Das Rheingold Hans Hotter · Otakar Krauss · Erich Witte · Kurt Böhme Die Walküre Birgit Nilsson · Hans Hotter · Sylvia Fisher · Ramón Vinay Siegfried Wolfgang Windgassen · Hans Hotter · Peter Klein · Birgit Nilsson Götterdämmerung Birgit Nilsson · Wolfgang Windgassen · Kurt Böhme · Hermann Uhde Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Rudolf Kempe Wagner’s complete Ring cycle under Rudolf Kempe, recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1957 is being released shortly by Testament.
The cast is headed by a galaxy of top class singers at the peak of their powers, including Hans Hotter (Wotan/Wanderer), Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Ramón Vinay (Siegmund) and Sylvia Fisher (Sieglinde).
The supporting singers are equally distinguished and include Otakar Kraus (Alberich), Georgine von Milinkovic? (Fricka), Kurt Böhme (Hagen), Hermann Uhde (Gunther) and Joan Sutherland (Woglinde).
The annual Ring cycle at Covent Garden in the late 1950s was highly regarded by audiences and critics alike for presenting the leading Wagnerian singers of the day in outstanding performances, most of which at that time were conducted by the much admired Rudolf Kempe.
The transfers are being made using high quality source material from Lord Harewood’s collection. “Testament is unduly coy about the provenance of this 1957 live recording — it’s clearly not a BBC broadcast, or it would be credited, and if it is in-house, why isn’t the ROH issuing it on its own label? — but it is a timely reminder that Covent Garden was a great Wagner house even before Georg Solti raised the ante as musical director. This cast is a mixture of international Wagnerians and Covent Garden residents, with the Wotan (Hotter), Siegfried (Windgassen) and Siegmund (Vinay) common to the 1955 Bayreuth set. The glory here is Birgit Nilsson’s gleaming Brünnhilde, already 39 years old, but sounding youthful, touching and tireless. The set is a reminder of the strengths of the company at this period, with Joan Sutherland leading the Rhinemaidens.” Sunday Times, 29th June 2008 *** | 
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