Solti Golden Ring Cycle 2022 Remaster on SACD and Dolby Atmos Blu-ray Audio

[bigshot]

They overestimated the demand for a bells and whistle version of something that has already been released in nearly a half dozen bells and whistle versions in the past. I'm happy with the first CD release. That is a perfect copy of a straight transfer of the master tapes with no noise reduction. The second CD release was the same thing with a little dynamic hiss reduction applied.

If you want a book, look at Abebooks for Ring Resounding by John Culshaw. That is what was included with the LPs when I bought this set for the first time.

[johnmcmasters]

I have the very first CD release of this cycle from way back in the ADRM days. Also, I'll be content with just the SACD sets that they sent to me if they can at least confirm what happened to the Blu-Ray? I believe that I have the book somewhere in my Library.

I'd still like a copy of the Blu-Ray if they are actually manufacturing and issuing it.

I recall that last year when the ordering process went live, the official websites actually listed the limited edition bundle as sold out a week or so after I had placed my order.

Anyway, I now have two sets of Solti, a Blu-Ray of the Karajan, the Furtwangler, and the Keilberth (both "Gotterdammerungs"), plus "Das Rheingold" from Gergiev. So I guess my Nibelung coffers are full and overflowing at this point.

So I don't actually need all of the bells and whistles if I am being honest-- this was a splurge last year that has turned into a "Quest to Get Information" at this point!

[bigshot]

You can't have too many rings! I think I have more than 20. The rings you need are the Valencia blu-ray and Bohm.

[johnmcmasters]

Thank you for the recommendations -- I've had the Bohm set in and out of a shopping cart at various sites multiple times over the years but have not yet taken the plunge. Will check out the Valencia. The late John McGlinn, who was an acquaintance of mine at college, also conducted some excerpts from the operas on Naxos, and I just got around to getting those two CDs last month. It seems I am always catching up!

Update: The Decca support desk has confirmed that only the book has been cancelled from my order for the Deluxe Ring Limited Edition bundle, and that I'll be getting the other components eventually, including the Blu-Ray. Also they refunded me for the book. So all is well. Now I've got to listen to the darn thing.

[bigshot]

The thing about the Ring is that it's so huge and complicated, and it allows for so many different approaches, there is no one "perfect" Ring. Each one brings out a different aspect. The differences are the fun part. I started out with Solti, but I don't listen to that as much any more. I've gotten all I can get out of it. And although I started out thinking that the only "proper" way to stage the Ring is traditionally, I've found that some of the more modern stagings have a lot to offer... particularly Boulez and Mehta's Valencia. The staging is a huge part of the whole, and I tend to prefer video Rings now, even if they aren't as perfectly sung and performed as audio ones, and I prefer live Rings over studio ones.

[johnmcmasters]

Quick update: still no bluray or special packaging or anything else from the limited edition bundle. I've given up on this and am trying to be content with the individual SACD releases as I expect that's all that will be forthcoming at this point. The lack of communication about this has been very surprising though! I mean, it was not a minor expense!

[bigshot]

Can you still do a chargeback on your card?

[McCrutchy]

For those who missed out on Decca's 2014 Blu-ray audio box set, Decca's Eloquence Classics imprint will re-issue Deryck Cooke's An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen (1968) as a 2xCD set next month, with music not available on previous CD editions:

Originally Posted by Eloquence Classics

Long out of print, Deryck Cooke’s invaluable ‘Introduction to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen’ reappears on CD, with its original LP couplings of Siegfried Idyll and Kinderkatechismus.

Almost as soon as it reached completion with the release of Die Walküre in 1966, the Decca Ring cycle conducted by Sir Georg Solti was recognised as the greatest achievement in the history of recorded sound. Three years later, the cycle was issued complete for the first time, and it came with a significant appendix: a three-LP introduction to the music-drama, written and narrated by Deryck Cooke.

An English writer on music, Cooke had come to international attention through his completion of Mahler’s sketches for the Tenth Symphony. He was a friend of the Decca Ring’s producer, John Culshaw, who invited him to make this introduction. No academic, but a broadcaster on the BBC’s Third Programme and a pioneer in what might be called popular musicology, Cooke presumed no prior knowledge on the part of his listeners, only a willingness to immerse themselves in the world of the Ring and in its universal themes of love, power, self-knowledge and tragedy.

Outlining the musical leitmotifs which underpin the drama of the Ring, and the part they play in moving it ever onwards, Cooke drew for illustration on excerpts from the complete Decca recording. In addition, Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic recorded many excerpts especially for this introduction – played slower or extended or without voices, to aid comprehension. (Some of these excerpts may have been recorded during rehearsals for various orchestral sections.) Countless listeners have since had their understanding of the Ring immeasurably enhanced by engaging with Cooke’s introduction.

In complement to Decca’s recent remastering of the original recording, Eloquence now reissues Cooke’s introduction on CD, presented just as it was in the original box. Unlike previous digital-era issues, this set also includes the recordings of the Siegfried Idyll, led by the Vienna Philharmonic violinist Walter Weller, and the charming Katechismus which Wagner composed as another birthday present for his wife Cosima.

All six LP sides fit on two generously filled CDs, and the booklet includes full details of the track points as well as newly inscribed musical examples, to help listeners navigate their way around the narrative. Much more than a period-piece, this set remains the ideal introduction to Wagner’s Ring, with much to teach both newcomers and experienced listeners to a perennially challenging and rewarding work of theatrical genius.

https://www.eloquenceclassics.com/re...es-nibelungen/

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