TESTAMENT

These CDs & LPs are for release in 2006.
For news of their release ­ keep an eye on the Testament homepage.
At present only Siegfried on CD is available.

WAGNER Der Ring des Nibelungen (Recorded in stereo live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival)  Das Rheingold  Die Walküre  Siegfried  Götterdämmerung   Read about the conductor Joseph Keilberth  Testament will issue the first-ever stereo recording of The Ring Cycle with Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay and Wolfgang Windgassen   In January 2006 Testament will release a new Siegfried, the first instalment of a 'lost' Ring recorded at the Bayreuth Festival in 1955. Thrillingly conducted by Joseph Keilberth (called by Astrid Varnay "a conductor with so much love, who was always there for you"), the cycle provides the opportunity to hear complete for the first time on commercial release the definitive performances of Hans Hotter (Wotan/Wanderer), Astrid Varnay (Brünnhilde), Ramon Vinay (Siegmund), Josef Greindl (Hagen) and Paul Kuen (Mime), in addition to the much-loved Siegfried of Wolfgang Windgassen, here heard in his prime.    These 'live' Bayreuth performances were taped by a Decca team led by Peter Andry and including the noted engineers Kenneth Wilkinson and Roy Wallace, with Gordon Parry as assistant. Using a new six-channel mixer designed by Wallace, the team made both stereo and mono recordings of each opera. Three microphones were placed in the sunken orchestra pit and three hung from a lighting bridge about 20 feet above the stage. "This was brilliant; it worked beautifully", remembers Wallace. The company prepared for an expected release, but John Culshaw, recently returned to Decca, vetoed the project. He disliked 'live' recordings and already had plans for a studio Ring with Solti which began four years later.    Decca's recording vividly captures in wonderful stereo sound the unique acoustic and stage/pit balance of the Bayreuth Festival theatre with its sunken orchestra, in addition to preserving the leading singers from a Wagnerian golden age in 'live' performance.   The remaining operas in the cycle will appear in March, May and July 2006. SBT2 1390 (2-CD set) SBTLP3 1390 (3-LP set Wagner Das Rheingold Jutta Vulpius · Elisabeth Schärtel · Maria Graf · Gustav Neidlinger Georgine von Milinkovic · Hans Hotter · Hertha Wilfert · Ludwig Weber Josef Greindl · Josef Traxel · Toni Blankenheim · Rudolf Lustig · Paul Kuen · Maria von Ilosvay Bayreuth Festival Orchestra SBT4 1391 (4-CD set) SBTLP5 1391 (5-LP set) Wagner Die Walküre Georgine von Milinkovic · Hans Hotter · Ramón Vinay · Gré Brouwenstijn Josef Greindl · Astrid Varnay · Gerda Lammers · Elisabeth Schärtel · Maria von Ilosvay Hilde Scheppan · Jean Watson · Maria Graf · Hertha Wilfert Bayreuth Festival Orchestra SBT4 1392 (4-CD set) SBTLP5 1392 (5-LP set) Wagner Siegfried Gustav Neidlinger · Hans Hotter · Josef Greindl · Paul Kuen · Maria von Ilosvay Astrid Varnay · Wolfgang Windgassen · Ilse Hollweg Bayreuth Festival Orchestra   SBT4 1393 (4-CD set) SBTLP6 1393 (6-LP set) Wagner Götterdämmerung Jutta Vulpius · Elisabeth Schärtel · Maria Graf · Gustav Neidlinger Astrid Varnay · Maria von Ilosvay · Wolfgang Windgassen · Georgine von Milinkovic Mina Bolotine · Hermann Uhde · Josef Greindl · Gré Brouwenstijn Bayreuth Festival Chorus & Orchestra   .

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