For fans of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, the dispute over which of his Ring cycles is the best recorded will probably never end. Some say his 1950 La Scala Ring is the one, while others would choose his 1953 version from Rome. A few might even say that if more of it were available, the 1937 London Ring would be his best. But since two-thirds of the London Ring remains in private hands, the real contest is between the La Scala and the Rome Rings, and that contest often comes down to which has the best Siegfried -- ...
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For fans of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, the dispute over which of his Ring cycles is the best recorded will probably never end. Some say his 1950 La Scala Ring is the one, while others would choose his 1953 version from Rome. A few might even say that if more of it were available, the 1937 London Ring would be his best. But since two-thirds of the London Ring remains in private hands, the real contest is between the La Scala and the Rome Rings, and that contest often comes down to which has the best Siegfried -- the tetralogy's central opera (Das Rheingold is but a two-hour prelude), the Ring opera with the widest range of emotions (no other Ring opera has even a hint of humor in it), the only Ring opera with a happy ending, and the Ring opera that at last introduces the Ring's hero.Of course, "best" Siegfried means not just the best tenor in the title role, but the best total performance of the whole gesamtkunstwerk. Both recordings have many merits and relatively few demerits. The La...
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