RECORDING OF THE MONTH     CHOPIN Waltzes and Impromptus Vladimir Feltsman £11 post free World-wide VIVALDI The four seasons London Mozart Players/Juritz £12 post free World-wide BEETHOVEN Symphonies 4 and 5 LSO/Yondani Butt £12 post free World-wide

Richard WAGNER (1813 – 1883). Das Rheingold. Excerpts Loge, Helmut Melchert (ten); Wotan, Ferdinand Frantz (bar); Fricka, Johanna Blatter (cont); Alberich, Benno Kusche (bar); Erda, Rut Siewart (m. sop); Donner, Josef Metternich (bass) Orchestra of the Staatskapelle Berlin/Rudolf Kempe Recorded Grunewaldkirche, Berlin. 1959 BERLIN CLASSICS ETERNA COLLECTION 0032622BC [47.29]

I have spent nearly a month intermittently trying to source the provenance of this issue, a task as difficult as ascertaining its purpose in the market place. None of the singers has particular distinction and there are some examples of excess of vibrato and vocal spread to be heard. Recorded a year after Decca embarked on their monumental ground breaking ‘Ring Project’, this was, perhaps, another company giving us a brief example of Kempe’s somewhat more languid and shaped interpretation compared to Solti’s more dynamically driven version. Whatever, 47 minutes of an opera that lasts two and one quarter hours is sparse measure and I assume that length to be related to two LP sides. The recording itself is set at a fairly high level, the voices well forward, the whole in an over-reverberant ‘swimmy’ acoustic. The leaflet has an interesting essay, in German and English, and a good summary of the plot. It is a pity that there is no reference to the five tracks of the disc in that plot summary; what is a listener to make of track 1 which simply states ‘Auf dem Grunge des Rheines’ and lasts 21 minutes? This is the least successful of the recent issues in this series from Berlin Classics. Only Wagner addicts, or Kempe enthusiasts, will find much enjoyment or interest. Robert J Farr   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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