I'm afraid I'm not hugely into classical music.

However, I know enough about it to know that versions of songs vary hugely in their quality - so, who has recorded, in your opinion, the best version of the Ride of the Valkyries?

If you want a good Wagner recording, you're going to want to look at orchestras in Europe (not France or England) and not the US. The US recordings and French are much too bright and light for Wagner in my opinion. My recommendation would be to take a look at most of the orchestras in Germany and Austria for the proper "Wagnerian" sound, specifically the Vienna Symphony or the Berlin Philharmonic. I would also tell you to try to download the music if you can, prices for the entire Ring Cycle can run upwards of $140, although you could probably find a Die Walkure stand-alone CD that would probably run you closer to $30. Only Wagner could write close to 20 hours worth of music for an opera cycle.


What are you looking at the Ride for, just out of curiosity?

Look in one of the classical music online magazines to see if you can find a review. The conductor is important, the orchestra is too and I would imagine you wouldn't go wrong with Berlin or Vienna. But the concert hall is important too. Most competent orchestras will do justice to Wagner, but if the concert venue has poor acoustics or the recording is flat, it will make it an ordeal to sit through the Ring Cycle rather than just a chore.

Listen to some samples, you'll find different recordings of the Valkyries everywhere.

my favorite version would have to be the one that I havn't heard yet.

The one Angelica sings on rugrats.

I'm rather partial to the Elmer Fudd rendition.

Another excellent choice. Hail to the cartoon versions.