Album

If this slim two-disc set is a listener's first encounter with Georg Solti's Das Rheingold, he/she might be forgiven for thinking the recording was made in 2008 or 1988 or even 1968. But 1958? How could a recording this crisp, clean, detailed, full, deep, immediate, and overwhelmingly real have been recorded in 1958?

It could have been and it was. Thanks to the combined genius of Decca producer John Culshaw and engineer Gordon Parry, Solti's 1958 Rheingold sounds as if it could have been recorded yesterday. Indeed, it sounds as if it were not a recording at all but an aural mirage that makes the music appear to be happening right in front of and all around the listener. By the common consensus of generations of music lovers, there has never been a better sounding Rheingold.

But the truly wonderful thing is that there has arguably never been a better performed Rheingold. With the commandingly vigorous George London as Wotan, the magnificently glorious Kirsten Flagstad as Fricka, the brilliantly insidious Gustav Neidlinger as Alberich, the sweetly perfidious Set Svanholm as Loge, plus 10 other superlative singers, the cast was the gold standard for its time. And then as it is now, the orchestra is the world's pre-eminent opera pit orchetra, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and their suave strings, individualistic winds, heroic brass, and powerful percussion—not forgetting to mention their astounding 16 tuned anvils—turn in performances which has rarely been equaled and never been surpassed in recorded history.

And finally there's Georg Solti himself. Before this recording, there may have been more profound Rheingolds (Furtwängler's), more flowing Rheingolds (Knappertsbusch's), and more cosmic Rheingolds (Krauss'). And after it, there may have been faster Rheingolds (Böhm's), slower Rheingolds (Levine's), and cleaner Rheingolds (Boulez's). But there has never been a more theatrically intense Rheingold. Solti grasps the work's many details, but always keeps its drama foremost in his mind. When combined with the conductor's characteristically forceful dynamics and inexorable tempos, the result is overwhelmingly compelling and unbearably exciting. Any Wagner true believer will want to hear the great Rheingolds before Solti's and sample some of the later recordings. But for a first Rheingold or an only Rheingold, there is no finer choice than this.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Richard Wagner Composer Das Rheingold (opera), WWV 86a...Act 1 Work 24:08 Ira Malaniuk Vocals, Kirsten Flagstad Soprano, Kurt Böhme Vocals, Oda Balsborg Vocals, Hetty Plumacher Vocals, Paul Kuen Vocals, Georg Solti Conductor, Set Svanholm Vocals, Eberhard Wächter Vocals, Waldemar Kmentt Vocals, Jean Madeira Vocals, George London Vocals, Gustav Neidlinger Vocals, Claire Watson Vocals, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, Walter Kreppel Vocals
1	1.Vorspiel	4:13			$0.99
2	2.Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle!	2:24			$0.99
3	4.Garstig glatter glitschriger Glimmer!	4:55			$0.99
4	5.Wallala! Lalaleia! Leialalei!	2:23			$0.99
5	6.Lugt, Schwestern!; 7.Nur wer der Minne Macht entsagt	5:49			$0.99
6	8.Der Welt Erbe gewänn' ich; 9.Haltet den Räuber!; 10.Orchesterzwischenspiel	4:24			$0.99
Richard Wagner Composer Das Rheingold (opera), WWV 86a...Act 2 Work 46:18 Ira Malaniuk Vocals, Kirsten Flagstad Soprano, Kurt Böhme Vocals, Oda Balsborg Vocals, Hetty Plumacher Vocals, Paul Kuen Vocals, Georg Solti Conductor, Set Svanholm Vocals, Eberhard Wächter Vocals, Waldemar Kmentt Vocals, Jean Madeira Vocals, George London Vocals, Gustav Neidlinger Vocals, Claire Watson Vocals, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, Walter Kreppel Vocals
7	2.Wotan! Gemahl! Erwache!; 3.Nur Wonne schafft dir; 4.So schirme sie jetzt	10:52			$1.99
8	5.Sanft schloß Schlaf dein Aug'; 6.Was sagst du? Ha, sinnst du Verrat?	7:27			$1.49
9	7.Zu mir, Freia!	1:40			$0.49
10	8.Endlich Loge! Eiltest du so	3:44			$0.99
11	9.Immer ist Undank Loges; 10.Dir's zu melden gelobt' ich; 11.Nicht gönn' ich das Gold	7:01			$1.49
12	13.Ein Runenzauber zwingt	3:07			$0.99
13	14.Hör', Wotan, der Harrenden Wort!	2:47			$0.99
14	15.Was sinnt nun Wotan so wild?; 16.Jetzt fand ich's	5:09			$0.99
15	18.Auf, Loge; 19.Orchesterzwischenspiel: Abstieg nach Nibelheim; Sc.4 1.Hehe! hehe! hieher! hieher!	4:31			$0.99
CD 2 of 2
Richard Wagner Composer Das Rheingold (opera), WWV 86a...Act 3 Work 25:23 Ira Malaniuk Vocals, Kirsten Flagstad Soprano, Kurt Böhme Vocals, Oda Balsborg Vocals, Hetty Plumacher Vocals, Paul Kuen Vocals, Georg Solti Conductor, Set Svanholm Vocals, Eberhard Wächter Vocals, Waldemar Kmentt Vocals, Jean Madeira Vocals, George London Vocals, Gustav Neidlinger Vocals, Claire Watson Vocals, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, Walter Kreppel Vocals
1	2.Dem Haupt fügt	2:07			$0.99
2	3.Nibelheim hier; 4.Wer hälfe mir?; 5.Mit eurem Gefrage	5:20			$0.99
3	6.Nehmt euch in acht!; 7.Was wollt ihr hier?; 8.Die in linder Lüfte; 9.Habt acht! Habt acht!; 10.Auf wonnigen Höhn	7:32			$1.49
4	11.Wen doch faßte nicht Wunder; 12.Riesen-Wurm winde sich ringelnd!	3:55			$0.99
5	13.Ohe! Ohe! Schreckliche Schlange; 14.Nun Schnell hinauf; 15.Orchesterzwischenspiel: Aufstig aus Nibelheim	6:29			$0.99
Richard Wagner Composer Das Rheingold (opera), WWV 86a...Act 4 Work 49:43 Ira Malaniuk Vocals, Kirsten Flagstad Soprano, Kurt Böhme Vocals, Oda Balsborg Vocals, Hetty Plumacher Vocals, Paul Kuen Vocals, Georg Solti Conductor, Set Svanholm Vocals, Eberhard Wächter Vocals, Waldemar Kmentt Vocals, Jean Madeira Vocals, George London Vocals, Gustav Neidlinger Vocals, Claire Watson Vocals, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, Walter Kreppel Vocals
6	1.Da, Vetter, sitze du fest!; 2.Wohlan, die Nibelungen	4:41			$0.99
7	3.Gezahlt hab' ich; 4.Zu deiner Lösung	5:35			$0.99
8	5.Bin ich nun frei?; 6.Lauschtest du seinem Liebergruß?	4:09			$0.99
9	7.Fasolt und Fafner nahen von fern; 8.Halt! Nicht sie berührt!	5:17			$0.99
10	9.Nicht so leicht und locker gefügt; 10.Freia, die schöne	5:47			$0.99
11	11.Weiche, Wotan, weiche!	6:00			$0.99
12	12.Hört, ihr Riesen!; 13.Halt, du Gieriger!; 14.Was gleicht, Wotan; 15.Schwüles Gedünst schwebt in der Luft	6:33			$0.99
13	16.Zur Burg führt die Brücke	3:11			$0.99
14	17.Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge; 18.So grüß' ich die Burg; 19.Ihrem Ende eilen sie zu	4:50			$0.99
15	20.Rheingold! Rheingold!; 21.Einzug der Götter in Walhall (Entry of the Gods into Valhalla)	3:40			$0.99