The RCA recording with the Boston Symphony is recommended by many mainly for the performance of Sandor Konya. I listened to the recording recently, and found the conducting, orchestra playing, and chorus to be rather good as well, and the recording quality is as good as it gets. Lucine Amara comes across as weak and tepid at first, but warms up to the part for her key scenes in Acts 2 and 3. Elsa seems to be suffering from ADD in Act 1, and Amara's small scale voice reflects the character's spinelessness for me. I have seen comments verging on the hatefull about Rita Gorr's Ortrud, which many find tasteless and way over the top. I didn't mind her hysterics at all in Act 2, even with a few missed high notes. At the conclusion of Act 3 she turns things up a notch, and ends up shrieking way off pitch more than once. You wonder why they didn't do some retakes, but maybe their budget didn't allow for too many redos given the high hourly rate for American orhestras.
Overall, I found the performance compelling on its own terms. Leinsdorf grasp of the long line and the superb choral work made be sit up during the Act 3 final scene and other big choral scenes, which often bore me.
I am making a note to check out the reknowned Kempe recording on EMI, which I have not listened to in decades,
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