Our JJ‘s recent reminiscences over at WQXR about the whopping cost of a Ring recording back in the Mad Men era seemed all the more startling to La Cieca when she took a gander at a “new” live Ring offered by our friends at Opera Depot.

The audio recording is from the historic 1965 Bayreuth Festival, with casting similar to that of the classic Philips release taped in 1966-1967: Karl Bõhm conducting Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Theo Adam, Leonie Rysanek, James King, Josef Greindl, Thomas Stewart, Anja Silja… plus Martti Talvela, Kerstin Meyer and Lili Chookasian.

The amazing thing here is that Opera Depot is currently offering this complete performance for only $50.91 on CD and $29.37 on MP3! (And—full disclosure—if you order through this link, parterre.com will receive a commission of 20% on each set sold.)

La Cieca

James Jorden (who wrote under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") was the founder and editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he wrote for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni. He also contributed a regular column on opera for the New York Observer. James died in October 2023.

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