(Adds Furtwangler to shopping cart.) I've been looking for a new Ring since my Solti got stolen years ago.

I saw a Seattle Opera production around about 1995 or so. I'm not sure I'll attempt whatever the process is for getting 2009 tickets.

If you haven't clicked "buy" yet, there's another nonEMI version of that that's reported to be better quality, remastered differently. The furtwangler recording is *definitely* not the sound quality of the studio solti, but it's absolutely bursting with emotion and spirit.

The Gebhardt version.

I've also heard good things about the Böhm Bayreuth recording. Any opinions?

Yeah that's it!

The Bohm is on the list but we haven't checked it out yet.

Tickets for the 2009 ring go on sale to the public in a couple months iirc. Greer Grimsley is playing Wotan (same as last time, but this will be his 3rd-or-more run as Wotan and last time in Seattle was his first) - you wouldn't have seen him in 95, but he's really hitting a peak and I'm very excited about it.

I take it you already have yours? And the general public ones sell out within an hour?

We get ours in the next month or two I think. If you're willing to front the money we'd be happy to buy you tix with our set though. I've heard the general ones sell out quite fast, but that sometimes particularly in MSFT tix come up on mailing lists and such later.

I get my crack at tickets in June; general tickets don't go on sale until November 12 on the web site, and box-office sales three days later. But when I went in 2005, I wasn't a subscriber or a donor, so I just showed up at the box office the instant general sales started and got a family's worth of tickets in the second-tier boxes, which were a surprisingly good value as these things go.

Oh, man, are you in for a change of pace if you're used to the Solti. That's where I started as well, and I'm working my way through the Furtwangler now. It's... wow. If you want an advance taste without shelling out for a whole Ring cycle, pick up Furtwangler's 1951 Bayreuth recording of Beethoven's 9th.

I don't suppose you've heard the Barenboim cycle? I've only heard his Die Walkure, but I'm really curious to hear the rest.