In my 2019 survey of Ring cycles, I considered Knappertsbusch’s 1957 cycle in comparison with that of the following year, but not this first of his three complete Bayreuth cycles, from 1956. It has previously been issued separately on the Andromeda and Orfeo labels, the latter being superior, and was also part of the whole cycle from Melodram and Music & Arts in 1997. It was always subject to a certain cavernous quality which is well tamed here but of course also given far greater depth, detail and spread by Pristine’s Ambient Stereo XR remastering. It is wonderfully immediate, as is apparent from the very first rumblings of those famous E-flat major chords; Alberich grumbles and sneezes from below, the Rhinemaidens float serenely above him and the listener is thoroughly immersed in the drama – it is really miraculously good for a live recording nearly seventy years old as I write, one of the very best of Andrew Rose’s restorations. Voices on stage are well forward but the balance between them and orchestra is excellent. Yes; there are a few irritating few coughs and a bit of stage machinery noise but nothing of any significance, and things like the sound of the treasure being piled up around Freia and Fafner’s clubbing to death of his brother only add to the vivid atmosphere of a live performance. Even ears used to the Culshaw-Decca sound effects will be satisfied by the din of the hammering on the anvils and the screams of the dwarf slave-workers as they scatter.

It is true that Kna’s spacious tempi, as in the reprise of “Walala! Lalaleia!”, are sometimes a little laboured but every strand of the music emerges clearly – which is just as well, as there are far fewer of the accidents in co-ordination which occur in Clemens Krauss’ cycle three years earlier and were to some degree covered by his more precipitate beat. His grip over proceedings means that the tale – the tautest narrative of the tetralogy – unfolds with unprecedented inevitability; nothing is rushed but momentum is invariably maintained. The descent into and ascent from Nibelheim in Scene 3, for example, are both thrilling.

The singing is stellar. The trio of Rhinemaidens is entirely alluring and homogeneous, yet each is individually characterful. Nothing more needs to be said about Gustav Neidlinger’s masterfully sung, definitively wicked and wholly entertaining Alberich; it is virtually identical to his for Solti, even down to his disappearance back into the depths clutching the gold, guffawing triumphantly. The same is true of Paul Kuen’s Mime, also repeated for Solti.

Kna’s handling of the transition to Valhalla and Wotan’s dream is wholly seamless and the massive sonority of Hotter’s bass-baritone instantly establishes him as an Immortal. He is matched by Georgine von Milinkovic’s steady-voiced, yet insistently hectoring, Fricka. The remastering throws into relief the crispness of their German diction as their accusations and rebuttals are batted back and forth – although she was of course Croatian. It is a real bonus to have the shimmering soprano of Gré Brouwenstijn sing the relatively small role of Freia and the imposing giants are the Bayreuth regulars Josef Greindl and Arnold van Mill. Greindl blares and bellows a bit but that is not inappropriate for the brutish Fafner; van Mill is aptly slyer and subtler both in voice and manner. Ludwig Suthaus is a spirited, strong-voiced Loge, hardly attractive of tone and occasionally bleaty but entirely inside the role. Having the limpid lyric tenor Josef Traxel as Froh is again nothing but an advantage. Jean Madeira as the divine prophetess Erda is as majestic as she was for Solti, her voice beautiful, booming and baleful. Eberhard Wächter’s virile Donner for Solti has spoilt me for all others in that role but Alfons Herwig is excellent, even if Kna’s more measured way with his gathering of the swirling mists before the hammer blow is grand rather than electrifying – and although we might miss the mighty impact of that blow as it sounds in the Decca recording, the subsequent rumbling thunder is impressive.

In many ways, this is every bit as satisfying as Solti’s reference recording, especially now that its sound is so full. Preference will depend upon whether Hotter or George London is your ideal exponent of Wotan, and whether you prefer Knappertsbusch’s monumental pacing to Solti’s fluid dynamism. I am happy to have both.

Ralph Moore | APRIL 11, 2024

For those like me who were brought up on Solti’s studio Ring, the prospect of hearing one by Knappertsbusch is the stuff of legend. In his book on recording the Ring, the producer John Culshaw, who was planning a studio Ring, explained why he did not do so with Kna: ‘I knew by then that he could not produce in the studio the remotest ghost of what had been the greatest theatrical experience of my life.’ Not being a close follower of live opera recordings, I had not known that live performances of the Ring from Kna were available, and this Rheingold and its successor operas come from the 1956 cycle. Having recently listened through again to Solti’s Ring, I have had that in mind for a comparison.

Presumably the source material was the radio recording, but Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio has worked his magic on it, so that it is now available in ambient stereo and the sound is full, rich and clear. It does, however, very much favour the voices. The orchestra at Bayreuth plays in a sunken pit, while it seems that the microphone or microphones were placed quite high up. This is fine for the voices, but it does mean that a good deal of the instrumental detail comes over far too softly. This is even true of the brass. The first statements of the gold motif on the horn are inaudible. A test passage is the descent into Nibelheim between the second and third scenes. The strings build up the hammering motif to a great climax and then the theme associated with love rejected cuts through the texture, first on trumpets and then on trombones, and descends to the depths. Here, the brass theme can barely be heard. Then the anvils come in and take over. Culshaw and Solti took pains to follow Wagner’s directions precisely, using eighteen anvils in three different sizes and realizing their notated clanking exactly. Here the sound is crude and overloud so that you do not hear the orchestra when it comes back in. Solti’s version here is incomparably superior. Similarly, at the end of the opera, the rainbow bridge theme does not dominate the texture as it should.

However, honours are more even when it comes to the singers, partly because Solti uses some of the same ones. Neidlinger’s Alberich and Kuen’s Mime are just as effective as on the Solti set. It is a particular pleasure to hear Hotter as Wotan; Solti, somewhat controversially, cast George London as the Rheingold Wotan but reverted to Hotter, then coming to the end of his career, for the Walküre Wotan and the Siegfried Wanderer. Hotter is in excellent voice with barely a trace of the wobble which could afflict him later, and his phrasing and projection of the text is superior to London, good though he is. Of the other gods, I would particularly note Suthaus’s Loge. I don’t think he really has the right voice for the role, as he was a Heldentenor who also sang Siegfried, while Loge is a character role, but he is suitably cunning and expressive.

The women are good too. The trio of Rhinemaidens is absolutely delightful. Gré Brouwenstijn manages to make something of the tiny part of Freia, while Jean Madeira is as suitably solemn and impressive as Erda as she is for Solti. Solti famously managed to secure Kirsten Flagstad, the leading Brünnhilde of the previous period, to come out of retirement to sing Fricka, but Georgine von Milinkovič also does a fine job.

Kna’s pacing is surprisingly similar to Solti, so much so that I wonder whether Solti had been to Bayreuth to hear one of his performances to help prepare his own. However, he goes for the long line, whereas Solti takes every opportunity to build up climaxes. The balance problems I put down to the recording engineers, not to Kna. Despite my reservations, this is a rewarding set, and fans of the singers, in particular, will be pleased.

Stephen Barber | JULY 21, 2024