A great performance with some technical recording flaws
Theodore Shulman | NYC | 01/07/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Sawallisch conducts a tight performance with lots of suspense and menace. The interesting vocal acting here is at the Alberich-Wotan axis. Zoltan Kelemen combines great character-acting with good precision and attention to pitch. His initial encounter with the rheinmaidens comes off particularly well. He's better in this performance than in Karajan's studio recording. George London is at the top of his form with firm resolution and powerful penetration. Unfortunately, the recording volume fluctuates widely over the performance. You will need to adjust the volume several times if you take it in at one sitting. Most irritating is the technical glitch in scene 3 which mars Alberich's climactic threat ("Hab' acht, hab' acht...")If you can tolerate the problems with recording volume this performance is highly enjoyable."