Andrew McGregor does a deep dive into Wagner’s Ring cycle, recently reissued by Decca in new hi-def transfers
Georg Solti’s Wagner recordings remain a cherished benchmark
It’s been hailed repeatedly as the greatest recording of all time: Wagner’s Complete Ring Cycle (Decca Limited Edition 14-SACD; 1 Blu-ray Bundle) conducted by Sir Georg Solti, always intended as a sonic spectacular, with producer John Culshaw using the new stereo LP format to create a ‘theatre of the mind’ as he described in his memoir Ring Resounding. Or should that be ‘Re-re-re-re-resounding’, because here is the fifth attempt to wring the last drop of detail from the analogue master tapes. They were remastered for CD in 1984, then 1997 brought new transfers, with tape hiss digitally removed – the basis for the ‘Ultimate Collector’s Edition’ which was released in 2012, including the complete Ring on a single stereo Blu-ray disc. I thought that would be the final physical edition of the Solti Ring, and so perhaps did Decca. But almost 40 years after the first digital transfer, state-of-the-art processing delivers more refined results, so reissue producer Dominic Fyfe has supervised a new set of high-definition transfers from Culshaw’s approved masters.
Listening to the hybrid SACDs on headphones and comparing it to previous editions is to marvel at the dynamic range and realism of the orchestral sound, while new digital tools offer less invasive ways of losing unwanted noise and tape hiss. It’s astonishingly effectiv
