The four operas of Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen together take about 15 hours, which makes for several records, tapes, or CDs, and much studio time. For this reason, many full Ring recordings are the result of "unofficial" recording of live performances, particularly from the Bayreuth Festival where new productions are often broadcast by German radio. Live recordings, especially those in monaural, may have very variable sound but often preserve the excitement of a performance better than a studio recording.
Audio recordings The following lists some well-known recordings of the complete Ring Cycle: Year ConductorOrchestra Label Stereo/Mono Live/Studio 1949 Rudolf Moralt Vienna Symphony Orchestra Myto Mono Studio(radio broadcast) 1950 Wilhelm Furtwängler Teatro alla Scala Orchestra Music & Arts, Opera D'Oro, Gebhardt, Archipel Mono Live 1953 Wilhelm Furtwängler Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro della RAI EMI Classics, Gebhardt Mono Studio(radio broadcast) Clemens Krauss Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Gala, Archipel, Opera D'Oro, Orfeo Mono Live 1952–1953,1955 Joseph Keilberth Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Testament Stereo(1955 only) Live 1956–1958 Hans Knappertsbusch Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Music & Arts, Melodram, Orfeo Mono Live 1957 Rudolf Kempe Royal Opera House Orchestra Testament Mono Live 1958–1965 Georg Solti Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Decca Records,PolyGram Stereo Studio 1961 Rudolf Kempe Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Orfeo Mono Live 1966–1970 Herbert von Karajan Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Deutsche Grammophon,PolyGram Stereo Studio 1966–1967 Karl Böhm Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Philips Stereo Live 1968 Hans Swarowsky Großes Symphonieorchester Denon Essentials Stereo Studio Wolfgang Sawallisch Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro della RAI Myto Stereo Studio(radio broadcast) 1974–1978 Reginald Goodall English National Opera Orchestra EMI Classics,Chandos Stereo Live(sung in English) 1979–1980 Pierre Boulez Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Philips,Deutsche Grammophon,PolyGram Stereo Live 1980–1983 Marek Janowski Staatskapelle Dresden Orchestra Eurodisc, BMG Stereo Studio 1987–1989 James Levine Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Deutsche Grammophon Stereo Studio 1988–1991 Bernard Haitink Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra EMI Classics Stereo Studio 1989 Wolfgang Sawallisch Bavarian State Opera Orchestra EMI Classics Stereo Live 1991–1992 Daniel Barenboim Bayreuth Festival Orchestra Warner Classics Stereo Live 1993–1995 Günter Neuhold Badische Staatskapelle Orchestra Brilliant Classics,Bella Musica, Documents Stereo Live1997-1999Roberto PaternostroStaatstheater KasselArs ProduktionStereoLive 1998–2001 Gustav Kuhn Tyrol Festival Orchestra Arte Nova Stereo Live 2005 Hartmut Haenchen Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Etcetera Multichannel Stereo Live 2006–2007 Asher Fisch Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Melba Recordings Multichannel Stereo Live 2006–2007 Lothar Zagrosek Staatsorchester Stuttgart Naxos Stereo Live 2008 Christian Thielemann Bayreuth Festival Orchestra BBC Opus Arte Stereo Live2011Christian ThielemannWiener StaatsoperDeutsche GrammpohonStereoLive 2008–2010 Simone Young Philharmoniker Hamburg Oehms Classics Stereo Live 2010–2012 Sebastian Weigle Frankfurt Opera Orchestra Oehms Classics Stereo Live 2012–2013 Marek Janowski Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra PENTATONE(PTC 5186581) Multichannel Stereo Live concert 2015-2018 Jaap van Zweden Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Naxos Stereo Live concert 2024 Fabio Luisi Dallas Symphony Orchestra Delos Stereo Live concert
The recording conducted by Georg Solti was the first stereo studio recording of the complete cycle. In a poll on the BBC Radio 3's long-running radio programme CD Review, this set was voted as the greatest recording of the 20th century. Although Solti's was the first studio stereo recording, the cycle had previously been recorded live in stereo by Decca engineers at the Bayreuth Festival in 1955 under the baton of Joseph Keilberth. Although unavailable for over 50 years, this cycle was finally released in 2006 on CD and vinyl by Testament.
Gramophone, for example, lists the Solti recording as its recommendation on its website. However, when their long-time Wagner critic Alan Blyth reviewed recordings of the Ring for the feature "Building a Library" on the BBC's CD Review (then Stereo Review) in 1986, he favoured the Böhm and Furtwängler/RAI recordings. When John Deathridge carried out a follow-up review for the programme in 1992, he favoured parts of the Goodall, Haitink and Boulez cycles for individual operas and Levine overall.
Video recordings The Ring Cycle is also available in a number of video or DVD presentations. These include: 1980–81: Pierre Boulez conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, stage director: Patrice Chéreau [Philips/Deutsche Grammophon] 1990: James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, stage director: Otto Schenk [Deutsche Grammophon 073 043-9] (part of PBS' The Metropolitan Opera Presents; also available for streaming at Met Opera on Demand1990 Met Opera: Das Rheingold (23 April 1990), Die Walküre (8 April 1989), Siegfried (26 April 1990), Götterdämmerung (5 May 1990).) 1991–92: Daniel Barenboim conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, stage director: Harry Kupfer [Warner Classics] 2003–04: Bertrand de Billy conducting the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, stage director: Harry Kupfer [BBC Opus Arte] 2004: Lothar Zagrosek conducting the Staatsoper Stuttgart, stage directors: Joachim Schlömer (Rheingold), Christof Nel (Walküre), Jossi Wieler (Siegfried) and Peter Konwitschny (Götterdämmerung) [Tdk] 2006: Hartmut Haenchen conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, stage director: Pierre Audi [Opus Arte] 2006: Michael Schønwandt conducting the Royal Danish Orchestra, stage director: Kasper Holten [Decca 074 3264] 2007–09: Zubin Mehta conducting the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, stage director: Carlus Padrissa [C Major] 2010–13: Daniel Barenboim conducting the Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, stage director & set designer: 2011: James Levine and Fabio Luisi conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, stage director: Robert Lepage [Deutsche Grammophon 0440 073 4770 6; also Met Opera on Demand2011 Met Opera: Das Rheingold (9 October 2010), Die Walküre (14 May 2011), Siegfried (5 November 2011), Götterdämmerung (11 February 2012).] 2021: Donald Runnicles conducting the Orchestra & Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, stage director: Stefan Herheim, November 2021 2022: Christian Thielemann conducting the Berlin Staatskapelle, stage director & set designer: Dmitri Tcherniakov, October 2022 2022 Christian Thielemann, Berlin Staatskapelle: Presto Music; IMZ International Music; jpc
The Boulez, Barenboim, Zagrosek, and Haenchen performances are also available as audio recordings.
See also Das Rheingold discography Die Walküre discography Siegfried discography Götterdämmerung discography
References