraus continues his fine performance as a bitter Alberich. Roth-Ehrang sings Fafner with a beautiful, steady dark bass. One wishes he hadn't died so young (he was only 46 and set to debut at the Met). He emits none of the yawns and roars called for in the stage directions, but I assume that was Wolfgang Wagner's decision. Hoffgen is a splendid Erda and Siebert a lovely, joyful Woodbird. Kempe leads a spirited performance that never bogs down.The sound is excellent. Onto the final day Gotterdammerung!