Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold conducted by Sir Georg Solti
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of Sir Georg Solti’s passing
“The Greatest Recording Of All Time” - Now sounding better than ever before
- Transferred and remastered in HD sound at 24bit / 192kHz from the original two-track stereo mastertapes
- The first all-new transfer in over twenty-five years
- The first-ever stereo production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, still considered the benchmark today
“Here is the greatest achievement in gramophone history yet” - Gramophone in 1965. For many, it still is.
ALL FOUR OPERAS IN THE CYCLE WILL BE RELEASED IN DELUXE VINYL EDITIONS:
- Lacquers cut using half-speed mastering technique by Miles Showell, Abbey Road Studios
- 180g heavyweight vinyl pressed at Optimal Media GmbH in Germany
- Lavishly illustrated booklets featuring technical information on the new HD remaster and original recording techniques, introduction to each opera by Producer John Culshaw, synopses and libretti in English & German plus many original session photographs and rare facsimiles.
“The greatest of all the achievements in the history of the gramophone record” - Gramophone Magazine
“No one has bettered Solti’s Decca Ring in terms of sweep, scope, grandeur, dramatic immediacy, and sheer adrenalin” - Stereophile
A note on Half-speed Mastering:
Abbey Road’s world-renowned engineers have been cutting grooves into discs since the studios first opened their doors in 1931. This record was pressed from a master cut using a precision technique known as half-speed mastering. The procedure requires the source master and the cutting lathe to run at half speed on a specially adapted Neumann VMS-80 lathe. This rare and specialized technique transforms difficult to cut high-end frequencies into relatively easy to cut mid-range frequencies. The result is a cut with excellent high frequency response and very sold and stable stereo images. In short, half-speed mastering produces a master of the highest quality that enables the pressing plant to produce a superlative record. Miles Showell, Mastering Engineer, Abbey Road Studios
