Wagner Das Rheingold (Time Life Records STL-441 Solti Vienna Phil) Still Sealed

$ 32

$ 32 Sold For

Dec 17, 2012 Sold Date

Dec 10, 2012 Start Date

$ 5 Start price

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Description

Wagner Das Rheingold (Time Life Records STL-441 Sealed Box Set). Six vinyl records with insert.

Because it is still sealed and has no information on the back cover this is the information regarding the orchestra, cast, and conductor which I located on the web from multiple sources and believe to be accurate:

TITLE NAME: RING OF THE NIBELUNG - RICHARD WAGNER - INTRODUCTION TO THE OPERAS and DAS RHEINGOLD

DESCRIPTION: TIME LIFE 6 LP BOX SET WITH BOOK.

CONDUCTOR: GEORG SOLTI

ORCHESTRA: VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FORMAT: ORIGINAL VINTAGE 6 LP BOX SET

YEAR: ORIGINAL 1968

RECORD LABEL: THE DECCA RECORD COMPANY, LONDON

CATALOG NUMBER: STL-441

The cast is as follows: Das Rheingold by Richard Wagner performed in German
Conductor Georg Solti - 1958(STU)
Orchestra - Wiener Philharmoniker
Wotan - George London
Fricka - Kirsten Flagstad
Loge - Set Svanholm
Mime - Paul Kuen
Alberich - Gustav Neidlinger
Freia - Claire Watson
Froh - Waldemar Kmentt
Donner - Eberhard Wächter (Waechter)
Erda - Jean Madeira
Fasolt - Walter Kreppel
Fafner - Kurt Böhme
Woglinde - Oda Balsborg
Wellgunde - Hetty Plümacher
Floßhilde - Ira Malaniuk

The Talk Classical web site voted this the number #1 version of the opera and the New York Times wrote the following regarding the CD transfer version of this six record vinyl set:

There is something fitting, the closing of a circle, about London Records' re-release of the Georg Solti recording of Wagner's ''Ring des Nibelungen'' on compact disks. The new project begins, as does the ''Ring'' itself and as did this recording venture, with ''Das Rheingold'' (414 101-2, three CD's). The other three ''Ring'' operas will follow this winter, and the set is also being re-released on digitally remastered LP's.

The Solti ''Ring'' on CD's is symbolically appropriate because this, and ''Das Rheingold'' especially, marked the coming of age of stereo recording, and to hear this same performance now on high-fidelity's newest medium not only lets us remember what a milestone this recording was in 1959, but permits us to encounter it with a clarity and accuracy that the LP disk could not provide.

Today, with complete ''Rings'' of every description cluttering up collectors' record shelves, it seems hard to recall what the situation was like for Wagnerians 25 years ago. There was, actually, one ''Ring'' on LP's - a crudely pirated version from Bayreuth in execrable sound with fake credits (''Fritz Schreiber'' was the conductor on the label; Joseph Keilberth in the grooves). London had released a poor Norwegian radio broadcast performance of ''Gotterdammerung'' that had the aging Kirsten Flagstad and Set Svanholm and little else. But that was it.

The Solti ''Rheingold'' was thus a first in innumerable ways. It was the first studio-recorded complete ''Ring'' opera, and while London (the company's American name; in England it is called Decca) had not at that point guaranteed a complete ''Ring,'' it was prepared to undertake the rest of that giant endeavor if ''Das Rheingold'' justified itself, economically.

That it did, triumphantly - so much so that it challenged pop records on the American sales charts. It succeeded, however, not just because there was a sudden, unexpected mass audience for Wagner. It was because the recording itself was so special.

First of all, it was ''high fidelity'' of an unprecedented caliber. This meant two things. First, it contained several passages that tested sound systems better than your average locomotive-in-the-living-room or pit- stop-at-Indianapolis demonstration disk. There were the Nibelungs' children's screams, the striking of Donner's hammer, the resultant thunderclap and finally the grand entrance of the gods into Valhalla, with the full Wagnerian brass panoply.

But more than that, the sound had real ''fidelity,'' in that it was wonderfully faithful to the actual sound of the Vienna Philharmonic and the singers' voices. For all its spectacular qualities, this was no cheap gimmick of a recording: it captured Wagner's sound-world in a way that it had never been heard before on records.

Equally appealing were the successful efforts to use the then-still-new medium of stereo for dramatic purposes, and to come up with sound effects (the hammer, the thunder) that would create a sense of Wagernian drama through sound alone. With this recording, John Culshaw established his reputation - reinforced by the rest of the ''Ring,'' other operatic projects, his tenure at the BBC, a book about the recording of the ''Ring'' and an autobiography - as perhaps the most innovative record producer in classical music.

Of course, none of this success could have occurred without a first-rate performance, and that this ''Rheingold'' - and the rest of the London ''Ring'' - most certainly is. Mr. Solti's conducting has been compared unfavorably to that of Wilhelm Furtwangler and other great Wagnerians of the previous generation. But it holds up well on a rehearing: strong, vital, impassioned, unmannered.

The cast is a fine one, too. It boasts the great Wagner soprano of the 30's and 40's, Miss Flagstad, who learned the mezzo part of Fricka late in life for this recording. Mr. Svanholm, Lauritz Melchior's successor in the heavy Wagner tenor roles, sings Loge. George London, whose potential as a great Wagner baritone for the 60's and 70's was snuffed out by illness, makes a fine Wotan, Gustav Neidlinger and Paul Kuen are the superb Nibelungs, and other key parts are sung by Claire Watson, the young Eberhard Wachter, Waldemar Kmentt, Jean Madeira, Kurt Bohme and Walter Kreppel.

The CD transfer sounds excellent - so excellent, in fact, that it makes one realize that the record industry has now a whole new market, if it can convince collectors that their favorite LP's will sound better and last longer as CD's. This is not some crude trick, like the ''electronic stereo'' applied to monaural recordings. Nor is it, conversely, a miraculous transformation of the sound onto some new level of brilliance: that would only distort the purity of the original. What we have, instead, is the best solution of all - a closer realization of what is on the master tapes than the home consumer has ever been able to hear.

There is none of the ''hardness'' or other artificiality that afflicts the worst CD's. No attempt appears to have been made, if such a thing were even possible, to stretch the dynamic range beyond the already unusually wide parameters achieved on the original LP's. But the bass and midrange sound more solid and full than the original analogue release, which was used here as the basis for comparison, and the stereo imaging is newly precise.

And, of course, there are the inherent virtues of the CD medium - only two ''side breaks'' instead of five (although the first, unfortunately, comes 30 seconds into ''Immer ist Undank Loges Lohn,'' which is where Side 2 of the LP set ends) and no surface noise (except for the steady, soft, residual tape hiss, which comes through all the more clearly in the absence of surface noise). All in all, this estimable reissue confirms the CD medium as the clear choice for lovers of this recording landmark.

Please remember that box sets are shipped seperately and are not eleigible for the combined shipping discout I offer (this box set is very heavy).

Record Grade:

Record = SS

Cover (a/k/a sleeve) = SS

Record Grading System:

SS (still sealed); M- (opened but appears unplayed, sleeve pristine or still in shrink); EX (almost M-); VG+ (some very minor signs of use does not affect listening, sleeve has some wear); VG (more significant signs of use, perhaps slightly audible noise in some passages, sleeve has more significant signs of wear); G (significant signs of use and audible noise, sleeve may have serious signs of wear or damage).

Options for shipping

Within the US:

$4.00 Media Mail with delivery confirmation (estimated delivery time 2-10 business days)

International shipping:

Canada: $11.50 First Class International

All other destinations: $17.50 First Class International

Will combine shipping: in U.S. for up to 4 additional records there is no additional charge for shipping (i.e. 5 records can be shipped for $4.00). All other locations add an additional $2.50 per record with a limit of 4 additional records per order (i.e. for five records to Canada shipping is $21.50 and to anywhere else in the world it is $27.50).

N.B. Combined shipping does not apply to box sets only individual records.

If you wish to combine shipping please wait for my invoice.

Please bid with confidence regarding my record grading. Below are reviews from past Ebay buyers and if you are dissatisfied for any reason you can simply return the record for a complete refund.

Thanks for looking.

Very pleased. Thank you.

Member id statetostate ( Feedback Score Of 155 )

Aug-28-12 13:36

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great item,fast shipping

Member id buyer123cbr ( Feedback Score Of 564 )

Mar-27-11 17:12

La Bionda (Very Rare Euro Psyche on Phillips) Near Mint (#230585863018)

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Great deal. Many thanks!!!