Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen - Complete Ring Cycle (Levine / Metropolitan Opera)

I have been to several Rings -- 2 in San Francisco, 4 in Seattle and even the 1990 Met production on this DVD. I have also seen several versions of the Ring on DVD, including Stuttgard and Bayreuth productions. Of all the Rings I have seen this Met production is the only one that meets Wagner's standard as he wrote it -- with the visuals true to his directions. It is this version of the Ring that I show to my local opera group, and the only one I recommend as an introduction to the greatness and immensity of the Ring itself. The other versions, though excellent productions in themselves, are not produced the way Wagner wrote it, as Nordic mythology, but as a contemporary interpretation of this amazing work. This production is as good as any opera you would expect from the Met. Because the Met has all the latest equipment and technology available to them to really put on an incredible show you should expect nothing less but breathtaking -- and all the special effects are there (no horses, however). The most disappointing character, however, was the dragon. It was pitiful! (We call it a crab or Dungeness dragon at our house!) Shame on the Met for not having more imagination and giving us a truly awesome dragon. They certainly have the talent to pull it off much better than they did. Seattle's dragon was the best I have ever seen -- and they were able to keep it a secret from the audience up until its amazing debut. Kudos to them! The Fire Music at the end of Die Walkure is breathtaking, and you are left with the feeling you have truly seen the best there is. Siegfried was a lot of fun to watch. Mime was fabulous and with all his antics it was hard to remember that he is a good tenor in his own right. The only frustrating thing was in the third act, Siegfried's ring kept mysteriously switching from one hand to the other and it became distracting. I actually counted eight times the ring switched hands -- my suspicion was that it was two takes that were spliced together. But why Siegfried can't remember which hand he had originally put the ring is beyond me. I was at the 1990 Met production and got to see the Immolation Scene at the end of Gotterdammerung from the back of the orchestra section. It was truly stupendous! I kept poking my mother saying, "They really pulled it off! Wow!" The DVD version was less spectacular, however, with the camera intent on getting close-ups instead of just backing up to a full stage and letting the special effects run their course. You lost the continuity of the staging, suddenly finding yourself underwater with the Rhinemaidens, and not knowing how you got there. It's a shame that they didn't duplicate the experience I saw being in the audience. It's hard to describe to anyone watching the DVD. The singing, though not really spectacular except for the brilliance of James Morris, Matti Salminen and perhaps Jessye Norman, was more than adequate. Although the singing took a back seat to the "Dream Team" of Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior and Frederich Schorr, the singers were always on key and certainly gave it their best professional performance. Hildegarde Behrens will never be another Birgit Nilsson, but she certainly made up for it in her exquisite acting ability, her loveliness and her physical agility. She was a believable Brunnhilde, and that's hard to find in today's buxom bunch. The close-ups of her facial expressions and body language were truly hypnotic. Siegfried Jerusalem was also very believable as his name-sake, superbly pulling off his role, though you could see how increasingly tired he was getting by the end of Gotterdammerung. He acted the true teenage brat and jumped over logs in the forest with ease. Matti Salminen was a sinister Hagen. Not only was his deep voice magnificent, but his acting was also wonderful. In the dream sequence with Alberich he did not blink once, but just stared straight ahead. It was riveting. James Levine is still the master of conducting The Ring. His orchestra was in top form and was rich and exciting. In the Solti recording, however, they used real alpen horns in Gotterdammerung, making the vassal scene a bit more realistic. In general, other than some minor criticisms, this is a superb "traditional" production and should be shown before you see any other contemporary interpretation. As they said in Seattle, "Sometimes you just want to see 'it' and not an interpretation of 'it.'" This is really a wonderful production and Wagner himself would have been proud. My opera group loved it and couldn't stop talking about it, and I guess that's the real proof.

From the opening desperate scenes to the closing trumpets blaring, Part One of Wagner's Ring, "Das Rheingold" shines with music, majesty, masculinity, and monstrosities. This opera is soaring when it needs to soar, is subdued when it needs to be subdued and is mezzo-fortissimo when it needs to be mezzo-fortissimo. The singing is perfect and profound while the costumes and scenery are lavish and likeable. The whole production is earthy with plenty of raw emotion and yet other-worldly with much spiritual angst. Although there are female roles in this opera, the overall tone reverberates with dark, brooding, manly Teutonic energy. The offstage singing chorus gives the end of "Das Rheingold" a warm and angelic feel that is quite endearing as both heroine and hero walk off toward a distant rainbow. With its emphasis on universalism rather than strictly German nationalism, "Das Rheingold" is both operatic prologue and template for the remaining three parts to the Ring which reaches its apotheosis only when human foibles come squarely up against the petulant whims of the supernatural. This Wagner Ring production by the Metropolitan Opera is boldly original and sweepingly imaginative and will likely be cherished as an operatic classic. Frenetic orchestral music as only Wagner could compose begins Part 2 of his Ring Cycle, "Die Walkure." In this production, the singing is both flawless and finicky and serious and sublime. The costumes and setting are ruggedly rustic and ruthlessly retrograde. The Promethean sounds of "Ride of the Valkyries" permeate Act 2 in this opera that reaches heights of grandiose greatness and depths of subterranean sublimity. The whole production is important both subconsciously and subcutaneously as both mind and body become awash in this operatic opium. Swords and spears figure prominently in this production as symbols of male, and sometimes female, power, leading to both ecstasy and joy in Act 1 and frustration and forlornness in Act 2. The spear symbol dominates the conclusion of Act 2 as the lead characters confront each other with them, leading to the death of one after a struggle. Act 3 concludes with a return of the lusty "Ride of the Valkyries" and a lusty onstage tryst followed by an all-consuming fire. Wagner's Ring cycle descends "dans la profondeur" with Siegfried and its chromatic character development and Gotterdammerung or "The Twilight of the Gods." Wagner moved heaven and earth to compose his Ring and Levine and the Metropolitan Opera move us with this smashingly fine production.

This is a classy 1980's performance of Wagner's titanic Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring) by James Levine and a superb Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. I am not speaking to those who have an acute understanding of the Wagnerian literature, are opera buffs of very long standing, are technically versed in the complexities of music or have seen many different productions of The Ring. This is a report only for those who like opera with subtitles, want to see it in some approximation of how Wagner intended it to be, and are not going to sit for three plus hours (even broken by their own intermissions) to see any two-disc opera in the series of four. For those who are, more or less, the average viewer, there is a real treat here. The singing ranges from fine to outstanding. The acting, for opera, is much above average. Standouts in one or more of the operas in The Ring, who sing and emote in great style are, James Morris and Matti Salminen, two stalwarts of stature, Siegfried Jerusalem, a tenor hero, who handles himself well on stage, Heinz Zednik and Ekkehard Wlaschima, who are in the tradition of supporting players who light up the stage; then there is the heroine, played and sung with vigor, pathos and rage, by Hildegard Behrens, Christa Ludwig, an old pro of considerable talent, makes a number of important appearances, and, well, let me leave it at that, though I omit such prominent names as Kurt Moll and Dawn Upshaw, who deserve mention in any more thorough review. Then there is the production and video staff who deserve the highest praise for providing we average viewers with scenic, visual and audio design which, probably, conveys something of what Wagner would recognize as what he intended, while keeping it fresh and vivid to modern viewers. Then, there is the Orchestra, playing with a verve and splendor that provides foundation not competition with the singers. No doubt James Levine, their conductor and leader of the Mets team effort, has every reason to be proud of his players, and proud of what everyone did to make this the DVD experience it is. As I say, I cannot compare it with other full productions, nor would I seek another Melchior or Flagstadt, whom I heard and saw on occasion in the forties, they were forces of nature, but, as with all performers, of their time and place. What I would say is, everyone should see and hear The Ring (at least once) for it is one of the musical gems of opera. Levine sees to it that we hear it so as to appreciate Wagner's achievement. The remainder of the creative and technical group, as well as the performers, see to it that we see an approximation of the work that Wagner put together to go with the music. I don't think you can go wrong with this set.

This is a N.Y. Metropolitan Opera Ring series from about 20 years ago. I remembered seeing it then on PBS when it was televised on consecutive nights. I have to admit that I taped those performaces and have watched them several times since then. Alas! VHS tapes degrade woefully over 20 years. I thoroughly enjoyed these performances then and I thoroughly enjoy them now. I am not an opera wonk so I am sure that there are lots of refinements that escape me as to these performances, or any other for that matter. But I find these to be wonderful productions. These are not in the least "quirky" like some I have seen. Throughout the voices are solid, as actors the performers are engaging, their voices are as good as any I have heard in these roles, and the costuming and staging are both imaginative and effective. Maestro Levine gets a rich and energetic performance out of his orchestra - especially important with Wagner, in my opinion. The recordings are very good. Captioning is available in English, German, and French. I have watched it with the English captions and with the German captions - not that I understand German but I like to be able to see the actual words as they are being sung. One minor glitch: On the disc for Das Rheingold there seems to be a repetition of one part of a scene of a "conversation" between Wotan and Loge. I don't think this diminishes the watching experience at all. (Maybe it's there just to see if the watcher is really paying attention?) In any event, I would recommend this set without reservation.

I saw this production of the Ring when it showed on PBS in 1990, and I’ve owned the videotape edition for some years. Finally breaking down and acquiring the DVD, with superior picture and sound, inspired me to write a review. Logically, it would seem strange that an opera production based on the composer’s precise and detailed stage directions should be viewed as controversial, But that was the case with this Met Ring, filmed in 1990. As we all learned in Music History, Wagner’s artistic ideal, especially in the Ring, was the “Gesamtkunstwerk”, the total work of art, with all elements blending into a greater whole. His stage directions were considered as important as the words and music. But since World War II is has been a rare director that paid any attention to what Wagner wrote. Some productions were worthwhile - for example the one mounted by Wagner’s grandson Wieland for the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival in 1951. It replaced a traditional representative staging with an abstract one, featuring measured, almost ritualistic movement and a very innovative use of lighting, without violating the spirit of the original.. But what we mostly got was directors who made the wrong assumption that they were creative, rather than re-creative, artists, and used Wagner as a vehicle to foist upon us their own psychological, sexual, and political hangups. Part of the problem was that most had little or no musical training. I know from personal experience that a director who is not a musician cannot comprehend how music functions in an opera, articulating and interpreting what happens on stage. Unfortunately, the critics jumped on the bandwagon to support this directorial self-indulgence. Especially in Europe a production without a “concept” is ridiculed. I have a very sad book about the 1983 Bayreuth Festival, for which the great English director Peter Hall set out to mount a representational Ring, using technology borrowed from the film industry to realize Wagner’s effects. He was obstructed by the administration and savaged by the critics, and neither he nor conductor Georg Solti returned to the festival. The English writer Barry Millington, an alleged Wagner expert, noted that this Met production “is of interest only to those for whom the theater is not a cerebral activity”. Well, it seems to me that it’s more of a “cerebral activity” to see what an author wrote and interpret it oneself than to be beaten over the head with some director’s half-baked idea of what it all means. Be all this as it may, this production takes Wagner’s stage directions seriously and realizes them through beautiful, representational designs in a thoroughly Romantic style. For me, it works beautifully. Every time the curtain rose I thought “That’s precisely what I’ve been reading in the score and seeing in my mind’s eye for years.” Fortunately, the production is musically excellent as well. James Levine has never been my idea of a great Wagner conductor; he seems more comfortable in Italian opera.. His Ring could charitably be described as “eclectic” - he takes Solti’s tempo here, Furtwängler’s in another place, Karajan’s in another. And he consistently seems to equate increased speed with excitement, a mistake seldom made by the older Wagner conductors. But he does nothing objectionable, he supports his singers sympathetically, and he draws beautiful playing from the Met orchestra. And he rises to the challenge of the most difficult operas, “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung” with effective pacing and good control of the long structural line. The cast is about the best that could have been assembled at the time and is consistently excellent. Hildegard Behrens was a legitimate Brünnhilde in vocal terms, and, unlike many of her predecessors, was a fine actress and looked young and attractive on stage. Siegfried was sung by the appropriately-named Siegfried Jerusalem. He sang the role only for a short time, and it would be silly to compare him to Melchior or even Suthaus or Windgassen. But his voice had the right color and still had a youthful bloom; he was also a sensitive, intelligent musician, and his stamina was most impressive. He also doubled as an effective Loge in “Das Rheingold.” James Morris was a fine Wotan, looking the part and singing powerfully and intelligently. Ekkehard Wlaschiha was a fine Alberich, singing rather than barking the music and creating a thoroughly evil character - as did Matti Salminen as Hagen. Jessye Norman sang gloriously as Sieglinde and was more into the character on stage than in her earlier audio recording. Gary Lakes was not a great Siegmund, but he sang the music reasonably well and was large enough to partner Norman convincingly. It was good to see the veteran Christa Ludwig, still singing and acting well, as Fricka and Waltraute. Kurt Moll was a definitive Hunding and Heinz Zednik a brilliant Mime. If you want a Ring that presents something close to what Wagner intended, this one is recommended. The only other video Ring I’ve seen is the Bayreuth Centennial production of 1976, staged by Patrice Chereau and conducted by Pierre Boulez. Chereau had the interesting idea of setting the Ring at the time it was written, the mid-nineteenth century, which allowed him to emphasize the social and political subtext. Not that this was anything new; in the 1890s Bernard Shaw published a little book called “The Perfect Wagnerite”, in which he brilliantly analyzed the Ring in terms of radical politics. Chereau’s problems are with the detail. He show himself as another non-musician director who makes hash of Wagner’s stagecraft. He seems unwilling or unable to hear what the music clearly tells us, and he consistently misses obvious musical cues. He is not helped by his proclivity for filling the stage with people, whether justified or not. The cast is no great shakes, either, and the better performances are more notable for acting than singing. There are some good moments, usually when Chereau leaves the singers alone and allows them to use their skills. For example, Gwyneth Jones and Donald McIntyre make the end of “Die Walküre” a beautiful and moving scene, abetted by a particularly felicitous stage setting. But these moments are usually overshadowed by the general ineptitude of the production. The conducting is also problematic. As much as I admire Boulez as a musician, Wagner was never his metier. He announced before this production that he planned to “cleanse” the Ring of bad old tradition. But old tradition is not necessarily bad, and Boulez tends to throw the baby out with the bathwater. To his credit, he induces a less-than-great orchestra to play with remarkable precision and tonal beauty. But his light, clear, swift performance robs the music of its power and grandeur; he positively races through the big moments, as though embarrassed by them.

I received an additional recording from another production of Gottterdammerung instead of the Schenk production of Walkure. I would like a replacement for the missing opera. The rest of the set is great. I can return the wrong opera or the whole set but prefer to keep the 3/4 of them which are fine

Whatever Robert Lepage puts on the Met stage in 2010-12 (as I write, the first installment, DAS RHEINGOLD, is but weeks away), whether the reception is rapturous, scornful, or a mixture, one can expect nostalgia for Otto Schenk's now-retired production, sets by Günther Schneider-Siemssen. This was unveiled at high noon of the Reagan era and was taped for broadcast when still relatively new (1989-1990). It held up sturdily and pleased crowds through the first decade of our present century. By no means the most probing or intellectually stimulating RING staging of its day, nor even as scrupulously faithful and traditional as its adherents would have you believe, it comes closer than anything else on DVD to something Wagner would have recognized. The composer may even have approved of long stretches. The stage pictures are often quite beautiful in their Romantic calendar-art fashion (example: the gods' entrance to Valhalla, rainbow bridge and all, at the conclusion of RHEINGOLD), and from time to time Schenk's orthodox notions combine with the Met's impressive technical and monetary resources in stirring ways (the zealous realization of Wagner's stage directions in the final five minutes of GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, singled out by Jon Alan Conrad in his excellent Met Guide review). There are performances upon which one could scarcely improve. James Morris's Wotan/Wanderer is vocally Golden Age stuff. It would be churlish to complain that his expressive work is not the equal of his singing. He meets any reasonable standard, and he looks the part (this being 1989-90, we can pass lightly over the mullet). Heinz Zednik's Mime is master-class material, as expertly sung as in the earlier, more radical Boulez/Chéreau/Bayreuth staging (also on DG DVD), but acted and made up in a more conventionally grotesque way, no longer the Victorian nebbish. The great bass Kurt Moll's Hunding all but walks away with the first act of WALKÜRE: voice for miles and a shaded characterization to go with it. Matti Salminen, once the Hunding for Chéreau, contributes a creepy Hagen to GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (watch him observing Brünnhilde before their scene together, like a sinister black-voiced bird of prey). Earlier in the cycle, Salminen and Jan-Hendrik Rootering had effectively partnered as the giants. Christa Ludwig, as Fricka and Waltraute (roles she had recorded 20 to 25 years earlier in various segments of two classic audio cycles, Solti/Decca and Karajan/DG), sounds near retirement and is a mite old-fashioned in stage deportment, but recognizable as a sovereign artist. It is a fine farewell/souvenir. Perhaps the nicest surprise is Siegfried Jerusalem as Siegfried in the final two installments. One despairs of ever hearing and seeing a Siegfried who has it all, and like most modern ones, Jerusalem is modest-scaled to undersized in the face of this role's punishments. But he is more pleasing of timbre and more likeable than most of the competition (both from 1990 and from the two decades on either side). Dawn Upshaw makes a lovely Forest Bird, but one doesn't often hear a bad one. Ekkehard Wlaschiha's work as Alberich might have been better experienced on an audio recording. The character's monster-movie getup seems to me one of the production's miscalculations. The same holds true for the reptilian Loge (Jerusalem again; luxury casting); for the gorgeously intoned but non-acted Sieglinde of Jessye Norman; and for the less gorgeously intoned but diligent Siegmund of Gary Lakes. (The Wälsung twins seem to be operating in their own costumed concert performance; it's up to their foil, Moll's Hunding, to supply what dramatic juice there is in that act of WALKÜRE.) The strength and weakness of the casting is Hildegard Behrens's Brünnhilde. This estimable artist gives an effort worthy of her role's heroic stature, and she is never less than dramatically engaged and artistic in turn of phrase. She benefits from the concentrated nature of this undertaking, suggesting the character's through-line from first entrance to immolation. But one must overlook unsolved problems in all three relevant chapters. She is vocally best suited to the WALKÜRE Brünnhilde, but the Halloween-costume battle armor and the compact sizing of her voice conspire to make her seem diminutive (it is difficult to get Dame Gwyneth Jones's stunning warrior-goddess in the Bayreuth staging out of one's mind's eye). In the SIEGFRIED Brünnhilde, the shortest assignment of the three but the one with the most demanding tessitura, Behrens sounds uncomfortably near the limit of her resources throughout. GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG begins well, but something goes wrong during the Waltraute scene and stays wrong -- I have never heard a commercial release in which the singer of a major role sounded so *hoarse*. The performance is not a total loss, and Behrens even gets some expressive utility out of her froggy sound in the ugly ensuing scene with "Gunther"/Siegfried, sounding terrified and vulnerable and achieving great pathos. But at no point in this long opera's final two-thirds is she easy on the ears. By 1990, Maestro James Levine had gone most of the way toward transforming the Met Opera Orchestra into the world-class ensemble it is today. The playing as such -- especially at the level of texture -- is glorious. Unfortunately, here, Levine the musician is not the equal of Levine the orchestra trainer and technician. He seems to have been influenced by the records of a certain breed/generation of Wagner conductor, and his Met Wagner (*all* of it, including later videos of TRISTAN, MEISTERSINGER, and PARSIFAL) is a glutinous, secondhand homage to what he heard in his formative years. Certain interwar and postwar German Kapellmeisters might have led Wagner performances as slow as Levine's (this is saying a great deal), but those men had an idiomatic sensitivity to the minute adjustments that enliven long, gradually unfurling movements. Levine knows where he wants to end up, and how quickly he wants to get there, but details of the old route elude him and he will not pursue his own. In Wagner, he has spent a career trying to recreate a product without being in touch with the process that gave it internal consistency. I have not a doubt in my mind that Levine loves this music as much as anyone alive does, and as much as it is possible to love music. But he never shows an inclination to do more than "savor" it, and his sweaty embraces squeeze the life from it. Levine does have one card up his sleeve, and he plays it often: Following an especially uninflected, buffed-into-somnolence passage, he tends to punch out a motto with rude, exaggerated force and volume, especially in the brass. There is a prime example of this Soltian impulse near the end of WALKÜRE, when we've had the Wotan/Brünnhilde "Trance" intermezzo for a bit, and the "Fate" and "Spear" mottos suddenly break the mood, returning in succession. A strong dynamic shift is built in, of course, but Levine is as heavy-handed in rousing us as he was in putting us in the state from which we need rousing. One supposes this is to pass for "contrast." The maestro also comes up short purely as an accompanist, his singers often fighting both to sustain and to be audible (poor Gary Lakes, forced to hold those notes in "Wälse! Wälse!" for so long that one fears he may keel over). I miss the different side of Levine one hears in such documents as the 1983 video of Berlioz's LES TROYENS (Troyanos, Norman, Domingo). His ultra-expansive approach to Wagner is fractionally better suited (or less debilitating) to the later two RING operas than to the earlier two (RHEINGOLD, especially), but his leadership is the biggest impediment to remaining upright through 941 minutes of a generally attractive and persuasive memento of its time and place.

Starting with the general: If I could own only one copy of the Ring Cycle, it would be this one. Why? It's the one most true to Wagner's original intent, which is not to say that it's perfect. It does have some less than perfect moments. The good and the bad are, in some respects, intertwined and from the same causes. The stage scenery makes excellent use of technology, while remaining true to realistic representations of the era and area. Because this rendition is so true to Wagner's original, it eschews the glitzy types of special effects, while still using current technology, to improve the representations and moods Wagner was trying to present. Could it have made better and/or more frequent use of technology, while still remaining true to the author's intent? Yes. Let's dissect the opera, using examples, from each of its parts. In Das Rheingold, technology is used, very effectively, to represent the underwater environment of the Rhine Maidens, as well as the caves of the Neibelung and the depiction of Valhalla, without compromising the story line or its effective representation. When we get to Die Walküre, technology is properly used, in some instances, such as: 1) to provide realistic, yet true-to-form, representations of Hunding's hearth, 2) detailed scenery, for the battle scene, between Hunding and Siegmund and 3) the firewall, surrounding Brünnhilde's mountaintop banishment stead. My first reaction, upon seeing Hildegard Behrens, in the part of Brünnhilde, was that she did not have the physical stature to pull it off. Was I mistaken! While she is not of Amazonian stature, her acting more than made the role believable and she carried it off, without a hitch. Technology could, also, have been better used, to represent "the ride," more in concert with Wagner's vision of the Valkyries' ethereal and high-energy movements. In that travesty version of The Ring Cycle (you know, the one with the "moving fingers wall"), the one positive aspect was the vision applied to "the ride," which gave it a sense of forward movement and charging steeds. The best "ride," however, is still the one in which the Valkyries are mounted, on steeds, then projected, ghost-like, on the screen, as a semi-transparent overlay. That version, in my opinion, provides the nearest thing to Wagner's true intent, although the technology of his day didn't and couldn't provide that view. That technology was used, with much less impact, in Siegfried, to represent Erda, when she was reawakened, by Wotan. Why not use it in "the ride?" Moving on, to Siegfried, the depiction of Mime's cave is a good use of technology, while technology seems to have been completely forgotten, when we get to the depiction of Fafner, as a dragon. That dragon looked more like a genetic cross, between a spider and a crab, with a tail. Lastly, we've arrived at Götterdämmerung. It was performed almost flawlessly. The scene of Siegfried's murder, his wake and funeral were excellently portrayed, as was Hagen's unmasking, as the ultimate culprit and schemer. The only thing, which I think could have made it better, would have been to see Brünnhilde ride into Siegfried's funeral pyre, mounted on Grane, rather than jumping into it. Just as an aside: I find it ironic that James Levine should become the most potent and accurate interpreter, within the last 100 years, of the music of a virulently anti-Semite, such as was Wagner.

The stage is not awesome, but the singers are. Often the role of Mime is neglected, but his voice goes to high pitch to deep. This Mime is perfect, I have four versions, the Robert Lepage, the newest and the worst on Blu Ray, Daniel Barenboim, with an old Siegfried Jerusalem and an acceptable Mime, the Zubin Mehta Blu Ray version, with a bad Mime and a bad Siegfried. Siegfried is a difficult opera, but some people don't know that apparently. I recommend this version. In Die Walkirie, Sigliende is Jessye Norman, one of the very best Wagner singers I have ever heard. James Levine is good... Not perfect, but still.

This DVD boxed set is a delight to own. 7 discs in 4 cases, each with a booklet detailing performance and production cast, chapter details, and a synopsis of each scene. Also included is an extra booklet giving an overview of Richard Wagner and this awesome cycle of 4 operas. The discs themselves provide subtitles in a variety of languages, sound in PCM stereo, 5.1 dolby and 5.1 Dts, photo galleries of the production, and details of other operas available in the Deutsche Grammophon series. It would have been helpful to have details of the lietmotifs - the musical phrases linked to persons, events, emotions etc - that run like threads throughout the work. A proper understanding - and enjoyment - of this music is impossible without some awareness of these building blocks, so some homework is advisable. Sonically the discs are breathtaking. The Dts soundtrack weaves a transparent magic around the speakers, only don't expect too much from the rear channels - this isn't "Star Wars". The eyes are a little less well served, as the NTSC encoded picture loses some detail at 525 lines (not PAL 625). Nor are we treated to widescreen. But with visual effects as gorgeous as the "rainbow bridge to Valhalla", in the closing moments of Das Rheingold, such technical shortcomings are soon forgotton. An assessment of the performances, either solo or orchestral, must be largely subjective but the word "definitive" comes to mind. It's unfortunate that the standard of the subtitles doesn't quite match up - like me, you may after a while find yourself automatically paraphrasing the rather clumsy translation. But any blemishes pale into insignificance against the music. This is to die for. Why not take a long weekend and enjoy the cycle as Wagner intended. At an average of nearly four hours of music on each of 3 days and a preliminary evening, this is an experience for the heart and mind that will be remembered (and repeated many times) for a lifetime.

以前に、ブーレーズ／Bayreuthの指輪。シェロウ演出を以前購入しました。大変期待していたDVDだった。Boulezだったら今迄の作品とは違った解釈、それこそ、わくわくさせる表現で楽しませてくれるものと思っていたのに、歌手はマッキンタイアはまずまずの出来としても、つまらないDVDだった。それにしても、レバインという指揮者はすごい。メトロポリタンオーケストラを自在に操りワーグナーの指環を作品に忠実に表現している。聴衆の熱狂的な歓声も収録されており、楽しめました。品物は予定日より早く届きました。これからも愛聴盤として鑑賞ができそうです。指輪盤のトップにお勧めします。歌手も実力者揃いでいいですよ。Amazonさんお世話ありがとうございました

(Die Rezension ist etwas länger geworden, da ich zunächst auf meinen persönlichen Anspruch und meinen Weg zu diesem Ring eingehen möchte. Sie können die einleitenden Worte auch einfach überspringen und ab "+++Der Met-Ring+++" zu lesen beginnen.) Es sei eine Mammutaufgabe, eine Ring-Aufführung auf die Beine zu stellen, heißt es. Eine gefühlt ebenso große Herausforderung ist es, als Musikliebhaber einen guten "Ring des Nibelungen" für den heimischen Fernsehgenuß ausfindig zu machen. Denn im Vergleich zur reinen Audioaufnahme gilt es hier, neben guten Sängern sowie einem geeigneten Dirigenten mitsamt Orchester und Vision, auch eine ansprechende Inszenierung zu finden. Die Qual der Wahl Es ist eine wahre Herkulesaufgabe, die Anforderungstrias aus Musik, Gesang und Inszenierung befriedigend abzudecken. Das gilt besonders, weil die herausragenden Interpretationen solcher Wagner-Giganten wie Furtwängler, Böhm, Solti, Karajan, Barenboim oder Thielemann die musikalischen Ansprüche in die Höhe treiben. Hinzu kommt, daß das Regietheater es mir nicht leichtgemacht hat. Meist überfrachtet und in sich unschlüssig, hat es nur noch selten mit der Intention des Komponisten oder dem Werk zu tun - wie es seinerzeit noch Chereau in Bayreuth gelang -, sondern in erster Linie mit der Verwirklichung, dem Sich-Ausleben des Regisseurs selbst. Das Gefühl habe ich jedenfalls oft. Der Haken an der Sache Die Tetralogie ist ein solch komplexes Gebilde, daß es für mich in erster Linie heißt, dem feingesponnenen musikalischen Geflecht und den überaus fordernden Gesangspartien zu folgen. Wie soll ich das aber bewerkstelligen, wenn ich mir stets noch die obligatorische (und inzwischen so nervend wie überkommene) Frage stellen muß: Was will der Regisseur mir damit sagen? - Aber spricht große Kunst nicht für sich? Ist ihr universeller Zugang nicht ihr Kern? Die Inszenierung muß letztlich dem Werk dienen und nicht umgekehrt. Sonst hätte Wagner sicherlich Inszenierungen mit Musik- und Gesangsanweisungen geschaffen und nicht umgekehrt! Generell bin ich "modernen" Interpretationen keinesfalls abgeneigt, aber sie müssen schlüssig und damit verständlich sein, und sie dürfen das Werk nicht entstellen. Die großen Ringe Lange Zeit blieb ich bei meiner Suche erfolglos: Furtwänglers Aufnahmen ( 1937 , 1950 und 1953 ) sind entweder unvollständig, konzertant oder schlicht nicht visuell aufgezeichnet worden. Letzteres gilt auch für Böhm und Karajan . Boulez' Ring reizt mich optisch (Chereau) und darstellerisch, musikalisch aber weniger, während es bei Barenboim umgekehrt ist. Mehtas Valencia-Ring , wenngleich szenisch interessant, befriedigt weder musikalisch noch optisch vollends. Thielemanns Bayreuther Ring blieb bis auf " Die Walküre " visuell unveröffentlicht, wobei Dorst eine eher unaufgeregte Inszenierung wählte. Weitaus mehr noch wurde Thielemanns Wiener Ring gefeiert, er liegt jedoch nur auf CD vor. Am Ende des Weges... ...war es der Zufall, der mich zum Met-Ring führte: Ich folgte mein Bedürfnis nach Thielemanns "Meistersinger von Nürnberg" und war wieder voll und ganz gebannt - auch von Otto Schenks werknaher, die Handlung unterstützender Inszenierung. Ob dies, die Kleiber-Fledermaus, die Kleiber-Rosenkavaliere oder die Thielemann-Arabella in New York, mehrfach schon hat mich Schenks Stil begeistert. Und von da an war es ein kurzer Weg, bis ich herausfand, welche Schenk-Arbeiten noch zur Auswahl stehen, darunter ein Ring! Endlich! +++Der Met-Ring+++ Mit dem Libretto und damit den Aufführungsanweisungen Wagners "gerüstet", startete ich in diesen Ring. Und von Anbeginn war ich gefesselt, es war wie eine Offenbarung. Teils mit Gänsehaut saß ich vor dem Fernseher, und die Zeit verging wie im Flug. DAS RHEINGOLD (1990) zeigt bereits: Hier wird ganz nah an Wagner inszeniert. Inmitten des Rheins umtollen die Rheintöchter eine Felsenspitze, Alberich rutscht beim Klettern wegen des "garstig glatten glitschrigen Glimmers" ab und das Ganze auf grünlich wogendem Grund. Dann erscheinen eine mächtige Burg im Hintergrund, vorn ein Tal und dazwischen der Rhein. Spätestens mit dem Auftauchen der Riesen kann man sicher sein: Die Liebe zum Detail endet nicht bei den Kostümen, der Maske oder den Requisiten - alles ist wunderschön, hochwertig und einheitlich. Faszinierend stimmungsvoll ist Nibelheim, die schmutzig, glutrote "unterirdische Kluft". Spannend mit Schlange und Kröte gestalten sich Alberichs Verwandlungen. Erda kommt tatsächlich mit "bläulichem Schein" aus dem Boden, während zuvor noch eifrig Gold gestapelt wurde, bis Freia nicht mehr zu sehen war. Prickelnd das Finale mit Donners Hammerschlag, einem Regenbogen und den klagenden Rheintöchtern. Wotan (James Morris), Loge (Siegfried Jerusalem), Alberich (Ekkehard Wlaschiha), Fricka (Christa Ludwig), Fasolt (Jan-Hendrik Rootering) und Fafner (Matti Salminen) ebenso die übrigen Sänger überzeugen gesanglich wie darstellerisch. Sie durch die Oper zu begleiten, ist eine wahre Freude, besonders das Gespann Wotan-Loge-Alberich. DIE WALKÜRE (1989) beginnt in Hundings Haus, endlich mit Baumstamm, Herd zur Rechten und sehr naturalistisch gehalten. "Außen herrliche Frühlingsnacht", wenn sich die Geschwister ihre Liebe gestehen. Und es gibt auch ein strahlendes Schwert im Eschenstamm. Ein wildes Felsengebirge wird am Beginn des zweiten Akts geboten. Auf Frickas mit "zwei Widdern bespannten Wagen" muß man leider verzichten, auch Schlachtrösser gibt es keine, nicht mal Grane, aber halb so schlimm! Überragend eindrucksvoll gerät Siegmunds Ende - mit Blitz und Donner. Im letzten Akt schließlich der berüchtigte Walkürenfelsen. Herzzerreißend gelingt der Abschied des Göttervaters von seiner geliebten Tochter, bildgewaltig schließlich die entfesselte Lohe. Jessye Norman erhielt für ihre ergreifende Sieglinde einen Grammy. Sie ist stimmgewaltig und bei der Übergabe der Stücke Notungs atemberaubend intensiv. Wohingegen Gary Lakes' Siegmund eher blaß bleibt. In Kurt Molls treffend düsterem Hunding glaubt man fast, den Holländer zu erblicken. Die 61jährige Ludwig bietet eine sehr gute Fricka und Morris einen gebrochenen, zugleich zu Höchstform auflaufenden, äußerst glaubhaften Wotan. Hildegard Behrens ist stimmlich, aber mehr noch in der Präsenz eine eher unscheinbare Brünnhilde. Da hilft auch der imposante, silberne Brustpanzer wenig. Deutlich wird das besonders im Zusammenspiel mit Sieglinde im letzten Akt: So wirkt die Übergabe Notungs wie verkehrte Welt, wenn Sieglinde die Walküre deutlich „übersingt“. SIEGFRIED (1990) wartet mit Mimes "Felsenhöhle im Wald" auf, "nach links zu, steht ein großer Schmiedeherd, aus Felsenstücken natürlich geformt" – also ganz in Wagners Sinn. Den Bären läßt Siegfried allerdings "daheim". Dafür schmiedet er eifrig an Notung und nutzt sogar den Blasebalg. Trotz der fehlenden Frauenstimme ist der erste Akt hochspannend und dicht inszeniert, eintönig wird es nie. Dann folgt im zweiten Akt der Wald. Im Hintergrund liegt, im Dunkeln bedrohlich verborgen, Neidhöhl'. Das Waldvögelchen bekommt man übrigens nicht zu Gesicht. Der dritte Akt beginnt mit einer in mystisch blaues Licht gehüllten Erda, die halb aus dem Boden ragt, und schließt mit dem Walkürenfelsen. Von Anbeginn bietet Heinz Zednik einen unübertrefflichen Mime. Nach Loge tritt Siegfried Jerusalem nun als sein Opern-Namensvetter in Aktion. Wie Zednik scheint er die perfekte Verkörperung seiner Figur. Bewährt und eine wahre Freude, wenn auch ergraut, Morris als Wanderer mit Schlapphut. Herrlich nach dem Ring gierend, gibt sich Wlaschiha als Alberich, und Salminen grollt furchteinflößend aus Fafners Höhle. Eine schauspielerisches Spektakel ist das kurze Intermezzo zwischen Alberich und Mime, ebenso dessen Ende. Im Siegfried gelingt etwas ganz Besonderes: Lauter markante Männerfiguren treten bis zum Erwachen Brünnhildes auf, Mime und Siegfried, Wotan und Alberich. Und sie alle werden wundervoll ausdrucksstark und präsent dargestellt, so daß es weder Figuren darunter gibt, die im Wettstreit um Präsenz verlieren, noch auch nur ein Hauch von Monotonie aufkommt. Als verstörte, verletzbare Brünnhilde kommt Behrens hier erstmals richtig zur Wirkung. GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG(1990) - wie der Titel verheißt es ebenso wenig Gutes, daß die Nornen inmitten einer grauen Bühne unter einem dunklen Himmel sitzen, beschäftigt mit ihrem Schicksalsfaden. Nachdem der reißt, verlassen sie die Bühne, und die Morgendämmerung nimmt ihren Lauf. Eindrucksvoll, wie wenig Mittel man braucht, um große Wirkung zu erzielen. Dem Abschied vom Walkürenfelsen folgt Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt. Sie wird nur mit blauer, wogender Wasseroberfläche angedeutet. Die Halle der Gibichungen ist dagegen beeindruckend groß, und der Lauf des Rheins wird im Hintergrund abgebildet, wie Wagner es wollte. Spannend inszeniert: Hagens und Siegfrieds erste Begegnung. Am Ende des Akts künden Sturmhimmel und Blitze Waltraute verheißungsvoll an. Atmosphärisch im zweiten Akt der Vorplatz zur Gibichshalle, am Rhein gelegen, ebenso die folgende Morgendämmerung. Imposant Hagen und seine Mannen. Der finale Akt beginnt wieder genau nach Wagner: "Wildes Wald- und Felsental am Rheine, welcher im Hintergrunde an einem steilen Abhange vorbeifließt." Eine naturalistische Augenweide sind die Rheintöchter, die im Vordergrund schwimmen, Siegfried dahinter. Bedrückend und düster ist dessen Tod, grandios das Ende mitsamt Weltenbrand par excellence! Die Nornen bieten einen guten Einstieg, bevor Siegfried und Brünnhilde sich mitreißend verabschieden. Behrends paßt weit besser zur "entmachteten" Brünnhilde, sie verkörpert die Walküre verletzlich und weiblich. Um so überwältigender ihre betrogene, rachsüchtige Brünnhilde. Jerusalem strotzt nur so vor Siegfried‘schem Übermut. Ihm und seinem naiven Überschwang zuzusehen, macht richtig Spaß. Salminen singt einen faszinierend stimmgewaltigen, charismatischen und zugleich fies hinterlistigen Hagen. Gunther (Anthony Raffell) und Gutrune (Hanna Lisowska) wirken dagegen wie ein ältlich kraftloses Geschwisterpaar - perfekt als Spielball für Hagens Plan -, aber gesanglich weder Siegfried, noch Hagen oder Brünnhilde gewachsen. Außergewöhnlich das Waltraute-Intermezzo der großen Christa Ludwig. Alberich (Wlaschiha) ist wieder herrlich tückisch und Ring-fixiert. Die Mannen leisten genauso gute Arbeit wie die Rheintöchter. Etwas für Auge und Ohr? Das Bild ist farbenfroh und besser, als es der Springbrunnen im Vorspann, der geschlossene Vorhang am Anfang oder die Auszüge auf YouTube vermuten lassen. Auch der Ton ist sehr gut. Aus dem Publikum vernimmt man erstaunlicherweise kaum Störgeräusche bei dieser Live-Aufnahme. Bewußt habe ich tatsächlich erst in der Götterdämmerung derlei Störungen gehört. Ein Ring für... ... Anfänger oder Einsteiger? Das scheint mir die falsche Perspektive. Ich bin kein Ring-Neuling und dennoch vollends begeistert. Daher würde ich sagen: Dieser Ring ist für diejenigen, die die Tetralogie ganz nah an Wagners Vorstellungen sehen wollen: naturalistisch, bildgewaltig, liebevoll und aus einem Guß. Licht am Ende des Tunnels? Der Met-Ring glänzt zu allererst wegen der liebevoll runden Inszenierung, ergänzt um hochwertige Kostüme, perfekte Maske und ansehnliche Requisiten. Endlich paßt Gesehenes zu Gesungenem und zur Musik – das macht den Ring um so eindringlicher, die Erfahrung um so intensiver. Das Ensemble ist weitgehend homogen und liefert gute bis sehr gute Leistungen ab, gesanglich wie im Darstellerischen. Morris, Jerusalem, Zednik, Wlaschiha, Salminen ragen deutlich hervor. Behrens‘ Gesang und Levines Klangwogen vertragen sich nur bedingt. Norman und Ludwig überzeugen als Sängerinnen hier mehr. Das Orchester besticht durchweg mit erstklassiger Leistung, aber Levines Interpretation trifft in weiten Teilen meine Erwartungen. Sie ist ohne jeden Zweifel groß und klangewaltig. Aber mir fehlt das Besondere, der eigene Charakter, das große Gefühl. Den Ring habe ich schon deutlich markanter, einprägsamer und differenzierter gehört. Bei Levine ist alles unter Spannung, Druck, aber eine Aneinanderreihung von Höhepunkten macht diese nicht intensiver. Nein, sie schwächt sie, da man keine Zeit zum Luftholen hat. Es ist das Klischee von der wuchtig-breiten Wagner-Musik, das hier eifrig bedient wird. (In "Brust oder Keule" äußert Louis de Funès in diesem Sinne, Wagner sei doch Musik für Wild und nicht für den "kleinen Zwickizwackihummer"!) Insgesamt bewältigt der Dirigent die große Herausforderung jedoch mehr als nur zufriedenstellend, auf durchgehend hohem Niveau, aber ein Eigenleben neben Gesang und Darstellung will Levines Interpretation nicht entfalten. Sänger: 4,5/5 Sterne Musik: 4,5/5 Sterne Inszenierung: 5/5 Sterne Die DVDs Laufzeit: 941 Minuten (Rheingold: 163 min, Walküre: 241 min, Siegfried: 253 min, Götterdämmerung: 281 min) Bild: 4:3, NTSC, Farbe Audio: PCM Stereo, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Sprache: Deutsch / Menü: Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch, Spanisch, Chinesisch Untertitel: Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch, Spanisch, Chinesisch (Das Ring-Begleitheft und die vier einzelnen Opern-Begleithefte sind in englischer, deutscher und französischer Sprache.)

versione classica e intramontabile, proprio come le opere dovrebbero essere realizzate.