Solti Ring remastered again

There’s a fascinating article in this month’s Gramophone magazine about a new remastering of the Decca 50’s and 60’s Ring. Apparently, this remastering is based on a 192/24 digital transfer from the original master tapes and according to the article it improves significantly on the previous digital versions. It says that the blu-ray audio release is set for mid 2023, but I notice today that Prostudiomasters is offering Das Rheingold for download. I’m just going to buy it now. Tantalising prospect……

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It can never be as good as the original mastering to vinyl… :wink:

You might like to have a look here:

Personally I already have the three CD releases of this set (black box, blue box and big white box) so I’m not sure I’ll bother with another, no matter how much better the sound.

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Thanks Clive. Sorry, I missed that topic. I Shouldn’t have started this one, but it’s done now. I’m planning to listen to Rheingold this evening. It’s downloading now….

I really liked the new one (downloaded 192-version from Qobuz). I always thought the old a bit closed-in and disappointing. But then I last heard it ripped from CD (blue box) on the HDX.

There is a massive difference between the various issued CD versions.

Personally I like the remastered version which I think is definitely better than my CD rips but a mate of mine with better ears and a top LP12 prefers the original vinyl to the new vinyl.

I’ve rethought this Clive and after hearing the first act, I am delighted I started this topic. What I am hearing is a stunning achievement, even to my almost 70 year-old ears. Just when you think something can’t be done any better, it is!
How blessed we have been with talented engineers to make the most of a recording which is now 64 years old, yet sounds as though it could have been made yesterday.
I look forward eagerly to the other 3 instalments.

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It’s just a great shame that Decca didn’t choose Carlos Kleiber to conduct the whole shebang. He (like Solti) was one of a number of up-and-coming provincial opera conductors that Decca considered for their vast undertaking.

I’ll await the BluRay with interest

It’s hard to tell at such a remove, but I doubt that Carlos Kleiber would have stayed the course as Solti did. We might have ended up with a semi-circle, rather than a Ring.

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I’ve had the Solti ‘Ring’ in a number of formats over the years and it looks as though I’ll be suckered into buying them yet again, as I have the first of the new incarnation on pre-order. But I’d rather have even one of the four operas from Kleiber than any number of them from Solti.

Different class altogether (as Solti, to be fair, recognised when he invited CK to conduct the Chicago SO).

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Hi Graham

How are you today ?

Best wishes

Ian

Hello, Ian, thanks for asking.

Still rat-in-a-trap situation, which gets worse with each day that passes.

Alternatively, if Erich had lived another 10 years . . . And he was already signed to Decca.

Do you know, I’m not aware of ever having heard an Erich Kleiber recording of Wagner. Are there any that you know of?

(It used to be said that Carlos only ever conducted pieces that he knew from his father’s recordings and/or marked scores, but I don’t remember an Erich Kleiber ‘Tristan’.)

Incidentally, what a shame that Carlos never went into a recording studio to record a ‘Marriage Of Figaro’ to match his father’s never-bettered account.

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Searched for Erich Kleiber Wagner on Amazon.com. Guess what!

Based on the reviewers’ comments on SQ, though, I’m not about to hunt it down.

Well, they say that you should try to learn a new thing every day, so I’ve done that now for today.

As the Wagner opera is ‘Tristan’, it also backs up my theory that Carlos only conducted music that he knew from recordings conducted by his father.

I got an email from Amazon this morning offering a pre-order (for December 9) of Die Valküre on 180 gram vinyl, at £100.99 !

The set comprises five 180gm LPs, which equates to £20 per LP, so pretty good value, assuming that the pressings are top notch - which I seriously hope they will be. (I think that the records are pressed in Germany, but this may be wishful thinking on my part.)

And you will be getting what many think is part of the greatest recording project ever made.

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Graham,

I have spent a good bit of extra time with Kleiber’s recordings at your insistence over the past couple of years, and generally find your recommendations spot on (except for his Beethoven Symphony No. 7, which I don’t care for much), but ironically given this thread’s original title I find Solti’s Le Nozze di Figaro on Decca to be tops in my book!

But how lucky are we to have multiple quality recordings about which to argue! Cheers!

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