CAST LIST:

BRÜNNHILDE – BIRGIT NILSSON

SIEGFRIED – WOLFGANG WINDGASSEN

ALBERICH – GUSTAV NEIDLINGER

HAGEN – GOTTLOB FIRCK

GUTRUNE – CLAIRE WATSON

GUNTHER – DIETRICH DISCHER-DIESKAU

WALTRAUTE – CHRISTA LUDWIG

WOGLINDE – LUCIA POPP

WELLGUNDE – GWYNETH JONES

FLOSSHILDE – MAUREEN GUY

1st NORN – HELEN WATTS

2nd NORN – GRACE HOFFMAN

3rd NORN – ANITA VÄLKKI

WIENER STAATSOPERNCHOR

WIENER PHILHARMONIKER / SIR GEORG SOLTI

PRODUCT BLURB:

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of Sir Georg Solti’s passing “The Greatest Recording Of All Time” Now sounding better than ever before

Transferred and remastered in HD sound at 24bit / 192kHz from the original two-track stereo mastertapes.

The first all-new transfer in over twenty-five years.

The first-ever stereo production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, still considered the benchmark today.

“Here is the greatest achievement in gramophone history yet”, wrote Gramophone in 1965. For many, it still is.

ALL FOUR OPERAS IN THE CYCLE WILL BE RELEASED IN DELUXE VINYL EDITIONS:

Lacquers cut using half-speed mastering technique by Miles Showell, Abbey Road Studios

180g heavyweight vinyl pressed at Optimal Media GmbH in Germany

Lavishly illustrated booklets featuring technical information on the new HD remaster and original recording techniques, introduction to each opera by Producer John Culshaw, synopses and libretti in English & German plus many original session photographs and rare facsimiles “The greatest of all the achievements in the history of the gramophone record” Gramophone Magazine

“No one has bettered Solti’s Decca Ring in terms of sweep, scope, grandeur, dramatic immediacy, and sheer adrenalin” Stereophile

A note on Half-speed Mastering:

Abbey Road’s world-renowned engineers have been cutting grooves into discs since the studios first opened their doors in 1931. This record was pressed from a master cut using a precision technique known as half-speed mastering. The procedure requires the source master and the cutting lathe to run at half speed on a specially adapted Neumann VMS-80 lathe. This rare and specialized technique transforms difficult to cut high-end frequencies into relatively easy to cut mid-range frequencies. The result is a cut with excellent high frequency response and very sold and stable stereo images. In short, half-speed mastering produces a master of the highest quality that enables the pressing plant to produce a superlative record. Miles Showell, Mastering Engineer, Abbey Road Studios.