Each label evolved their own, jealously guarded techniques, and competition to achieve the best‑sounding results was fierce. “His importance in making this Ring sound the way it does is underlined by the fact that Culshaw dedicated his book about the recording - Ring Resounding - to only two people: Parry and Solti, in that order.”Īt the time, major labels had their own engineering staff, studios and other recording venues, and much of their equipment was built or modified in‑house.
“In Vienna, Culshaw had a young engineer called Gordon Parry,” says Dominic Fyfe, Decca Classics Label Director. Soprano Birgit Nilsson, conductor Georg Solti (centre) and producer John Culshaw discuss a point from the score in the Sofiensaal control room. But to capture the results on tape, Culshaw was wholly dependent on his technical team, and on one man in particular. The indefatigable producer also tracked down musical anvils, steerhorns and other paraphernalia needed to achieve near‑impossible demands in the score. It was Culshaw’s creative and organisational genius that brought stars like Kirsten Flagstad, Wolfgang Windgassen, Birgit Nilsson and Dietrich Fischer‑Dieskau to Vienna. With a cast of characters that includes operatic divas, Wagner scholars, interfering pigeons and the hilariously truculent Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Culshaw’s memoir Ring Resounding is one of the most entertaining books ever written about music recording. He it was who championed the then little‑known conductor Georg Solti, convinced Decca executives to fund the recording of Wagner’s masterworks, and achieved impossible feats of scheduling to make the sessions happen. Visionary producer John Culshaw oversaw the cycle, which began in 1958 with Das Rheingold and concluded in 1965 with Die Walküre.
And on all of these criteria and more, the four operas that make up Decca’s Ring set may well be the most significant recordings ever made. Some are notable for risk‑taking and sheer ambition. Some set new benchmarks for sound quality.
Some embody landmark technical innovations. Historic recordings become significant for all sorts of reasons. They’ve now been restored as exactly that! The legendary Decca recordings of Wagner’s Ring operas were always envisioned as immersive listening experiences. The Decca Tree of three Neumann KM56 microphones is just visible above his head. Georg Solti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic during a Ring session at the Sofiensaal, Vienna.
0 kommentar(er)
