Wagner: Das Rheingold (Original Source Series) / / Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker | Deutsche Grammophon

This first part Das Rheingold of Karajan’s Wagner Ring cycle with the Berliner Philharmoniker is released as part of the Original Source Series. Together with the upcoming further three parts of this extraordinary tetralogy, this release marks the 150th anniversary of the first complete performance of the cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Starting with 4-track in 2023 and expanding to 8-track in 2024, this is the first time the Original Source Series uses an original 2-track stereo master. 

For his monumental Ring cycle, Karajan assembled a world-class ensemble of singers distinguished by a neutral vocal tone and a clear, precise delivery of the text. His Berliner Philharmoniker was more than capable of meeting this challenge. Karajan’s Ring cycle stands apart from other recordings through its almost otherworldly approach, focused on beauty, lyricism, and structural clarity. 

The audiophile vinyl series The Original Source presents outstanding recordings in an entirely new level of sound quality. For this purpose, the renowned Emil Berliner Studios have remastered and cut the original multi-track tapes in 100% analog quality (AAA), using technologies specially developed for the production of this series. The sonic differences compared to the original releases are substantial: greater clarity, more detail, and improvements across the frequency range, combined with reduced background noise, distortion, and compression, create an audiophile listening experience like never before. 

Released on 180g vinyl and presented in a 3-LP box set featuring the original covers and librettos, this limited and numbered edition also includes additional photographs as well as facsimiles of the recording logs and tape boxes.