Wagner: Das Rheingold;

The 1988 Metropolitan Opera production of Das Rheingold, conducted by James Levine, might not be the most exhilarating Wagner performance on record, but the disc benefits from Levine's gift at wedding his ensemble of singers with the monumental splendor of Wagner's instrumental writing. The orchestral sonorities are rich but spacious, and under Levine's baton, power never replaces grace. James Morris is an admirable Wotan, Siegfried Jerusalem a worthy Loge. --Joshua Cody