Gramophone
'In spite of speeds that in other hands would often seem unreasonably slow, or to an extent because of them, Goodall's interpretation has an unerring sense of lyrical and dramatic concentration, every paragraph, phrase and bar carefully considered and executed with loving care by singers and players alike, all so closely coached by their veteran conductor.... The main honours are carried off by Emile Belcourt's plausible, witty and articulate Loge, Hammond-Stroud's imposing, strongly sung Alberich, Robert Lloyd's sympathetic Fasolt and Bailey's ever authoritative Wotan.'
English National Opera Chorus
English National Opera Orchestra
Reginald Goodall - conductor
Recorded live at the London Coliseum
- 10, 19, 25 & 29 March 1975
Producer - John Mordler
Sound engineer - Robert Gooch
Preliminary Evening to the Festival Play:
The Ring of the Nibelung
Music drama in four scenes
Poem by Richard Wagner
English translation by Andrew Porte
The Cast
Gods
Norman Bailey, bass-baritone - Wotan
Norman Welsby, baritone - Donner
Robert Ferguson, tenor - Froh
Emile Belcourt, tenor - Loge
Giants
Robert Lloyd, bass - Fasolt
Clifford Grant, bass - Fafner
Nibelungs
Derek Hammond-Stroud, baritone - Alberich
Gregory Dempsey, tenor - Mime
Goddesses
Katherine Pring, mezzo-soprano - Fricka
Lois McDonnall, soprano - Freia
Anne Collins, contralto - Erda
Rhinemaidens
Valerie Masterson, soprano - Woglinde
Shelagh Squires, mezzo-soprano - Wellgunde
Helen Attfield, contralto - Flosshilde
The Sunday Telegraph
‘... I never feel that his tempos sound slow. The inner momentum of the music is what matters and Goodall's phrasing is so natural and unmannered that the flow is as strong as the Rhine itself.'