Customer Reviews

Wagner: Das Rheingold

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To me, this sounds like a good ensemble performance mounted in a third-tier German opera house, which is exactly what this Das Rheingold from Stuttgart is. None of the singers stand out in an exciting way, nor is the conducting either intense or dramatic. But you get the palpable feeling of a live performance, and the opera itself never fails to make an impression.

As often hapens when house singers fill out a big cast, you never know who's going to shine. In this case ERda has a wonderful voice, while Mime and Loge both have impact. It's too bad that the Wotan sounds a bit old and wobbly, and that Alberich is nowhere near being bitter and fierce enough.

Even so, there aren't many budget Rheingolds out there in good modern sound, and Naxis's enitre produciton is respectable on all counts. Look elsewhere for depth and thrills, however.

I agree with Mr. Steel. This recording works better on CD than on DVD. The only problems I really have with this recording are the fact that Wolfgang Probst's Wotan sounds a little old and wobbly for the Rheingold Wotan, He sounds more like the Wanderer

from Seigfried. Esa Ruuttunen's Alberich needs to be a lot more

nasty and bitter. The rest of the cast do well enough although the Rheinmadens seemed a little tame in their singing. The recorded sound from the orchestra is wonderful This is obviously a live recording, but a fairly good one. I hope the rest of this Ring Cycle will be as good or better. As for the DVD version it is a lot easier on the eyes than most. Much better than the Barenboim-Kupfer set on Warner video wise.

This proved to be another good, vivid addition to the full rendition of the live Stuttgart Ring Cycle on Naxos. I disagree with an earlier review found here. For me, the star of this cycle is the conductor and his orchestra. A very atmospheric ambiance sans the awful theatrical production allows the music to shine through. The earlier dvd release of this cycle was justly condemned. At the bargain price found here at amazon, this recording earns an easy recommendation. True, there are no world class voices found here, but all roles are competently filled; which is all we can expect in today's state of vocal decline. I liked this performance just fine.

Forget the stupid production on the DVD and just listen to the music!

The very first singer (Woglinde) sounded pretty awful, which didn't make me optimistic. But after that, I found all the singers are quite good, so am very happy with the singing overall. Probst as Wotan is quite OK, and also Kuenzli as Loge.

For me, the orchestral writing in Rheingold is wonderful, so the orchestra is critical. The capturing of the orchestra here is brilliant. The sound quality is superb and the strings are very close and clear, which is very important. In particular, the cellos are EXTREMELY clear and I really love this: I can hear lots of fascinating things in the cello parts which I haven't heard before (and I have 9 other recordings of Rheingold).

So overall, an excellent performance at budget price.