Wagner: Die Walküre

This performance is simply among the best performances of Die Walkure I have ever heard! It's hard to imagine a better cast! Leonie Rysanek and Jon Vickers are a perfectly matched pair as Siegmund and Sieglinde. Hans Hotter was the dominant Wotan of his generation, and this 1958 performance finds him in much better voice than his Decca recording. Astrid Varnay was one of the great Brunnhildes of the 1950's. Rita Gorr is a very strong Fricka and even the team of Valkyries contains otherwise star singers such as Gorr, Grace Hoffmann, and Maria von Ilosvay! But the whole performance is defined by the conducting of the great Hans Knappertsbusch, a Bayreuth legend. The mono sound is very good, remastered with 24 bit/96 kHz technology in 2009. Not to be missed!