I saw this filmed production from Bayreuth in the early 1980's at a library showing. I was thrilled by the staging, the costumes and above all the singing. Now Deutsche Grammophon have reissued that film on 2 DVD's with excellent sound and visuals. Sometimes it gets murky on that Bayreuth stage, but we never lose sight of the singers's faces.
Gwyneth Jones sings both Venus and Elizabeth; her voice is clear and ringing. Spas Wenkoff is a fine actor and has a superb voice. You can follow the anguish his character is feeling easily enough. Bernd Weikl does very well as Wolfram; he sang it on the Munich version from 1994 also.
