Customer Reviews

Wagner: Die Walküre

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Picking up where Das Rheingold left off, we have Die Walkure: conducted by Sir Georg Solti and performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. This Walkure isn't as grand as it turned out to be. There are better recordings like Bohm and Goodall and Janowski. But on to the review:

Solti's usual bombast is less prevalent here than in Siegfred and Gotterdammerung, probably because Walkure was recorded last and Solti went for a more lyrical approach. But that doesn't mean Ride of the Valkyries is void of power; it still has lots of power. The orchestral tension between the characters works well here. "Wotan's Farewell" is played too fast, but the grandiose "Magic Fire Music" makes up for it.

Singers are absolutely a plus. Hotter is past his prime as Wotan, but I still can't see anyone else performing as the Ruler of the Gods here in the Solti Ring. James King and Regine Crespine are wonderful as Siegmund and Sieglinde. Christa Ludwig as Fricka is a spectacle for the ears. Gottlob Frick is a very sinister Hunding, and I like that. The Valkyries will certainly leave you speechless when you're finished hearing Act One Scene One.

In short, this Walkure isn't as good as other Walkures, but you'll be touched by the orchestra and the singers.

We continue on to Siegfried . . .

Das Rheingold: Das Rheingold
Siegfried: Siegfried
Gotterdammerung: Gotterdammerung

Box Set: Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti

This is a rock solidly conducted Walkure, for better or for worse. Solti is stolid, massive, and sometimes overly dramatic because, in the end, that's what the producer, John Culshaw, wanted in order to deliver the visceral punch that had been lacking in earlier recorded fragments of the Ring. Conducting aside, one must give due credit to the singers who, especially in Wagner, make or break the effort. Hans Hotter was a sentimental choice for Wotan who can only bring the threadbare vestiges of what once was a compelling voice, worthy of the king of the gods. The rest of the cast is exemplary, leaving today's crop of one size fits all singers far behind. Regine Crespin is remarkably aware of the sensitivity, vulnerability and defiant hope of Sieglinde, Christa Ludwig is simply authoritative as Fricka. Gottlob Frick is the definitive Hunding with a massive, malevolent tone and command of the script that sweeps any competition away.James King, as Siegmund is a true Heldentenor, something that is virtually uknown today. Listen to his delivery of "Kuhlende Labung..." and compare it to today's standard, the all purpose Placido Domingo, who interprets Wagner parts as if he were negotiating a minefield. King has the metal in his voice that cannot be reproduced by the generic tenors of the modern age.So too, Birgit Nilson delivers a knock-out performance as Brunhilde, effortlessly projecting the godlike steeliness of her character. In sum, you can get similarly authoritative performances from historic (mostly monaural) recordings but this Walkure represents the best combination of modern recording standards with yesterday's idiomatic interprative tradition.

I recall the first version of the Ring Cycle that I owned. I paid 14.99 for it. Now I am not dating myself. It was not at a time that 14.99 was a lot of money. I was a junior in high school and it was November of 1979. I went to Boston's famous Filenes' Basement, known for its amazing bargains, and discovered this set. It was an unknown label, taped live at a performance that was not mentioned, with stars who were never credited. Needless to say, it was not a masterpiece, and the needle on the phonograph skipped all through the very abridged version of Das Rheingold, and the Siegfried was lackluster as well. I do recall some great scenes from Gotterdammerung, but what did I know at the time? I do recall that the set did have a spectacular "Ride of the Valkyries," and when I got to college, this turned out to be useful since everyone loved this piece, recognizing not from the opera, but from the film APOCALYPSE NOW. We'd blast it from a huge stereo system. I even thought I might be introducing my party hearty dorm mates to the world of opera.

Since my college days I have had the means to afford better recordings of the Ring, and my top choice is the Solti version released in the 1960's with the Vienna Philharmonic (Wiener Philharmoniker). While the version of DIE WALKURE is not as strong as the recordings of Rheingold, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung, it is still a wonderful recording. James King is spectacular as Siegmund and Regine Crespin is a perfect Sieglinde for King. The first time I heard the recording was an LP version and I found myself listening to Siegmund and Sieglinde's arias and duets that conclude Act I. The CD version of these portions begins with track 8 "Ein Schwert Verheiss" and include "Wintersturme" and Ich Bin Hore Mich" and am amazed at King and Crespin's vocal abilities. Other cast members include Birgit Nilsson who is a spectacular Brunnhilde and as one expect with Christa Ludwig, she gives a respectable performance as Fricka. Solti's conducting is, for the most part, powerful, but at times the heavy orchestra does overpower the singers, which could be why Hans Hotter is a less than spectacular Wotan. Still, it is a wholehearted performance on his part in spite of some flaws.

Since Wagner four disc sets are not inexpensive, and customers may be weary of spending so much on a recording that some Amazon reviewers praise and others pan, I do believe it is an excellent set and it is well worth the investment.

Wagner: Die Walküre is a Decca Records recording under the direction of Sir Georg Solti from 1966. Being a huge fan of Wagner I absolutely loved this opera. Wagner is the master of the leitmotif and I loved the performance of Berit Lindholm. Being a fellow Swede I am naturally inclined to pay extra attention to her singing. The booklet contains 134 pages. John Culsaw has written well-written music notes. The booklet also contains many fine illustrations. The lyrics are available in French, English and German. It also includes a very well-written synopsis. Highly recommended indeed. 5/5.

I have nothing to add to the disappointed reviews of this Walkure, which is only at its best in Act 2 (the one that most opera-goers sleep through!) But I wanted to pass on the ideal Ring cycle I've assembled, one that brings me great pleasure. It's a 2 plus 2 affair:

From Karajan: a magnificent Rheingold and Walkure.
From Solti: a magnificent Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.

The two Karajan installments have no flaws to my ears, except perhaps the eccentric casting of Fischer-Dieskau as a baritone (!) Wotan, but he brings great musical rewards nonetheless. The Solti installments have two flaws--his sometimes brutal conucting and the aging Windgassen as a surrogate Heldentenor for want of a real one. But it is remarkable to think that no one over the last forty years has produced serious rivals to any of these sets. Thank God we have them, warts and all.

I was very disappointed when I listened to Solti's Die Walkure. I have never heard a recording where Solti runs over the dramatic moments like they were speed bumps. His conducting of the other 3 operas in the Ring Cycle are unmatched, but this outing does not give the ride of the Valkyries their interpretive justification to fly. It has been written that Solti wanted to concentrate on the 2nd Act and he did at the expense of the 1st and 3rd. The moments when Siegmund pulls the sword out of the tree and the magic fire music just happen without the emotional power that Solti and Culshaw are so conscientious about in the other 3/4 of the Ring.

Solti concentrates on an extended and dragging 2nd Act that is made even more excruciating by the wobbling singing of Hans Hotter's Wotan. Hotter settled down later and gave a much better performance in the next Decca recording of Siegfried.

I would like to end this review by adding my voice to those who wrote regarding Christoph von Dohnanyi's rendering of Die Walkure, which is a GOOD Die Walkure. Decca will regret pulling the plug on Dohnanyi's Ring cycle. The cast is NOT bad. I would rather listen to lesser known singers who are making an effort than overrated ones who get cast on recording after recording with unattractive voices built on foundationless vibratos with sine curve frequencies you need elephants from the Punic Wars to transcend.

For those who want to put together a GREAT ring collection, I would recommend the following:

1. Das Rheingold (Solti/Vienna on London)

2. Die Walkure (Dohnanyi/Cleveland on London or Levine/NY Met on Deutsche Grammophon)

3. Siegfried (Solti/Vienna on London)

4. Gotterdammerung (Solti/Vienna on London)

I'm no expert, but classical music is my favorite type of music. I have been to 2 peformances of the Phoenix Opera and I must say there is a lot of great up and coming operatic voice talent in this country that offers hope for the future of artistic expression and insight into the human experience of life.

Cast: James King [Siegmund] Régine Crespin [Sieglinde] ** Gottlieb Frick [Hunding] ** Hans Hotter [Wotan] ** Christa Ludwig[Fricka] ** Birgit Nilsson [Brünnhilde] Brigitte Fassbaender [Waltraute] ** Helen Watts [Schwertleite] ** Helga Dernesch [Ortlinde] ... Vienna Philharmonic ** Sir Georg Solti

This is perhaps the most beautifully rendered Die Walkure, with a fine balance of dramatic elements and dreamy, romantic music, as played by the unbeatable Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by George Solti at the height of his powers. From the start, the orchestra is playing as if the strings were ablaze with fire, and the passionate moments between Siegmund and Sieglende and the touching father and daughter (Wotan and Brunhilde) moments at the end are lovingly captured. The music is the clear winner here, even if I personally think that Regine Crespin is miscast. Here's why: Compared to the mid 60's Karl Bohm recording which featured Leonie Rysanek as Sieglende, Regine Crespin is totally underpowered in her interpretation. The voice is beautiful, yes, and she produces the most lush and elegant tones, but it is a very uninteresting Sieglende, lacking passion and vigor. Regine Crespin is singing a role that is really out of her vocal range. Rysanek, on the other hand, has a bigger, more dramatic voice and even screams that famous scream during the Love Duet. The Love Duet sung by James King and Regine Crespin on here is too mellow and romantic, as if it were the Love Duet in Tristan And Isolde. As for James King's Siegmund, his is a truly wonderful performance. He mastered Wagner heroic roles like he could sing it in his sleep or in the shower. His is a big, beautiful and blazing, God-like tenor voice and he gets into the character quite well. Siegmund's passion for his sister Sieglende, his search for meaning in a world of dark forces is all captured in the performance by James King, who makes each of his Wagner roles like some tragic Romantic hero. Kudos to James King, the greatest Wagner tenor of the 20th century.

The Wotan of Hans Hotter is sung well, with excellent diction and keen musicality for being Wagner, but Hans Hotter is also underpowered next to the likes of Theo Adam on the Karl Bohm recording. Not that I'm saying that the Bohm recording is superior to this one (that's always a matter of personal taste). Theo Adam managed to really sound like the powerful king of the gods and a loving father at the same time. His is a much more exciting baritone voice. Hotter sings Wotan octaves lower and with a darker voice, almost as if Wotan is the villain in this opera. Wotan's "wife" the goddess Fricka, goddess of marriage, is sung by mezzo soprano star Christa Ludwig, in glorious vocal shape and dramatic acting abilities. She is regal, sinister and furious!! Her finest moments come after Brunhilde's Entrance when she denounces the love of Siegmund and Siegried as adulterous and shameful. Christa Ludwig has never sung better, all her other roles are far more subdued vocally than this one which draws out all her powers.

With Birgit Nilsson as Brunhilde, one can never go wrong. She mastered the role better than any other soprano in the Sixties, having sung the role in Bayreuth, the Met, and all the major opera houses. This was her signature role and it's hard to imagine a grander voice and a more dramatic one. Her high soprano voice, full of heroic outbursts, steel and ice, is perfect for the otherworldly Valkyrie, even if some detractors think La Brigit sang with too much calculation and sounded too "cold" or "Nordic". As I recall, the Nibelungen Saga is straight of Norse sagas and therefore Birgit Nilsson, who hailed from Sweden, completely understood the nature of Wagner's music, and the value of the story of the opera as a part of her heritage. With the Vienna Phil loudly playing behind her, Nilsson shines in the famous Ride of the Valkyries scene. Others in the cast include a young Brigitte Fassbaender, the mezzo soprano who would garner greater fame later in her career. Brigitte Fassbaender sings the minor role of Waltraute but she sings it with great strength and beauty. Helga Dernesch sings the part of Ortlinde, another minor role, and she is doing a fine job with it- darklybeautiful, powerful, noble. It's rather odd that Miss Dernesch is singing such an uninteresting role when she was fast becoming a great Wagnerian soprano herself. Everyone knows her voice from the classic Tristan Und Isolde recording with Jon Vickers and Herbert Von Karajan conducting.

All in all, this is a beatiful and strong performance of Die Walkure, thanks to 1: Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic 2: James King's amazing Siegmund...3: Birgit Nilsson's thunderous Brunhilde ... and 4: Christa Ludwig's cruel and queenly Fricka. Any fan of Solti and his version of the Ring will want to own this recording. Ultimately, the musical forces behind this recording is the draw. The singing is beautiful but is not captured in its "natural" essence as the recording makes the whole work a huge, colorful fantasy. But many, many listeners prefer this type of operatic style.

Having provided my reviews of Solti's Ring and the separate works of Siegfried and Gotterdammerung, I now come to the most difficult to truly assess: Solti's Walkure. Despite the difficulty, I give it 5 stars, going against the grain of many other reviewers because the good outweighs the bad.

First, some background. The Walkure is the most "human" of the Ring operas. While there are some "godly" issues and the dramatic interweaving of Wotan's predicament, this opera is essentially a love story, and one on various levels. So let's consider the dramatic elements before we proceed to the "music" in this complex music drama.

First, there is the "free" love between Siegmund and Sieglinde. Brother and sister, separated from childhood, find true love in each other by way of circumstance. Each has had a difficult life, searching for an elusive sense of belonging, but find that longing fulfilled as miraculously their paths cross later in their respective lives. There is a sense of proud (even heroic) rebellion in Siegmund's passion. Sieglinde is the balance against the bravado.

We next have the rather "mechanical" love between Wotan and Fricka. Husband has set a plan in motion (Siegmund finding the sword that Wotan left him in Sieglinde's home, and thereby also winning the bride with the gift) that runs straight into Fricka's authority as goddess of marriage. Wotan argues for free love, but he is drowned out by convention. He succumbs to the wishes of his wife, sacrificing his son Siegmund in the process.

There is the tender but complex love between Wotan and the Walkure. Wotan refers to her as his will and reveals his deepest sentiments to her. But he also bids her to do his dirty work for him, acting as Walkure, but also playing the role of executioner. Her love for Wotan as father is absolute, but she ultimately chooses to defy him when, in revealing herself to Siegmund, discovers the brother's love for the sister. Although she fails to protect Siegmund and incurs the wrath of Wotan, she eventually gains a minor reprieve in the hope that Wotan's punishment for her will lead to redemption.

So, in a sense, this is a tragic story of love, of a family broken by events and choices.

The music of this drama must follow suit. Consequently, the first act, where Siegmund and Sieglinde's love is revealed, features wonderful love music. The second act is much more somber, with the finale being quite tragic. The third act, following the rushing "Ride of the Valkyries" captures anger, resentment, and ultimately forgiveness.

Solti captures the musical elements of these emotions to a significant extent. The singers are all quite good and believable. The only exception is Hotter, whose voice is not up to the par of his wonderful rendition in Solti's Siegfried. Nilsson again shines, and Ludwig's Fricka is intense. On the whole, this is a very fine cast, and the VPO is, as in the other Solti Ring operas, quite powerful and rock solid.

Solti's directing of the work was originally quite different for me. Some reviewers complain that his approach is somewhat heavy handed and initially, and I felt the same way. However, after many years of hearing this work, I think it is balanced and hides some remarkable nuance.

The Walkure's announcement to Siegfried in the latter half of the second act is perhaps the most difficult portion of the opera. The music is almost muted and tempos are agonizingly slow. The mood is somber, only to be broken by very brief glimpses of light. It is too easy to speed up this section to alleviate this seemingly endless gap. But Wagner intended to capture a pivotal moment in the opera, namely: The rebellion of the Walkure's love. Since this, in essence, sets the stage for the rest of Ring drama, it merits careful and dignified interpretation. I believe Solti succeeds here.

This opera also features orchestral standards such as the Ride of the Valkyries (prelude to act 3) and the Magic Fire Music (end of the opera). But there is a lot of beautiful music in this opera, and also very dramatic music (like Hunding's dark motif on the Wagner tubas). Ultimately, the work is a sum of all its parts, and the Solti Walkure succeeds in most.

So I will break with the pack and give this work 5 stars. I confess that had I written this review earlier, I would have given it 4 stars. But perhaps that is the essence of this review: Given enough time, this interpretation can "grow" on you, revealing nuances not readily apparent in a single hearing.

Hotter's voice may be past its prime in this recording, done late in his career, but for Wotan's breaking heart at the end of Act III, this voice is perfect.

We should be grateful that the producers were able to assemble such a magnificent cast - many of the best Wagnerian voices of their day, and maybe of all time.

For those new to Wagner-this is not the recording to judge Hans Hotter, the greatest Wotan in our time, by. His selection as Wotan was poorly chosen as he was well past his prime for a role placing such high(and low) demands on a singer. It is sad because beside Hotter(as Wotan) this is otherwise a marvelous Walkure and would be one of the best. But a Die Walkure without a good Wotan is like a human trying to live without a heart, or the Bulls of the 90's without Jordan. For those who want to learn what all the fuss is about with Hotter, check out the knew Keilberth cycle on Testament(which is better in every aspect than the Solti cycle anyway(yes, even Nilsson). The Keilberth is also, despite the claims in the booklets here, the first recorded ring cycle so the sound is fine, though not as perfect as this cycle or Solti's other London Wagner opera's.
Dont get me wrong, this is a great cycle-no self respecting wagnerite should be without it-but since its inception it has been surpassed, ironically by those that actually came before it(a la Krauss 53' and Keilberth 55'. Personally I prefer Barenboims entire cycle to this, and Karajan's Die Walkure I feel far surpasses this one. I