Testament has released the first-ever stereo recording of The Ring Cycle with Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay and Wolfgang Windgassen in this 14-CD boxed set at a special low price of 14 discs for the price of 9.

Thrillingly conducted by Joseph Keilberth (called by the late Astrid Varnay "a conductor with so much love, who was always there for you"), the cycle provides the opportunity to hear complete for the first time on commercial release the definitive performances of Hans Hotter (Wotan/Wanderer), Astrid Varnay (Brunnhilde), Ramon Vinay (Siegmund), Josef Greindl (Hagen) and Paul Kuen (Mime), in addition to the much-loved Siegfried of Wolfgang Windgassen, here heard in his prime.

These ‘live’ Bayreuth performances were taped by a Decca team led by Peter Andry and including the noted engineers Kenneth Wilkinson and Roy Wallace, with Gordon Parry as assistant. Using a new six channel mixer designed by Wallace, the team made both stereo and mono recordings of each opera. Three microphones were placed in the sunken orchestra pit and three hung from a lighting bridge about 20 feet above the stage. "This was brilliant; it worked beautifully", remembers Wallace. The company prepared for an expected release, but John Culshaw, recently returned to Decca, vetoed the project. He disliked ‘live’ recordings and already had plans for a studio Ring with Solti which began four years later. Decca’s recording vividly captures in wonderful stereo sound the unique acoustic and stage/pit balance of the Bayreuth Festival theatre with its sunken orchestra, in addition to preserving the leading singers from a Wagnerian golden age in ‘live’ performance.

The four individual operas have received rave reviews from the international press and this ‘Ring’ cycle is being hailed as ‘definitive’.

Recorded Bayreuth 1955. The first stereo Ring Cycle.

Artists

Das Rheingold Hans Hotter (Wotan), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Georgine von Milinkovic (Fricka), Rudolf Lustig (Loge), Paul Kuen (Mime), Ludwig Weber (Fasolt), Josef Greindl (Fafner), Josef Traxel (Froh), Hertha Wilfert (Freia), Jutta Vulpius (Woglinde), Elisabeth Schartel (Wellgunde), Maria Graf (Flosshilde)

Die Walkure Astrid Varnay (Brunnhilde), Hans Hotter (Wotan), Gre Brouwenstijn (Sieglinde), Ramon Vinay (Siegmund), Josef Greindl (Hunding), Georgine von Milinkovic (Fricka/Grimgerde), Hilde Scheppan (Helmwige), Gerda Lammers (Ortlinde), Hertha Wilfert (Gerhilde), Elisabeth Scheppan (Waltraute), Jean Watson (Siegrune), Maria von Ilosvay (Schwertleite)

Siegfried Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Hans Hotter (Der Wanderer), Astrid Varnay (Brunnhilde), Maria von Ilosvay (Erda), Ilse Hollweg (Waldvogel)

Gotterdammerung Astrid Varnay (Brunnhilde), Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Josef Greindl (Hagen), Hermann Uhde (Gunther), Gre Brouwenstijn (Gutrune), Maria von Ilosvay (Waltraute/First Norn), Georgine von Milinkovic (Second Norn), Mina Bolotine (First Norn)

Chor und Orchester der Bayreuth Festspiele, Joseph Keilberth