"Actor: Wolfgang Windgassen"

• The Golden Ring - Wiener Philharmoniker/Sir Georg Solti | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The legendary 1965 BBC film on the pioneering recording by Sir Georg Solti of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Filmed during the recording of Gotterdammerung in the Sofiensale with the Vienna Philharmonic, it features performances by the great Wagner singers Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gottlob Frick, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The DVD also includes ORF's German-language version of the programme (Hinter den Kulissen der Gotterdammerung) featuring different interview footage with Sir Georg Solti.

• Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus - Karl Bohm/Wiener Philharmoniker | DVD | (05/11/2007) from £15.75   |  Saving you £1.24 (7.30%)   |  RRP £16.99

  This is Otto Schenk's quintessentially Viennese 1972 production of Strauss's masterpiece Die Fledermaus featuring a Viennese dream cast - Janowitz Wchter Windgassen Bhm and the Vienna Philharmonic. Tracklisting: 1. Overture 2. Nr.1 Introduktion: ""Tubchen das entflattert ist"" 3. ""Das ist er der Alfred!""/Nr. 1a ""Ach ich darf nicht hin zu dir"" 4. ""So ein Pillerl beruhigt enorm"" 5. Nr.2 Terzett: ""Nein mit solchen Advokaten"" 6. ""Also den sind wir los"" 7. Nr.3 Duett: ""Komm mit mir zum Souper"" 8. ""Was ist denn das?"" 9. Nr.4 Terzett: ""So muss allein ich bleiben"" 10. Na der wird sich fabelhaft im Arrest amsieren"" 11. Nr.5 Finale: ""Trinke Liebchen trinke schnell"" 12. ""Da kommt doch jemand?"" 13. ""Mein Herr was dchten Sie von mir"" 14. Mein schnes grosses Vogelhaus 15. Nr.6 Introduktion: ""Ein Souper heut uns winkt"" 16. ""Ida!"" - ""Adele!"" 17. Nr.7 Couplet: ""Ich lade gern mir Gste ein"" 18. ""Nasdrowje!"" 19. Nr.8 Ensemble und Couplet: ""Ach meine Herr'n und Damen"" 20. ""Mein Herr Marquis"" 21. ""Aber meine Herrschaften"" 22. Nr.9 Duett: ""Dieser Anstand so manierlich"" 23. ""Da ist sie ja die schne Unbekannte!"" 24. Nr.10 Csrds: ""Klnge der Heimat"" 25. ""Na bin ich eine echte Ungarin?"" 26. Nr.11 Finale: ""Im Feuerstrom der Reben"" 27. ""Herr Chevalier ich grsse Sie!"" 28. Brderlein und Schwesterlein 29. Polka ""Unter Donner und Blitz"" op.324 30. ""Genug damit genug"" 31. Dialog: Tubchen das entflattert ist 32. Nr. 13 ""Mongolen sagen immer"" 33. ""Was sagen Sie? - ""Sie besoffener Idiot!"" 34. Nr.14 Couplets: ""Spiel' ich die Unschuld vom Lande"" 35. ""Aber selbstverstndlich werd' ich Sie ausbilden lassen!"" 36. Nr.15 Terzett: ""Ich stehe voll Zagen"" 37. ""So du willst dich also rchen"" 38. Nr.16 Finale: ""O Fledermaus o Fledermaus""

• The Golden Ring | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When The Golden Ring was aired on the BBC in 1965, it was the longest music documentary ever made. And though now Humphrey Burton's 90-minute black and white film about Georg Solti's landmark recording of Gotterdammerung seems rather rough and naïve in its use of basic documentary techniques, the excitement it conveys about the gargantuan Ring cycle project is still palpable. Underlings scuttle about, engineers endlessly fiddle with knobs, and Decca producer John Culshaw oversees the largest recording project ever undertaken with the command of a great military general. The technical insights are fascinating: all the sound mixing has to be done immediately, for instance, and echo effects are created by placing certain instruments in different rooms with closed-circuit TV cameras giving them Solti's beat. Culshaw's legendary attention to detail is also noted: he had obsolete stierhorns made especially for Hagen's call to the Gibichung vassals. Burton's documentary style is a little awkward, and his use of cut-aways and fades now seems antiquated. But he is sensible enough to allow generous portions of the music to speak for themselves, and the closing scene--Birgit Nilsson singing Brunnhilde's immolation--is simply heart-stopping. Despite the roughness, this film undoubtedly still captures one of the greatest moments in the history of classical music recording. On the DVD: The Golden Ring, as you might expect from a 1965 documentary, has patchy sound and picture quality (from a mixture of video and 16mm film). Occasionally the tape seems to splinter a little and the microphones fail to catch certain conversations with clarity. But somehow it all adds to the raw excitement and doesn't detract from the subject matter. The DVD also includes 69 minutes of audio highlights from the final recording.--Warwick Thompson