Kevin Sutton replies to me:

>>You know, fifty and sixty years ago, you got your shot with The
>>Classics when you had proven in concert that you had something to say.
>>For example, Solti wasn't picked out of the blue to conduct the first
>>integral recording of the Ring.  He showed first that he was a great
>>Wagnerian in the opera house.
>
>That's not completely true.  IIRC, John Culshaw commented in his book
>"Ring Resounding" that Solti was somewhat young and inexperienced at the
>time of the Ring recordings, and that it was a bit risky to choose him
>to do the project.  Culshaw had to go to bat with Decca to get Solti,
>if I am not mistaken.

It's been years since I read The Ring Resounding, but I recall it slightly
differently: to wit, Culshaw actually heard Solti perform Wagner live
before he went to the trouble of batting.

Steve Schwartz