Jetzt Hlefe Ich Mir Selbst Mercedes

Some have likened Herbert von Karajan's "chamber-music approach" to Wagner's Ring cycle in terms of his scaling down or deconstructing the heroic roles. This approach has less to do with dynamics per se than it does with von Karajan's masterful balancing of voices and instruments. He achieves revelations of horizontal clarity, allowing no contrapuntal strand to emerge with an unwanted accent or a miscalibrated dynamic. The texts are unusually pinpointed and distinct, although the singers don't convey the experience and dimension of Sir Georg Solti's cast on London. There are exceptions.

Bela B - Code B
year: 2009 | mp3 @ 192 kbits | genre: rock | 76 MB

CODE B holt euch da ab, wo BINGO aufhört, und führt in die
Hinterhöfe von Las Vegas, Paris und Spandau bei Berlin,
kreuzt die Sechziger, Siebziger und Achtziger, holt sich
aus den Neunzigern nur das Allernötigste ab und kommt im
Jetzt an.

Along with Furtwangler's Scala Ring, this is my favorite one. And since the sound is better, this one is easier to listen to. Krauss'"Siegfried" is my favorite. I will never understand why so many people consider Solti's Ring as benchmark. To me his is the least exciting. Karajan is too "precious." The characters never come alive in either of those, at least not like they do for Krauss and Furtwangler.

'Radamisto' was the first opera Handel composed for the Royal Academy, his first operatic venture in London, being produced for the first time in 1719; it was revived and revised in 1720, 1721 and 1728. This Berlin Classics recording, dating from 1962, presents an adaptation of the 1721 version, which drops a minor character, Fraarte. More importantly, in addition to the use of modern instruments and a chorus (in general Handel's chorus was assembled from the soloists–opera in eighteenth century London was a commercial venture so personnel was kept to a minimum), the libretto is translated into German and all the castrato roles are transposed down into either tenor or bass registers.

Wilhelm Furtwangler's only live opera house recording of the complete Ring is indispensable for serious Wagnerians. (A 1953 broadcast concert series from Rome had an inferior orchestra and lesser singers.) This 1950 La Scala Ring with the house band and chorus and a stellar cast of mostly German Wagnerians sports crude recorded sound, but the Music & Arts transfer is far superior to its previous incarnations. Furtwangler's conducting is incandescent. His command of structure is awesome; you sense the long, overarching lines of each of the operas even as you revel in telling details.