Posted by Anonymous 4 on March 24, 2006, 0:14:43, in reply to "Re: too many rings spoil the....." Don't get me wrong, if you like the Solti-Rheingold, there's nothing wrong with that, but I think one needs to be aware that it's only a recommendation if you're into a certain class of Wagnerian singing. I really don't like Flagstad, never did, never will and her Fricka is no exception. The voice is old, worn and inflexible and the only thing that I can say about it, is that it's loud (which is of course fine if you're into that sort of stuff, which I'm not). If I compare her to (for instance) Josephine Veasy (Karajan) and Yvonne Minton (Janowski), or Hanna Schwarz (Boulez) or even Annelies Burmeister (Böhm) then I'm very sorry, but Flagstad goes straight through the toilet in my house... And then I'm not even mentioning Marjana Lipovsek (Sawallisch) who is probably the best in my book and (imo) divine in anything she ever recorded. George London is (imo) a matter of taste. I don't think it's one of 'the' great Wotans, but ok, the guy has a rock-solid voice. But I don't know, somehow he gets on my nerves...hard to pin down, but it sounds a bit like a fish-monger with some basic vocal training :-) "awesome-even to the musicians of the VPO, who turned heads in this scene, as reported. "....Well...we all know about the artistic integrity of the VPO....hell, they'll do it with pigs, if it makes them money. Also, they are (in my twisted worldview Freia is annoying because she's almost always terribly cast. That's not Wagner's fault. The same with Melot...Why on earth can't we get a decent Melot now and then.... The moral of the story : If you like that kind of singing there's nothing _wrong_ with the Solti-Rheingold, but keep in mind it's _one_ way of doing Wagner and I would be very hesitant in calling it 'the most brilliant cast' for that opera. For that, I think I'd go for Böhm or Karajan.
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Hmmmm.....sorry for being an @$$hole, but I've got to put in some cents to balance the scale.... 
) the most unsuited orchestra to play Wagner, ever (with the exception of Parsifal, where they sort of work for me) so I can imagine they enjoy singers which are very much unsuited to Wagner :-P (And yes, I really don't like Flagstad, so please see these remarks as some playful polemics in that light....I hereby state that I'm NOT attacking anyone's personal integrity for liking Flagstad....go ahead....hell, I love Eva Marton for god's sake....so don't place _any_ value with my artistic judgement )
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