This week we release the opening chapter of a major new addition to the Pristine catalogue: Franz Konwitschny’s 1959 Covent Garden Ring, beginning with Das Rheingold in vivid BBC broadcast sound from the Royal Opera House. With Hans Hotter’s commanding Wotan, Richard Holm’s mercurial Loge and Otakar Kraus’s darkly compelling Alberich, this first instalment immediately establishes the dramatic stature of the cycle.
What makes this Rheingold especially exciting is the sense of arrival it brings: a rare post-war Covent Garden Ring preserved in remarkably fine sound and now opened out in Ambient Stereo XR. It is the perfect threshold to the journey ahead, from the first glint of gold in the Rhine to the gods’ final ascent into Valhalla, with the remaining evenings to unfold across the months ahead.
To mark Leopold Stokowski’s 144th birthday, we’re offering 10% off all 56 Stokowski releases this week. From the sumptuous Philadelphia sound of Scheherazade to the modernist fire of his NBC broadcasts, it’s the perfect moment to revisit one of the great sonic visionaries in recorded music.
Pristine Classical
Konwitschny’s 1959 Covent Garden Ring
