Solti is clearly looking to bring out the solo virtuosity of members of the orchestra in Wagner's adventurous part-writing, exploiting the abilities of his new London wind and brass players…if Windgassen is not as fresh of voice as in his 1955 Bayreuth performances for Testament's Keilberth cycle…his delivery of the narration before his death shows increasing imagination and fluency. Nilsson is in fiery form

As Tony Locantro’s article reminds us, this came at a crucial juncture in the Hungarian conductor’s musical life. He had taken over the musical directorship of the Covent Garden Opera Company (as it was then called) two years earlier, and his first Ring cycle included what were his first performances of Siegfried as well as Götterdämmerung; the latter production opened just five nights after this Prom, with the same cast, so it was particularly well rehearsed.

the voices ring out thrillingly. And what voices! Gottlieb Frick’s black, baleful Hagen, Marie Collier’s vivid Gutrune, Wolfgang Windgassen’s rock-solid Siegfried, the young Gwyneth Jones as a Rhinemaiden and, above all, Birgit Nilsson’s glorious, orchestra-subduing high notes.

The dramatic weighting in his conducting is almost faultless – it’s hard to imagine Siegfried’s Funeral March delivered with more implacable intensity, and the Opera House orchestra plays out of its skin for him...Nilsson was arguably approaching her zenith as the greatest Wagnerian soprano of her time. The final Immolation scene, with her voice seemingly surfing effortlessly on the waves of orchestral sonority, is startling by any standards.