Rudolf Kempe, Otmar Suitner - Wagner: Das Rheingold / R. Strauss: Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten (1959, 1970) [2020 SACD]

There are several live recordings of Wagner's "Ring" performance by Kempe, all of which are highly rated, but there are no other recordings so well recorded and left in stereo sound sources. Although it is a short session recording of only the beginning part and the last part of "Rheingold", it is a very valuable sound source. Although it was recorded in the early days of stereo, it would be a harvest that it was recorded quite vividly, including the texture of the singer's voice at the time. Even near the end, Kempe's large-scale command and SKB's tactics in response to it are splendid, and the significance of making this recording SACD is great. This reprint, which has much higher resolution than conventional CDs and is more powerful, is a recording that should be remembered as one of Kempe's top performances. In addition, this time, the coupling song includes the 1970 recording "Kage no Nai Onna" by Switner, who conducted the same SKB. Although the time is different, it is the same orchestra, so please enjoy the difference. This Sweetner board is a pretty good sound source, including performances and recordings. You can enjoy it, including the ability of R. Strauss, who was good at it.
Since the 1950s, Kempe has performed all the songs of "The Ring" at Covent Garden, and after this 1959 recording, from 1960 he will conduct "The Ring" in a new direction for four consecutive years at Bayreuth. . The sound source this time is not a live performance but a session recording, so you can feel Kempe's attention to detail and his reverence for Wagner everywhere. The distribution of the cast and the strong enthusiasm of the production side who challenged the recording with careful preparation probably also increase the value as an album. In addition, when it first appeared on ETERNA in 1960, it was only released in monaural. The following year, German Electrora released a stereo version, and a stereo version was released in the UK around the same time, but the original ETERNA finally released a stereo version in 1982. Therefore, the jacket design used this time is that of the stereo version of ETERNA (the jacket design of the mono version, which was first published, is shown in the commentary).

~*As it is a machine translation, the result may not provide an accurate description.
Please use it only as a reference.


Tracks:

01-05. Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold (excerpts)
06. Richard Strauss: Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten, TrV 234a

Personnel:

Staatskapelle Dresden
Conductor: Rudolf Kempe (1), Otmar Suitner (2)

Recorded:
1959, Grunewaldkirche Berlin (1)
July 15, 1970, SRK Berlin Saal 1 (2)