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Casting-wise, this Siegfried is probably the most interesting of the 1968 Bayreuth Ring Cycle.  Of most interest to myself was the Wanderer of Josef Greindl.  Greindl was best known for playing the typical bass villains like Hagen and Hunding.  I was very pleased to see that he can shift gears to portray the avuncular, yet commanding Wanderer that we meet in Siegfried.  Greindl's voice manages very well with this bass-baritone role and is an interesting counterpoint to the virile Wotan that Theo Adam demonstrated earlier in the Cycle.  Ticho Parly brings an attractive, if slightly wooden, tone to Siegfried and heroically manages to brave both Brünnhilde's fire and the ludicrous demands of the title role unscathed.  Gerhard Stolze's Mime is by far my favorite of any other singers in the history of recorded sound and has no problem bending his light tenor out of shape to depict Mime's grotesque nature.  As Brünnhilde, Berit Lindholm sounds remarkably fresh in the final duet.  As an extra bonus Erika Köth sings the Waldvöglein.  The sound, for the most part, is very good, although in this opera only there is some very brief static occasionally.

OD 10700-3