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Bohm's Ring Posted by Patrick Waller on May 28, 2008, 6:01 pm 195.149.46.220 Having a Wagner collection lacking in much from Bayreuth, I couldn’t resist the recently released 33 CD Decca collection (4780279) which cost me £38. I haven’t listened yet but perusing the [generally reasonable for a budget-box] documentation I was puzzled by some of the dates ascribed to the recording of Bohm’s Ring i.e. 1971 for Das Rheingold and Siegfried. My understanding from the Gramophone Good CD and Penguin Guides was that the whole cycle dated from 1967 (the dates here ascribed to Die Walkure and Gotterdammerung). I very much doubt that 1971 can be correct. The linked article suggests that Bohm conducted the Ring at Bayreuth from 1965-7 and returned in 1971 for the Dutchman. http://www.wagneroperas.com/indexwagneriansconductors.html Curiously, Alan Blyth’s book Opera on Record gives 1966 as the date for these two operas (and 1967 for the other two). The Gramofile doesn’t give a date for Siegfried but gives 196 as the date for Rheingold (!) perhaps indicative of uncertainty. Maybe older incarnations of the cycle will have the precise dates or there is some authoritative source that I haven’t yet found? All this assumes that there is only one Bayreuth recording of the Ring conducted by Bohm. Can anyone throw any light on this? Is it a complete cycle from one year or not?  Post a Response

Re: Bohm's Ring Posted by Göran Forsling on May 30, 2008, 4:45 pm, in reply to "Bohm's Ring" 90.231.240.169 I don't have the complete Böhm set but "The Best of the Ring" with excerpts from all the four parts on a Philips Duo 2 CD set, compiled in 1996. There it says 'Recorded live Bayreuth 7/1967'  Post a Response

Re: Bohm's Ring Posted by chris howell on May 31, 2008, 8:26 am, in reply to "Re: Bohm's Ring" 213.215.159.50 And a PS for anyone wondering who conducted the Ring at Bayreuth in 1968 and 1969, i.e. between Böhm and Stein. It was Lorin Maazel, the first non-German to do so. Chris Howell  Post a Response

Re: Bohm's Ring Posted by chris howell on May 31, 2008, 8:18 am, in reply to "Bohm's Ring" 213.215.159.50 The Böhm Ring wasn't actually issued until 1973 which might have created this confusion. Gramophone and the EMG Monthly Letter both reviewed it in September of that year, stating that Das Rheingold and Siegfried were from 1966, the other two from 1967. It proved surprisingly difficult to get a tabular list by googling of who conducted what at Bayreuth over the years, but there seems no doubt that Böhm conducted the Ring from 1965-7 (only), the last years of the Wieland Wagner production. As to who actually conducted the Ring in 1971, Horst Stein apparently took over from an indisposed Lorin Maazel in 1970 and conducted it through to 1975. 1976 saw the controversial Kupfer/Boulez production. Chris Howell  Post a Response

Re: Bohm's Ring Posted by Patrick Waller on May 31, 2008, 3:21 pm, in reply to "Re: Bohm's Ring" 85.211.69.91 Thanks Chris and Goran - looks like it was Opera On Record that got it right.  Post a Response

Re: Bohm's Ring Posted by Philippe GALLETOUT on September 30, 2009, 8:27 am, in reply to "Bohm's Ring" 82.67.255.249 1967 is the correct date. Check this (official) site for any further info : http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb_en/besetzung/1967/8/5979/index.htm  Post a Response

Re: Bohm's Ring Posted by Göran Forsling on October 5, 2009, 7:39 pm, in reply to "Bohm's Ring" 81.234.141.38 The mystery surrounding Böhm's Bayreuth Ring is still not sufficiently clarified. I checked the site that Philippe Galletout recommended and found the following: 1965: Böhm conducted all the Ring performances 1966: Böhm and Otmar Suitner shared all four operas 1967: Böhm and Suitner shared Walküre and Götterdämmerung while Suitner conducted Rheingold and Siegfried. 1965 and 1966 cound both have produced complete Ring cycles with Böhm. I haven't gone through the cast lists - that's a too heavy and time consuming procedure. As for 1971 that was a quite different production, premiered the year before, with Horst Stein conducting. To complete the picture of Böhm's activities in Bayreuth during the 1960s, he conducted Tristan und Isolde in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966 (that's the year the legendary recording was made) and 1968, when he was replaced by Berislav Klobucar on one evening, due to illness.  Post a Response

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