Post by jlk155 December 30, 2009 (131 of 183)
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The Esoteric North American site has added information on the Ring set, which they're calling Vol. 3 of the Decca SACD / CD Collection:
http://esoteric.teac.com/esoteric_remasters/richard_wagner_-_der_ring_des_nibelungen/
There are a couple of things not previously provided on Esoteric's Japanese website: a full picture (front, spine, and back) of the Rheingold box and, under the "Download" tab, an interesting page ("producer comments") of personal recollections from Motoaki Ohmachi about the Ring.
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Post by feinstei December 31, 2009 (132 of 183)
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The funniest thing about the "product description" is that the Japanese screwed up the following in the Product Description:
"Culshaw assembled all the special instruments Wagner specified for this
epic cycle, such as six harps (used in “Das Rheingold”), and steel horns
(used in “Götterdämmerung”)."
So sorry boys, but it's STEER HORNS, not STEEL HORNS!
So much for Esoteric's "attention to details".
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Maybe you could volunteer your editing skills.
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Post by trazom January 1, 2010 (134 of 183)
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feinstei said:
URGENT!!!
For those "on the fence" regarding the purchase of the Solti Ring. Elusive Disc has just "sweetened the pie" by offering a 10% discount coupon (even if an item says "Not eligible for further discounts"). Type SAVE10 on the "Shopping Cart" page to redeem. This brings the price of the set down to $719 plus about 7 bucks for shipping.
I just put in my order. Hopefully it'll beat out my copies of the early 70's Decca deluxe LP box (with the metal engraving on the case) and the original CD issue from the late 80's.
Although I love the Solti Ring (and it's the one I've been listening to since I was 12), the most passionate and beautifully performed Ring Cycle is Keilberth's Decca Ring recorded in stereo at Beyreuth in 1955 but never released till 2001. Testament has re-released it on CD and LP. I have the LP's and it brings me to tears since it's so beautifully executed and recorded.
Thank you very much for your hint - I just ordered my copy of the RIng - I can't wait to listen to it...
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Post by feinstei January 2, 2010 (135 of 183)
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flyingdutchman said:
Maybe you could volunteer your editing skills.
I wrote to the Esoteric company using the "Contact Us" link on their web-page. I guess that their spelling/grammar checker couldn't handle the concept of "Steer Horns" and corrected it to "Steel Horns". Hopefully, Esoteric's secretaries are fluent enough in English to understand what I wrote....
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Several days ago Elusive sent an email that I could expect arrival of the Solti cycle as soon as January 12th. I have been warming up for it by listening to the Melba SACD discs of the Australian Ring. The singing is quite good, and the sound balance very pleasing. I subjected a guest to the opening minutes of ten different Ring Cycles, including Solti on LP, and the Melba disc was the one we ended up staying with all the way to the end of Rheingold. The other SACD cycle, from Amsterdam, seemed to involve some shouting instead of singing, with the voices over-pushing themselves. So my two contenders for best recorded Ring are now Solti and Fisch. I look forward to an A/B comparison between them next week.
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Post by tream January 8, 2010 (137 of 183)
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Joseph Ponessa said:
Several days ago Elusive sent an email that I could expect arrival of the Solti cycle as soon as January 12th. I have been warming up for it by listening to the Melba SACD discs of the Australian Ring. The singing is quite good, and the sound balance very pleasing. I subjected a guest to the opening minutes of ten different Ring Cycles, including Solti on LP, and the Melba disc was the one we ended up staying with all the way to the end of Rheingold. The other SACD cycle, from Amsterdam, seemed to involve some shouting instead of singing, with the voices over-pushing themselves. So my two contenders for best recorded Ring are now Solti and Fisch. I look forward to an A/B comparison between them next week.
Mine is on its way, too!
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The Esoteric Solti Ring set has been delivered in the Chicago area. It arrived in China over a week ago! It is double boxed with a clear plastic slipcase over the actual maroon container. The included "Ring Resounding" volume is in Japanese only. The two libretto books are in German and Japanese. These are all slipcovered paperbacks. There is a hard covered book called "The Notes" which has the track list in German and Japanese with "the notes" in Japanese only. There is a dvd of the 1965 BBC "The Golden Ring" and, of course, the SACDs in seven volumes.
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Post by feinstei January 12, 2010 (139 of 183)
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I'm expecting mine to be delivered today from Elusive Disc. As far as the "Ring Resounding" book only being in Japanese only, try to find the Time/Life issue of this book from the late 1970's. This book came in a 3 volume box set along with a commentary on the Ring Cycle from George Bernard Shaw as well as a biography of Richard Wagner as the other two volumes. The Time/Life version has many many excellent photos that are missing from the original release of "Ring Resounding" and is beautifully bound.
I found one of the 3 volume sets at the Indianapolis Goodwill store for about $15.00. Makes a wonderful addition to the Esoteric Solti set.
I'll give a critical listening report tonight on Das Rheingold and compare it with the original Decca LP pressings as well as the mid-80's CD set.
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Post by feinstei January 13, 2010 (140 of 183)
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I received the Esoteric SACD version of the Solti Ring and have listened to the first scene of Das Rheingold. I have compared it against my first-pressing on Decca (not London) as well as an early '70's Decca U.K. pressing included in the deluxe box set that Decca issued (the one with the metal-engraved artwork on it). Both LP sets are in "new" playing condition.
I did the comparison in two ways, first of all, by doing a switch back-and forth between the closely synchronized playing between the SACD and the LP and secondly, by listening to the SACD first scene completely and then listening to the two LP versions' side ones in their entirety.
Equipment used was a ELP laser turntable, a Sony SCD-1 SACD player played through the VAC 1995 reissues of the Marantz 7c preamps and Marantz 9 amps. Speakers are FMI "J" loudspeakers.
The SACD has a wonderful stereo image, just as every Decca Estoteric SACD has. The instruments, although recorded with gimmicky multi-miking at Vienna's Soffensiel (in order to use the stereo effect the dramatize the action), really coalesced into an incredible 3D effect in ways that the LP versions didn't do. The orchestra layout was intimitely reproduced when listening to the SACD. The LP versions, although impressive, didn't approach the three-dimensionality of stereo image of the SACD. It was like comparing a live performance to a flat wall.
Both LP versions have an incredible warmth to them. The SACD had a wonderful fullness to it, but lacked some of the warmth. I suspect that it's just a physical characteristic of LP's, especially from that era, to "dull" the highs a bit. This manifests itself in the LP's sounding "warm". On the SACD, the highs were not painful at all (the soprano Rhinemaidens didn't shriek at me), but they were more defined than on the SACD than the LP. The LP's had some blattyness to Alberich's voice which was much more sharply focused on the SACD. You could actually hear his growling on the SACD (the LP's just sounded like a "low baritone" voice).
Being a semi-pro tuba player, I have always been enamoured by the brass choir of Rheingold's first scene (featuring a choir of 16 "Wagner tubas" that range from French Horn pitch down to contra-bass tuba pitch). The LP's made the high Wagner tubas sound kind of like mellow French Horns (and that's what I always thought that Wagner tubas sounded like). The SACD version was a revelation in that it revealed the fact that these Wagner tubas are conical-bore sounding instruments rather than cylindrical-bore instruments like French Horns are! The "mellow fullness" of the Wagner tubas could be "felt" on the SACD version and one could easily differentiate between the sound of the French Horns and the Wagner tubas on the SACD. One cannot discern the difference on the LP's.
All-in-all, the SACD's are absolutely incredible. Just to re-live the stereo image in exciting as hell! Knowing the Solti Ring intimately (I used to check it out from the library when I was 12 years old), I have never heard the life and the genius of Culshaw's team's engineering more acutely than on this SACD issue. A definite "must-have" for anyone who loves Wagner and Solti.
WARNING: DON'T PAY ANY MORE THAN $719 for this! Elusive Disc had a sale before New Year's that discounted this set by 10%. Wait until they have another sale or call them up and ask them for the same sale!
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