The singing is what most opera lovers go for when looking at the cast of a prospective pirate release - and this cast delivers. Hunter is well-known from the Goodall English language cycle for EMI (later Chandos). Her fluent, lovely singing with its diamond-like top is a far cry from most of the squally, wobbly singing we hear nowadays in Wagner. Vickers was still in his vocal prime when this was recorded (1976); he is less self-indulgent than he could be while singing with his unique, burly sound. Meier is a terrific Sieglinde and Pearl an excellent Fricka. Wilderman shows once again why he never lacked for work: his voice is rock solid and he sounds the unpleasant Hunding to the life. Shinall's wooly tone was never beautiful, but he had good high notes, excellent diction, and knows how the role was supposed to go. The Walküren in Act Three are a solid group with an especially good Helmwige (too bad we're not told who they are). Holt was a mediocre conductor though a fine musician. He makes several cuts in Wotan's Act Two monologue and a shorter cut in Act Three. His orchestra (probably a pick-up group) doesn't seem to know the score very well.The basic sound is good albeit with some annoying static in Act One and some editing errors that should've been fixed before release. The disc break between discs two and three is appalling (Act Three could easily have fit on disc three by itself). For fans of the singers.

The performance is wonderful. The recording leave a lot to be desired.

This rough-and-ready performance from Philadelphia is mainly valuable for documenting Johanna Meier's softly feminine, blonde-voiced Sieglinde. Documents of Meier's artistry are rare, enhancing the value of this release. I saw her perform this role with Jon Vickers, eight years later, in Minneapolis, and they were as splendid a pairing then as they are here. Vickers demonstrates that he was constitutionally incapable of phoning in a performance, regardless of the circumstances. Rita Hunter's gleaming Brunnhilde, with her easy top notes, reinforces her standing as the preeminent interpreter of the role in the Seventies (Birgit Nilsson had had a good run but was beginning to sound her age.) Louise Pearl is one of the most beautiful-sounding Frickas, marshaling her arguments with regal command and William Wildermann is the nastiest-sounding Hunding imaginable.The drawbacks are Vern Shinall's wobbly Wotan, no more than tolerable, and Henry Holt's perfunctory conducting. The latter seems to reserve his energy for big moments like the Ride of the Valkyries and hurry through the rest. Despite some dropouts, the sound is good enough to be mistaken for a broadcast.

Edmund Barham was a very fine tenor, and from the above a gracious colleague. He sadly died earlier this year. R.I.P.

I was priviledged to hear some of Rita Hunters prformances in her prime as a singing student and appered on stage with her when she sang Gotterdamerung,I was then in the extra chorus at E.N.O.i HEARD HER ALSO ON THE NIGHT SHE MADE A HUGE BREAKTHROUGH IN HER CAREER THAT of the first night of The Walkyrie as it was then known in English in the famous performance with Alberto Remedios,Norman Baileyetc conducted by Reginald Goodall,I heard her Trovatore,Santuzza,she was a vocally phenomenal let down a lot by her very corpulant size,a vey nice person also