A couple of Fresh Catch's ago I told you how my friend Leo left his Wagner Die Walkure box set from the Ring Cycle with me to listen to while he went on vacation.

I was so impressed with the Decca / Testament Die Walkure box set I decided to buy the full Ring Cycle box set from Acoustic Sounds ($600 USD).  I am a little surprised at myself for doing that, because as a mostly jazz guy I hardly ever get that excited about classical music, but this Decca / Testament box set of Wagner's Ring Cycle is truly something special. It arrived today.

The Ring Cycle - Der Ring des Nibelungen - box set consists of one box set and booklet each for Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), with all four box sets packaged together into an outer box (above).

Here's what the Acoustic Sounds web site says about the full box set:

"The most coveted performance of Wagner's legendary epic Ring Cycle was in fact recorded by Decca in Stereo live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival. But until now, that lost performance has remained but a memory.

Thrillingly conducted by Joseph Keilberth (called by Astrid Varnay, "a conductor with so much love, who was always there for you"), the cycle provides the opportunity to hear complete for the first time on commercial release the definitive performances of Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Ramon Vinay, Josef Greindl and Paul Kuen, in addition to the much-loved Siegfried of Wolfgang Windgassen, here heard in his prime.

These live Bayreuth performances were taped by a Decca team led by Peter Andry and including the noted engineers Kenneth Wilkinson and Roy Wallace, with Gordon Parry as assistant. Using a new six-channel mixer designed by Wallace, the team made both stereo and mono recordings of each opera. Three microphones were placed in the sunken orchestra pit and three were hanged from a lighting bridge about 20 feet above the stage. "This was brilliant; it worked beautifully," remembers Wallace. The company prepared for an expected release, but John Culshaw, recently returned to Decca, vetoed the project. He disliked "live" recordings and already had plans for a studio Ring with Solti, which began four years later. Decca's recording vividly captures in wonderful stereo sound the unique acoustic and stage/pit balance of the Bayreuth Festival theatre with its sunken orchestra, in addition to preserving the leading singers from a Wagnerian golden age in live performance."

Not being a Wagner aficionado until now, I wasn't familiar with the mentioned Bayreuth Festival. The Bayreuth Festival is an annual Wagner music festival that has been held in Bayreuth, Germany, since 1876, in the month of August. Yes it is a really big deal.

Here's the box set for Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold):

Here's the box set and booklet each for Die Walküre (The Valkyrie):

Here's the box set for Siegfried:

Here's the box set for Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods):

Here's the box set and booklet for Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) with one of the LPs out so you can see it:

I'm listening to the first LP in the Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) box set right now and it is fantastic just like Leo's Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) box set was. This is a great box set all the way around, and if I have the time I'll provide some updates as I listen through it.

I'll keep looking for these jewels of recorded music to tell you about, and as always - thanks for stopping by!