Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #879 in Music
• Released on: 2008-06-17
• Number of discs: 33
• Format: Box set

Album Description
A special, limited edition 33-CD box set containing all of Wagner's operas from The Flying Dutchman (1841) to his final masterpiece Parsifal (1882) in performances from the opera house created specifically for the production of Wagner's masterpieces, the Bayreuth Festival Theatre. Landmark performances by some of the greatest Wagnerians can be savored here, among them singers Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, Anja Silja, Waltraud Meier, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Jess Thomas, James King, Ramon Vinay, Peter Hoffmann, Bernd Weikl, Theo Adam, Karl Ridderbusch, Hans Sotin and Simon Estes. The all-star roster of conductors includes Karl Böhm, James Levine, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Silvio Varviso. RICHARD WAGNER (1813-83) Der fliegende Holländer Anja Silja * Fritz Uhl * Josef Greindl * Franz Crass Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor Tannhäuser Anja Silja * Wolfgang Windgassen * Eberhard Wächter * Josef Greindl Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor Lohengrin Anja Silja * Astrid Varnay * Jess Thomas * Ramon Vinay Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor Tristan und Isolde Birgit Nilsson * Wolfgang Windgassen Karl Böhm, conductor Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Hannelore Bode * Jean Cox * Bernd Weikl * Karl Ridderbusch * Hans Sotin Silvio Varviso, conductor Der Ring des Nibelungen Das Rheingold Annelies Burmeister * Wolfgang Windgassen * Theo Adam * Gustav Neidlinger Karl Böhm, conductor Die Walküre Birgit Nilsson * Leonie Rysanek * James King * Theo Adam Karl Böhm, conductor Siegfried Birgit Nilsson * Wolfgang Windgassen * Theo Adam Karl Böhm, conductor Götterdämmerung Birgit Nilsson * Wolfgang Windgassen * Josef Greindl * Gustav Neidlinger Karl Böhm, conductor Parsifal Waltraud Meier * Peter Hoffmann * Hans Sotin * Simon Estes James Levine, conductor

Customer Reviews

A No Brainer
Buying this set is a no brainer. The price for acquiring recordings of all of Wagner's major operas is irresistible. All of these performances range from good to great. Although recorded live, audience noise is almost non-existent and the balance between orchestra and singers is very good. The sound is as good as many of my recordings made in a studio. I had all recordings of all of these operas before buying this set. However, getting to hear other performances of these works was too pricey for me. This was a terrific way to add to my CD opera collection and hear recordings that I had coveted (Bohm's Ring for example) but would not have had the chance to experience. I recommend buying this set while it is still available. It will become a collector's item.

For Wagner Fans And At A Fantastic Price.
When most music enthusiasts think of "great" Wagner conductors, usually the names of Von Karajan, Solti, and Furtwaengler come to mind. For some odd reason, Karl Boehm and Wolfgang Sawallisch are rarely considered and that's a shame. (No disrepect meant towards James Levine, an excellent conductor of Wagner or Silvio Varviso.) I'd venture as far as to say that Karl Boehm is one of the least appreciated "great" conductors, period. I had the good fortune to see him conduct Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" in Vienna at the twilight of his long and illustrious career and well as having been to many Wolfgang Sawallisch-led performances at the Wiener Staatsoper in the early 70's. Many of the soloists featured on these live recordings from Bayreuth are or were famous for their Wagnerian singing and I was thrilled to get to hear them again.

Fortunately, all of these performances were recorded in excellent stereo, and the live audiences were quiet for the most part and the engineers have wisely excised audience applause. Some coughing is more noticable in some performances than in others reminding me of the old joke, "When people have a cough they don't stay home, they go to the opera!!"

And now Decca has re-issued all the "great" operas from Der Fliegende Hollander to Parzifal and if one is really desperate to have the "complete" operas, one can augment the collection to include "Das Liebesverbot", "Die Feen", and "Rienzi" still for a pittance when compared to buying the European-issued "Complete Wagner" series that includes those three early operas and at a much higher cost.

My only quibble is that one must do with plot synopses and not have the libretti included.

And all of this for only $56 bucks for 33 CDs?? Thank you, Decca and God bless you!! This is just too good to pass up for several reasons. Most current Ring cycles alone can cost over $100, so what are you waiting for??

Viel Vernuegen!!!

Don't let the sloppy book confuse you
This is a great bargain. The best Lohengrin available and a blazing Ring. The booklet has many errors, the biggest of which is that Rheingold and Siegfried date from 1971 while the other two parts are from 1967. Don't be fooled. The entire Ring is from 1967. Bohm did not conduct the Ring in 1971 -- Horst Stein did, Windgassen was not singing in it in '71, the 67 was Wieland's production, the 71 was Wolfgang's. And on and on. Enjoy the CD's. For less than $2 a disc, we can do with a sloppy book.