Which Ring cycle to get - Solti or Keilberth?

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The Keilberth has been getting rave reviews and in theory it offers the best of all worlds - stereo sound and 50s Bayreuth singers. Sadly, I think the conspiracy theory that it hasn't been released for 50 years because Culshaw(he who produced the Solti Ring) didn't like live recordings is not the whole truth as it doesn't sound nearly as good as it ought to. The problems in Siegfried are fairly subtle (there is some nasty clipping in the loudest singing - for example when Siegfried reforges the sword or in the close of act III), but these issues are more than outweighed by the set's plus points (Hans Hotter never caught so well, the best account of the Wotan/Mime scene I have heard, Fafner's awakening, and many more), yet I still find myself enjoying Krauss more. Things are worse with Rheingold. The sound is frequently very harsh (and much worse than Kna in 56), Keilberth's conducting is also more of an issue (I think he rushes too much and doesn't support his singers properly). Worst of all, for a set that sells itself on sound quality, is the hissing noise in scene 3 (already mentioned). The set is also not cheap (you could buy the Furtwangler, Kna and Krauss and still have change), and there are some odd economies on the packaging (no synopsis, the same essay with all the operas).

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I have somewhat mixed feelings about the Testament/Keilberth Ring (which I ought to caveat with the fact that so far I have heard only Siegfried and Rheingold).

I was very much impressed with Siegfried (and, judging from Rheingold, can see why they took the superficially odd decision to release it first). It is true that Hotter, Windgassen and the like have never previously been captured quite so well on disc and their singing is finer than it was for Solti some years later. But, here's the thing, it is no finer than it was for either Knappertsbusch or Krauss at around the same time. And I still find both those (the 56, in the case of Kna) more compelling. That said, there are one or two moments that Keilberth captures fore me in a particularly special way, one is Fafner's roaring as he awakens and the other is the scene between Mime (though I still don't think I've heard a Mime on CD to rival Graham Clark) and Wotan in act one (which would not normally be a highlight for me). However, to these ears, the final act lacks the out and out fire and passion I find in Krauss.

Of course, Keilberth does have a key advantage over Krauss - the sound is much much better (for the latter it is often horribly constricted and tinny). However, the sound is perfect, it is, of course, not so fine as Solti (though I won't dwell on that as it leads to the whole live/studio debate) but neither is it as fine as Boehm (though that has its own problems, such as Theo Adam being no Hans Hotter). However, even among the 50s Bayreuth cycles I do not think it quite reigns supreme. Take, for example the 56 Kna in its latest Orfeo transfer which sounds remarkably fine (indeed, compared to Keilberth with the mono switch on it yields remarkably little). In fact, in some regards it is finer: Keilberth suffers in a number of places from a nasty sibilance/distortion on Windgassen's loudest notes while forging the sword, as do both Varnay and Windgassen in the final scene.

However, these minor quibbles not withstanding I rank it as a very fine set. Rheingold, on the other hand, was deeply disappointing for me. The first think I noticed is an entirely cosmetic issue - the essay is identical (save a note about that hiss, the accuracy of which I am sceptical about) to that in Siegfried (and, I assume the other two issues). When paying as much as these issues are priced at, this is poor. Poorer still, is that neither has a synopsis. I don't really need it (I know the operas backwards), but they can be useful and, again, these sets are not cheap and it is as such a puzzling omission (and far from the standards that might be expected from this company).

Several other more serious 'cosmetic' issues also blight this set. This first is the aforementioned hiss in scene three (which astonishingly gets no mention in Alan Blyth's review). This would probably not irritate quite so much but this set's key selling point (and the basis on which it has largely been sold to us) is of having the best sound of any of the 50s Bayreuth recordings. I also dispute that the cause is an electronic machine for the anvils as stated in the notes, not least because the anvils sound nothing like the genuinely (awful) electronic ones that blight Kna in 56. Equally irritating is the disc break. Standard practice in just about every recording I own (I'd have to check to be certain, but certainly I've not noticed it elsewhere) seems to be in a conveniently quiet moment just into scene 3. Perhaps the hiss precluded this. Certainly the obvious excuse of 'timing issues' cannot apply here. However, ended as it does after Fricka's final words in scene 2 (very nearly cutting her off) is a very unsatisfactory point to break. I can forgive bad CD breaks when they come on, say the Furtwangler/Scala Ring, given my set was less than £20, but here, at this price, one would expect more care.

Most of which wouldn't bother me if the musical quality was outstanding. I don't find it to be. I don't think the singing on display in the issue is especially remarkably and I am entirely out of sympathy with Keilberth's conducting. Doubtless this will be a personal issue, however, I find it rushed to such an extent that much of the drama and beauty is lost. Interestingly, I do not find the same from Krauss's reading which is also similarly brisk. Wotan's fanfare at the start of scene two seems utterly devoid of grandeur. I feel that Keilberth does not properly support his singers - in Fafner's first appearance, for example.

Worst of all, on the key selling point of sound quality, I think this issue is very poor. Not quite so bad as Krauss but I find the 56 Kna much preferable. There are points (for example in the overture) of dropout, the sound in general is rather harsh and frequently distorts in the louder moments, sometimes painfully so (especially the brass). Indeed, at times there is a tinniness that not a million miles from that on Krauss. It makes me wonder whether the decision not to release these discs previously had more to do with these issues that the oft-stated Culshaw didn't like live recordings.

On that score, I have to say that audience noise hasn't particularly bothered me on any of these. But then, it usually doesn't. I find that if the recording is fine enough I couldn't care less (as witnessed by the Giulini/ROH Don Carlos which has a particularly enthusiastic audience but which I still cannot stop playing).

I will possibly pick up the others at some point (I think Keilberth's conducting might be pretty well suited to Walkure, and I am interested to hear how the recording quality fairs over the other two). However, while Siegfried is for me a top recommendation, Rheingold is very much not. And it does have to be noted that this cycle offers poor value for money (for the price of the full set one could easily pick up Kna, Krauss and Furtwangler).

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Originally posted by Rubio:
Are you planning to acquire the "Walkure" and the "Gotterdammerung" from the Keilberth Testament cycle. There are also some people who swear to the Karajan Ring.