Until the proliferation of Rings issued in the last decade or so from live recordings, the market was dominated by a handful of competing sets from the LP era, led by the pioneering studio version conducted by Georg Solti made by Decca from 1958 onwards. Alongside that cycle, as well as those under Herbert von Karajan and Karl Böhm, this East German one with Marek Janowski conducting (originally released in Britain on Eurodisc in the early 1980s) was perhaps under-appreciated, even though it was the first to be recorded digitally. Janowski's unfussy, clearly laid out performances, with the Dresden Staatskapelle on superlative form, may lack the sweep and energy of Solti's, or the compelling beauty of Karajan's, but they still have much to recommend them. The casts feature a fine mix of the leading Wagnerians of that period, including René Kollo as Siegfried, Theo Adam as Wotan and Siegmund Nimsgern as Alberich, alongside others who are less well known for that repertoire. The great Peter Schreier sings both Loge and Mime here, for instance; while Jessye Norman, then at the height of her vocal powers, is a rich-toned Sieglinde alongside Siegfried Jerusalem's Siegmund; Cheryl Studer features among the Valkyries.