Now that the poor man has been posthumously 'outed', maybe we ought to turn our attention away from the bedroom and concentrate instead on his work....Culshaw is known as the mastermind behind Decca's influential 'sonicstage' recordings of the late fifties and sixties.  His idea was to turn operas into 'movies for the ears', with the sound effects enhancing the feel of a live performance.  Purist have never had much time for this, arguing that Culshaw's inserted 'effects' detracted from the music....and the fact that opera recordings since the mid-eighties have tended to eschew Culshaw-style sound effects would imply that his approach to recording is now somewhat outdated.

Personally, I couldn't disagree more.....I want to hear something that sounds like a theatre, not a concert, performance.  For me, Solti's Gotterdammerung will always have the edge over better-conducted ones, largely because of Culshaw's contribution.  Don't you just get goose-pimples when you hear the Gibichung Hall collapse?  And that clap of thunder just before the Waltraute scene?

He could be OTT, though, and for an example of what I mean, just listen to the start of the second disc of Solti's Elektra (otherwise, a recording without equal, for me.  And Klytemnestra's death will always give me chills...)

But does anyone else think the Solti Rheingold now sound very elderly: those anvils don't make much of a noise to my ears.  And Donner's hammer is an over-rated moment, imo.

What does everyone else think?

I don’t think the anvils ever made as powerful a sound as some have claimed; I don’t think it’s a question of age.

On balance, I like the effects that Culshaw used in the Solti Ring (which ones do you think are better conducted, SK?). But sometimes I’m not so sure. One of the singers in the Ride of the Valkyries said that she sounded as though she were singing in a tunnel. It’s obvious what she means when you hear it. I know she’s meant to be backstage and using a type of megaphone (I think?) but it could have been made to sound a bit more natural.

When new technology comes in, such as CDs or digital radio, all sorts of claims are made for it before it settles down into a more realistic usage and stereo was no exception. There was a fashion for telling the singers where to stand, not just left and right but forwards and backwards, and moving them around on something rather like a chess board. I always thought the end result was less than the sum of its parts but I still like to hear good use of left and right.

For me, a studio recording with a sense of the theatre is the ideal. For that reason, a favourite of mine is the Naxos Barber of Seville, the one with the slamming doors. No big stars but there’s a real feel of the opera house about it.

Just a final thought. Culshaw in his anecdotes often complained about prima donna behaviour by singers and players. I wonder whether he was ever guilty likewise.

Apologies for some of my first post going missing...I've edited it now, so that it makes proper sense.

I've heard performances by Furtwangler and Knappertsbusch that are better conducted than Solti's but no other recording has the same cumulative power.  And Culshaw's production is, arguably, responsible for this.

I get the impression Culshaw wasn't that much of a diva....just someone who worked with divas (of both sexes).  Unless, that is, he used to lord it over his engineers, but I don't get the impression he did this.  I'm sure the story he tells about Birgit Nilsson objecting to the first Gotterdammerung pressings ('I sound like a weak Pamina!') annoyed her.

I especially like the way she's kept her fur-trimmed jacket on for the occasion