Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (2009) [DVD9 NTSC] {7DVD}
Video: 16:9 NTSC
Audio: LPCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1 Suround (operas), LPCM Stereo (bonus features)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian (operas)
French, German, Spanish, Italian (bonus features)
Released 06/08/2009
Cat Number 2564-68880-4 (7DVD-V)
Label Warner Classics
Artists
Soloist Sir John Tomlinson
Soloist Günter von Kannen
Soloist Matthias Hölle
Soloist Poul Elming
Soloist Eva Johansson
Soloist Siegfried Jerusalem
Chorus Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele
Conductor Daniel Barenboim
Orchestra Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
.: Tracklist :.
ENGINEERING
Unitel filmed this production during off hours at the 1991-92 Bayreuth festivals - the full staging with no audience, performances featuring live-event energy under controlled conditions. The digital stereo is the lushest I've enjoyed on any Ring recording: there's real room sound, immediacy, and three-dimensionality (but a shade more depth and airiness in '91 - compare the timpani figures in the Todesverkundigung and Siegfried's death scene). Stage noises are mostly unobtrusive: occasional faint shufflings, Hunding banging assorted props in Walküre, otherwise comparatively few distractions.
CONDUCTOR & ORCHESTRA
These CDs furnish some of the most sumptuous instrumental and choral work you'll hear on ANY Wagner recording. Furtwaengler may be one of his deities, but here Barenboim is the master colorist, closer to Karajan, even to Stokowski. At Brünnhilde's awakening the strings are creamy; launching Goetterdämmerung Act 3, the brass have a cushioned radiance. More than any recent competitor, Barenboim is supple and specific from beat to beat, turning up subtleties heard nowhere else. In Rhinegold sc. 2 where the gods grow old: the strings sound numb, drained, and fragile. Or Fasolt's murder: an ugly surprise, the curse motive in the brass icy and vibratoless. Or the woodwind asides throughout Siegfried Act 1: Mozartean in their mischief. Or the fatal turning point at "In kampfe nicht": while Brünnhilde teeters on the edge of the pit, the whole orchestra holds its breath. As for the big showpieces - Rheingold's coda, the Valkyrie ride, the Siegfried Act 3 prelude - they're breathtakingly powerful yet deft and transparent. In short, there's no more illuminating statement of this vast music on disk.
CAST
The production introduced an all-new, prime-of-life cast, and for continuous listenability Barenboim's lineup outpoints even Janowski's. With his huge, dark, rolling sound, Tomlinson is a stupendous Wotan, every inch the fearsome warlord of myth. Yes, he's a true bass and his high Fs are the end of the line, but he's a consummate theater animal, luxuriant in the "Abendlich strahlt" and Farewell, hypnotic with his big interior monologue, sly and amusing in his Wanderer persona; unquestionably this is a major portrayal. As Bruennhilde, Evans sounds young, sensitive, and technically impeccable - dead-center intonation, effortless slurs in the war cry, consistently lovely tone, and a glowing top that easily rides the orchestra. Her caliber is light for the role, but in the long-lined lyric passages she yields to nobody: "War es so schmählich" and "Ewig war ich" are as poised and poignant as I've heard them.
As lead tenor, Jerusalem's adroit musicianship, vivid declamation, and burnished tone are a further pleasure, and he deserves an award for playing his reed-pipe scene in earnest rather than for laughs - Siegfried's loneliness and befuddlement become sincerely touching. True, his voice wearies during the wooing sequence, but he's on form for all of Goetterdämmerung. Also, his Volsung parents are an exceptional pair: Elming's tenor is fresh and gleaming, Secunde has a sultry soprano, and along with Hölle's ferocious Hunding, they do gripping work in Walküre Act 1.
Hölle's Fasolt is better natured but just as granitic; in fact the low voices here are close to superb: Kang is insidious as Fafner and Hagen - a fine-grained, well-knit instrument from top to bottom. As for Alberich, von Kannen is positively virtuosic: his sound isn't plush, but it's firm and in charge over both octaves, he sells the text with immense skill, and the curse is white-hot. Only Brinkmann (Gunther) disappoints, a good baritone behaving badly - attractive in his ariosos, pinched and strained when he tries to get dramatic.
The rest are competitive. Clark's reedy tenor doesn't keep his Loge and Mime from being flamboyantly entertaining. Bundschuh's dusky timbre suggests a forty-something Gutrune, but she's decent listening. Barenboim's other women are all capable: Meier's Waltraute boasts crisp diction, compact tone, and flawless tuning, Svenden's Erda is similarly alert and appealing, Finnie's a high-energy Fricka with potent top notes. Since these ladies double the bit parts, we also get world-class teams of norns, valkyries, and rhinemaidens.
PLEASE GIVE AT LEAST WHAT YOU HAVE TAKEN
STAY IN SEED PLEASE
.: Other Files :.
log+cue+m3u+cover