Wagner Complete Operas [43 CD set]

Richard Wagner, the most controversial figure the arts have ever seen, whose music can move and overwhelm like no other, continues to divide even today. The year 2013 celebrates the 200th anniversary of his birth.

In recognition of this anniversary, DG have released the classiest box on the market. Every opera that Wagner wrote - The best of DG, two operas each from Decca and the BBC, and EMI's Rienzi. This is the first time a Universal label has been able to pull off such a feat.

ARTISTS & PERFORMANCES
• Seasoned conductors, among them some of the Wagner greats: Kleiber, Solti and Jochum

• Acclaimed modern recordings by James Levine (Ring cycle) and Giuseppe Sinopoli in Dutchman and Tannhäuser

• Excellent accounts of the two earliest operas in 1976 BBC recordings specially produced for the Bayreuth centenary - well worth checking out

• Plácido Domingo in two starring Wagner roles, Lohengrin (with Jessye Norman as Elsa) and Tannhäuser

• Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Hans Sachs in Meistersinger

• Cheryl Studer at her peak as Senta and Elisabeth

• Margaret Price and René Kollo as a matchless pair in Tristan

PACKAGING
• Rigid cube with hinged lid, featuring four handsome portraits of the composer

• Inner sleeves with newly commissioned sketches for each opera by Fred Münzmaier - he of Baroque Box fame

• 140-page booklet with new liner notes by Christian Wildhagen and a Wagner opera timeline, plus artist photos and more sketches

• Complete libretti in German with English translations available as digital download

Der Ring des Nibelungen
Recording: New York Metropolitan Opera 1987-1989
Das Rheingold: James Morris (Wotan), Christa Ludwig (Fricka), Siegfried Jerusalem (Loge), Ekkehard Wlaschiha (Alberich), Heinz Zednik (Mime), Kurt Moll (Fasolt), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Fafner), Mari Anne Haeggander (Freia), Mark Baker (Froh), Siegfried Lorenz (Donner), Birgitta Svendén (Erda), Hei-Kyung Hong (Woglinde), Diane Kesling (Wellgunde), Meredith Parsons (Flosshilde), Die Walküre: Hildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), James Morris (Wotan), Jessye Norman (Sieglinde), Gary Lakes (Siegmund), Christa Ludwig (Fricka), Kurt Moll (Hunding), Marita Napier (Gerhilde), Marilyn Mims (Ortlinde), Linda Kelm (Helmwige), Reinhild Runkel (Waltraute), Ruthild Engert-Ely (Schwertleite), Diane Kesling (Siegrune), Meredith Parsons (Grimgerde), Anne Wilkens (Roßweiße) Siegfried: Reiner Goldberg (Siegfried), Heinz Zednik (Mime), James Morris (Wanderer), Hildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), Ekkehard Wlaschiha (Alberich), Kurt Moll (Fafner), Birgitta Svenden (Erda), Kathleen Battle (Stimme des Waldvogels) Götterdämmerung: Hildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), Reiner Goldberg (Siegfried), Matti Salminen (Hagen), Ekkehard Wlaschiha (Alberich), Bernd Weikl (Gunther), Cheryl Studer (Gutrune), Hanna Schwarz (Waltraute), Hei-Kyung Hong (Woglinde), Diane Kesling (Wellgunde), Meredith Parsons (Flosshilde), Helga Dernesch (Erste Norn), Tatiana Troyanos (Zweite Norn), Andrea Gruber (Dritte Norn)
Metropolitan Opera Choir and Orchester, James Levine

Der fliegende Holländer
Recording: Berlin, 1991
Cheryl Studer (Senta), Bernd Weikl (Holländer), Der Plácido Domingo (Erik), Hans Sotin (Daland), Uta Priew (Mary), Peter Seiffert (Steuermann)
Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Giuseppe Sinopoli

Tannhäuser
Paris Version. Recording: London, 1989
Plácido Domingo (Tannhäuser), Cheryl Studer (Elisabeth), Andreas Schmidt (Wolfram von Eschenbach), Agnes Baltsa (Venus), Matti Salminen (Hermann, Landgraf von Thüringen), William Pell (Walther von der Vogelweide), Kurt Rydl (Biterolf), Clemens Bieber (Heinrich der Schreiber), Oskar Hillebrandt (Reinmar von Zweter), Barbara Bonney (Hirt)
Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Giuseppe Sinopoli

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Recording: Berlin 1976
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Hans Sachs)
Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Eugen Jochum

Tristan und Isolde
Recording:Dresden 1982
Margaret Price (Isolde), René Kollo (Tristan), Brigitte Fassbaender (Brangaene), Kurt Moll (Marke), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Kurwenal), Werner Goetz (Melot), Anton Dermota (Hirt), Wolfgang Hellmich (Steuerman), Eberhard Büchner (Stimme eines jungen Seemanns)
Dresdner Staatskapelle, Leipziger Rundfunkchor, Carlos Kleiber

Lohengrin
Recording: Vienna, 1986
Plácido Domingo (Lohengrin), Jessye Norman (Elsa), Eva Randová (Ortrud), Siegmund Nimsgern (Telramund), Hans Sotin (König Heinrich), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Der Heerrufer des Königs)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Sir Georg Solti

Parsifal
Recording: Vienna 1971, 1972
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Amfortas), Hans Hotter (Titurel), Gottlob Frick (Gurnemanz), René Kollo (Parsifal), Zoltán Kelemen (Klingsor), Christa Ludwig (Kundry), Birgit Finnilä (Altsolo), Robert Tear (Gralsritter), Herbert Lackner (Gralsritter), Rotraud Hansmann (Knappe), Marga Schiml (Knappe), Heinz Zednik (Knappe), Ewald Aichberger (Knappe) & Lucia Popp, Alison Hargan, Anne Howells, Kiri Te Kanawa, Gillian Knight, Margarita Lilowa (Flowermaidens)
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Wiener Sängerknaben & Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti

Rienzi
Recording: Dresden, 1974, 1976
Rene Kollo (Rienzi), Siv Wennberg (Irene), Nikolaus Hillebrand (Steffano), Janis Martin (Adriano), Theo Adam (Orsini), Siegfried Vogel (Raimondo), Ingeborg Springer (Ein Friedenbote), Peter Schreier (Baroncelli), Günter Leib (Cecco)
Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Chor der Staatsoper Dresden & Staatskapelle Dresden, Heinrich Hollreiser

Die Feen
Recording: BBC Northern, May 1976
Don Garrard (Feenkönig, Harald), April Cantelo (Ada), Della Jones (Farzana), Elizabeth Gale (Zemina), John Mitchinson (Arindal), Lorna Haywood (Lora), Tom McDonnell (Morald), Paul Hudson (Gernod), Teresa Cahill (Drolla), Richard Greager (Gunther) & Jolyon Dodgson (Bote)
BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra & BBC Northern Singers, Sir Edward Downes

Das Liebesverbot
Recording: London, May 1976
Raimund Herincx (Friedrich), Alexander Young (Luzio), Ian Caley (Claudio), Neil Jenkins (Antonio), William Elvin (Angelo), April Cantelo (Isabella), Ilse Wolf (Mariana), Lawrence Richard (Brighella), Leslie Fyson (Danieli), Elizabeth Gale (Dorella) & David Lennox (Ponce Pilate)
BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra & BBC Northern Singers, Sir Edward Downes