For Albert Coates’s birthday this year, I present two more excerpts from the Gramophone Company’s acoustically recorded series of highlights from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. This record contains excerpts from the end of Act 2 of The Valkyrie, sung in English by Florence Austral and Tudor Davies, and the Ride of the Valkyries which opens Act 3, in its purely orchestral guise. The Act 2 excerpt consists in the orchestral score of page 330 bar 5 to page 332 bar 10, and page 357 bar 13 to page 377 bar 1.

Wagner – The Valkyrie – Brünnhilde foretells Siegmund’s Death – Austral, Davies, Symphony Orchestra, Coates

Wagner – The Valkyrie – Ride of the Valkyries – Symphony Orchestra, Coates

His Master’s Voice D 681
Matrices Cc 2276-II, Cc 1666-II (3-0821, 3-0817)
Recorded 18^th December 1922 and 17th July 1922, Hayes, Room 1
Orchestra (Act 2): 4 first violins, 3 second violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos, 4 flutes, 3 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 3 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 3 trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 tuba, 8 horns, 3 trumpets, 1 bass trumpet, 3 trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 bass tuba, timpani, cymbals.

Orchestra (Ride): 4 first violins, 3 second violins, 3 violas, 1 cello, 2 flutes, 1 pic­colo, 3 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 4 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 1 contra-bassoon, 8 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 1 timpani, cymbal, kettledrum.