Wagner - Die Walkure / Boulez, Jones, Altmeyer, Schwarz, Hofmann, Bayreuth Festival (Ring Cycle Part 2)

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD

The legendary Bayreuth Centenary production of Wagner's Ring is distinguished by Patrice Chéreau's once-shocking production, which has acquired the status of the most trenchant modern interpretation of the cycle. Die Walküre is the second of the four Ring operas, introducing Brünnhilde, daughter of the all-powerful god, Wotan. Brünnhilde's attempts to protect the siblings/lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde eventually lead Wotan to encircle his errant daughter with a protective ring of fire that only a hero will be able to penetrate. Die Walküre features the best-known excerpt from the Ring cycle, the Ride of the Valkyries. Pierre Boulez's penetrating interpretation supports a cast led by one of the great Brünnhildes of our time, Gwyneth Jones. Cast:

Jeannine Altmeyer: Sieglinde
Katie Clarke: Helmwige
Elisabeth Glauser: Rossweisse
Ilse Gramatzki: Grimgerde
Peter Hofmann: Siegmund
Gwyneth Jones: Brünnhilde
Gwendolyn Killebrew: Schwertleite
Donald McIntyre: Wotan
Karen Middleton: Ortlinde
Carmen Reppel: Gerhilde
Matti Salminen: Hunding
Marga Schiml: Seigrune
Gabriele Schnaut: Waltraute
Hanna Schwarz: Fricka
The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez
Wagner's ideas of "racial purity" reach a logical conclusion in Act I of Die Walküre, powerfully performed in this Bayreuth production. Siegfried, the tragic hero of the cycle, is begotten in an adulterous, incestuous mating of Siegmund (Peter Hoffmann) and Sieglinde (Jeanne Altmeyer), a twin brother and sister. No miscegenation here.

Siegfried will not be seen until the next opera in the cycle. For now, the Valkyries (after their famous, musically spectacular ride) are asked to protect Sieglinde, his pregnant mother-to-be, until he can be born. His father is killed in a fight with Hunding, Sieglinde's brutish husband, with Wotan intervening against his will to help the wronged spouse. Wotan has been forced by his wife Fricka, who is the goddess of marriage, elegantly played by Hanna Schwartz. Her victory is a striking display of Wotan's diminishing powers. Brunnhilde, Wotan's daughter and leader of the Valkyries (Gwyneth Jones), disobeys a paternal prohibition, rescues Sieglinde and hides her in safety to wait out her pregnancy. For this, she is punished by losing her divine status and being left asleep for years, surrounded by a circle of magic fire, until a hero (Siegfried, who has not yet been born) will come to rescue her.

This episode is extremely well-sung, with particularly notable work by Hoffmann, Altmeyer, Schwartz, Jones and Donald McIntyre as Wotan, while conductor Pierre Boulez and director Patrice Chéreau work smoothly together to define the opera's overall form and continuity. --Joe McLellan