Das Rheingold

I've heard the 1958 Bayreuth RHEINGOLD before but this was an excellent and affordable opportunity to have it on CD. Delivered on time and in good shape.

Happy Birthday, Hans Knappertsbusch (1888-1965), who would be 130 years old today!

GREAT

My copy of the 1958 Das Rheingold has a terrible hum during the orchestral prelude. It spills over in to the Rheinmadern's entrance by a few seconds. Has anyone noticed this? Is it on the original tape or is it just my copy?

Great version but this recording has a strange clanking sound in the background of the Prelude. It seems to disappear after a while but I didn't listen to the whole recording yet. Disappointing. Basically, junk.

This is not the best RHEINGOLD from 1950s Bayreuth--I think my number-one candidate for that decade would be the 1952 Keilberth performance with Hermann Uhde as Wotan. Das Rheingold Uhde is crisper and younger-sounding than Hans Hotter. In RHEINGOLD, Wotan is supposed to be young, confident, arrogant, unbowed, not yet trapped in his dilemma. Hans Hotter was legendary for playing Wotan in DIE WALKURE, but in RHEINGOLD he always sounds too tragic, already broken.Also, RHEINGOLD is not really Knappertsbusch's best piece--he excels most at the slow, beautiful stuff: PARSIFAL, MEISTERSINGER, and DIE WALKURE. He's less at home with the gritty, muscular, menacing, rapid-paced, action-packed RHEINGOLD.And of course, as the other reviewer pointed out, Frans Andersson is nowhere near an adequate understudy for the mighty Gustav Neidlinger as Alberich.But this performance does have two outstanding features: Rita Gorr as Fricka, and, Theo Adam as Fasolt. I actually bought the CD because of Theo Adam. He later played Wotan in Karl Böhm's famous 1967 RING, and he was god-awful, wobbly, wooly, un-sensitive, and wooden. But he sounds great here as Fasolt! The tessitura fits his natural range better--he's a high bass, not a baritone--and the one-dimensional character is easier for him to play. His size, honest acting, and mellow timbre are most impressive here.

An excellent, and easy listening Wagner opera. I looked forward to having a copy of Das Rheingold, and I am happy that I purchased this particular recording. I trust this performance to be authentic to Wagner's intent.

aucun probleme

good this Rheingold with good sound

l'interpretazione, come sempre avviene con Knappertsbusch, è eccezionale. è l'edizione più lunga tra le sue tre di Bayreuth (1956/57 ed appunto 1958). rispetto alle due precedenti presenta un numero maggiore di momenti "intimi", il suono è sempre massiccio come consuetudine con questo direttore. il cast vocale rispetto alle annate passate è notevolmente rinnovato, forse un pelino inferiore come prestazioni, ma veramente cosa di poco conto. mentre la registrazione è veramente notevole: morbida, ben bilanciata tra voci ed orchestra e sufficientemente robusta da rendere l'idea della concezione che aveva di Wagner questo immenso ed unico maestro. insomma un documento da avere necessariamente per i cultori del sommo Wagner e del suo - per me più grande interprete - Kna