Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Original recording remastered, April 17, 2008
This disk was first recorded on 12th August 1951 in the Festspiehaus - Bayreuth and published with permission of Wienland and Wolfgang Wagner.
"" Quite apart from its intrinsic merits, this recording has a claim to honorable mention in at least three places in the history books. The history of recoded sound distinguishes it as the first live recording of a complete Act of The Ring. In the story of Bayreuth it has a special place as representing something of the first Ring produced there after the Second World War. In the career of Herbert von Karajan it finds him in his first season at Bayreuth and on the threshold of the international success which accorded him such an exalted place in the musical world of his time"" Thus wrote John B. Steane in part of his 1993 introduction to this recording.
Die Walküre is the second of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), composed by Richard Wagner. Niberlung is a companion or follower of Siegfried - a German mythology speaking of the race of dwarfs who possessed a treasure hoard that was stolen by Siegfried.
As much as I could gather, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) is Norse saga telling the adventures of any of the beautiful maidens attendant upon the supreme god Odin who bring the souls of slain warriors chosen by Odin or Tyr - son of Odin - to Valhalla and there wait upon them.
{{Valhalla is the hall in which the souls of those heroes were received by Odin. Norse is a native or inhabitant of Norway}}
Wagner premiered this opera on June 26, 1870 at the National Theatre in Munich.
Act 3: Prelude music, Brunnhilde's pleading (War es so schmählich), Wotan's Farewell (Leb' wohl, and Magic Fire Music.
The other Valkyries (minor female deities, who served Odin) gather on the height of a mountain, each with a dead hero put in her large bag. They are astounded when Brünnhilde arrives with a woman still alive. She implores them to help her, but they dare not confront Wotan. Brünnhilde decides to delay Wotan as Sieglinde runs away. She also reveals that Sieglinde is pregnant by Sigmund, and names the unborn son Siegfried (meaning "joyous in victory" or "peace in victory").
Wotan arrives in anger and passes judgment on Brünnhilde: she is to be deprived of her Valkyrie position and become mortal, to be prevailed in a magic sleep on the mountain, assaulted by any man who passes by.
Horrified, the other Valkyries flee. Brünnhilde begs mercy of Wotan for herself and for his favorite child. She recites the courage of Sigmund and declaresher decision to defend him, knowing that was Wotan's true desire.
With the words 'Der diese Liebe mir in's Herz gehaucht' (He who breathed this love into me), she identifies her own actions as Wotan's true will. Wotan accepts her last request: to fill the mountaintop with magic circle of flame, which will dissuade all but the most courageous of heroes who, shown through the leitmotif (typical of Wagner's operas), they both know will be the yet unborn Siegfried.
Wotan lays Brünnhilde down on a rock and, in a hug, kisses her eyes closed into a captivated sleep. He calls in Loge (the Norse demigod of fire) to ignite the circle of flame that will protect her, then slowly leaves in sorrow, after pronouncing: "Whosoever fears the point of my spear shall not pass through the fire."
This is grandiose music ''par excellence''.
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tantalizing sample of Karajan's 50's Wagner, July 17, 2007
Karajan appeared briefly at Bayreth after its postwar reopening but then bowed out, never to return. There are pirates and airchecks of his Wagner performances, including a Rheingold and Tristan, but to myy knowledge the only official Bayreuth recording was EMI's live Meistersinger, now a classic despite its inadequate mono sound.
This single CD of the last act of Walkure is also a classic, widely circulated in a References issue and now refurbished. There's only so much that can be done with the rather boxy mono, but that is beside the point. Here is postwar Wagner singing at a very high level propelled by Karajan's inspired conducting. Many consider the Fifties to be Karajan's greatest era, and this impassioned performance could be offered as evidence. Varnay makes a great impression as Brunnhilde, Bjoerling less so as Wotan, although he is never less than good. The eight Valkyries have never been bettered.
All in all, one of the indispensable Wagner recordings from that era, which seems golden in retrospect.
|
|
|
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is first rate singing from the 50's!, July 14, 2007
Since i heard this recording from the first time, it makes me shake and tremble to hear those powerful voices over and over...First, the eight valkyries sound gloriouslyat the beginning of the act, in the 'ryde of the valkyries'. Then Varnay and Rysanek just steal the show inmediately. Varnay's voice is sublime, specially when the 'Immolation theme' appears in her desperate try to protect sieglinde from Wotan. Sigurd Bjoerling is as good as George London at his best...him and Varnay and so good together, and the rest we hear is pure extasy. Rysanek is great even Sieglinde doesn'r have much chance to show her abilities as in act 1.
Even the sound is not perfect stereo, the sound is powerful, specially if you listen in a good musis system...or even better, on your Bose speakers for ipod...or with very good noiseless headphones too.
This recording is worth every single minute...!
|
|
|
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
![Wagner: Götterdämmerung/Siegfried [Excerpts]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510BvYXaF3L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
- the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.
