Sean Bianco's Opera Lounge is having "Ring Month"

[usonian]

That's the multi-opera extravaganza, "The Ring of the Nibelungs" by Wagner.

Sean Bianco's emails are sometimes flakey, so I missed the first in the cycle, Das Rheingold, last Saturday (though it's repeated throughout the week)

Edit to add details:

It will be live Ring from 1953 conducted by Clemens Kraus.

Not the beer:



Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold)
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)

I especially like the Twilight of the Gods, in which Valhalla goes up in flames.
I love being an iconoclast.

If you are unfamiliar with The Ring, Anna Russel's commentary is a blast.

Opera Lounge, https://live365.com/station/Bianco-s-Opera-Lounge-a27807
Check the schedule, You might catch Das Rheingold yet.
It's all about the greed.
Even the gods fail because of it.

Free at live365.

For you beer lovers:
The Rheingold beer song is The Estudiantina Waltz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estudiantina

The Estudiantina waltz (or Band of Students Waltz) is a musical arrangement, made in 1883, by Émile Waldteufel, his Opus 191, No. 4. Its melody was composed earlier in 1881 by Paul Lacôme, with lyrics by Julien de Lau Lusignan.

Waldteufel first adapted it to a two-piano version, and later to an orchestral version with which classical music audiences are familiar today. The main melody is universally recognized by Americans of a certain age as the Rheingold Beer jingle, with the words "My beer is Rheingold the dry beer. Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer. It's not bitter, not sweet, it's the extra dry treat—Won't you try extra dry Rheingold beer?". And in Germany the main melody is very popular because of a song called "Spaniens Gitarren" sung by the singers Cindy & Bert in 4/4 time which was a great hit for them in 1974.

And rendered by The Golden Girls.

[Aristus]

1. I have four complete recordings of the Ring Cycle.

The landmark first stereo version with Georg Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
The English National Opera complete Ring from the 1970’s.
Seattle Opera’s recording of their 2013 Ring.
An LP recording of La Scala’s 1951 Ring Cycle. The sound quality on this one is poor, which is sad, because it was one of Kirsten Flagstad’s last appearances as Brünnhilde.

[usonian]

2. Don't tell Sean. He collects recordings.

Listeners over his more than 20 years at CapRadio have sent him all kinds of recordings before monster financial mismanagement struck, and Sean's progran was canned. That's why he's on Live365 now.

https://www.mynspr.org/news/2023-10-01/audit-finds-capradio-mismanaged-funds-questions-stations-ability-to-pay-for-costly-downtown-projects

He really scrutinizes recordings, and I really don't know his criteria. Sometimes, he'll play one with really creaky sound, because of the artists involved.

Best advice he gives is to get good speakers. While many of us have good ears, many people put up with really inferior sound. Good speakers make a big difference but also point out flaws. I am constantly working the equalizers to get realistic concert sound. I found that Mister techie Herbert Von Karajan fiddled with the sound so that I can't equalize it.


Sean gives out his email address on the program if you care to communicate, or argue over the best Ring production.

I wonder if he had played the Solti version. I believe that almost all that he had played is archived.

https://www.capradio.org/classical/at-the-opera/

By special arrangement with the folks that killed his program. The archive abruptly ends in August 2023.

Take good care of those recordings.