Looking for Wagner recommendations

For around $50 on Ebay the excellent seller 'Sound City Beaches' are selling a Wagner 33 cd box set complete (almost)set of his Operas on the Decca label which equals about $1.60 per cd!, obviously for that price there no libretto to the Operas, so you will have to check on the web or library for the story/info. I do not think there is a cheaper way of getting into Wagner in my opinion. If you want just to buy the Ring cycle then for around $30 there is the Levine 'Ring' set on DG again by the seller 'Sound City Beaches'.
Anything Sir Georg Solti has recorded on Wagner can be considered excellent, and is the benchmark of Wagner by many.

Levine and the MET, recommended by Learsfool, would be my recommendation, but if you are looking for the really extroverted chunks in big 'audiophile approved' sound there are probably better ones. But Levine is fundamentally an opera conductor which should suggest that he loves the music and adds some drama to his interpertations consonant with what is happening on the stage.

If you want the full operas - I'll have to pass on a recommendation. I haven't heard many more than once. :-)

FWIW

you should get the one where the fat lady sings.

Many thanks for the suggestions. I picked up a few cds over the weekend:

The Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Solti performing Rienzi, Der fliegende Hollander, Tannhauser, Siegfried Idyll. Decca label.

The New York Philharmonic conducted by Mehta performing: Tannhauser, Parsifal, and Rienzi. Sony label.

Tristan & Isolde performed by the German Symphony Orchestra. 2 cd set on Pilz label. I believe the fat lady sings on this one.

I agree that you are diving into the deep end. There are people that spend their whole lives on a quest for the perfect Ring cycle alone.

Buy one of the many opera excerpts discs (silver or vinyl).

then if you decide you love it,go for Tristan and Isolde,then The Flying Dutchman before venturing into the land of the Ring.

Personally I love this music, but Der Walkure puts me right out. All that incestuous swooning in the cave for what seems like hours with no action at all.
Das Rhinegold is the most approachable and the shortest at apporx 4 hours. The others are all 5 hours long. Goetterdamering is the ultimate in Wagnerian moments. After all, it is the twilight of the Gods.

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