Customer Reviews

Wagner - Siegfried / Levine, Jerusalem, Behrens, Morris, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 3)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I disagree strongly with the reviewer who complained that this production is "dull". It is rescued from dullness by Heinz Zednik, the genius who plays Mime, and by fantastic sets. Also, James Morris is at his peak as the Wanderer, totally convincing visually and vocally (except for his American accent) and he's the only one I've heard so far who can sing the line: "Ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha, der witzigster bist du ..." with all the "ha"s correctly timed. Everyone else--especially Hans Hotter--consistantly screws up this line, even in studio recordings.

Ekkehard Wlaschiha hits a homer as Alberich. Superbly menacing as he threatens the Wanderer and a great bully when he fights with Mime over the treasure. He is not dark and dense; his voice doesn't punch you as some do, but his high notes are excellent.

This was a very grand production of Seigfried. Master Levine does an incredible job as conductor and his interpretation of Wagner is grand. I do not think the production is dull. The lighting is a bit dark at time, but I think that James Morris is superb as the Wanderer. As expected a very good Metropolitan Opera performance. This completes the Ring Cycle for me.

If you are interested in seeing this by all means buy it and forget those yahoos with their negative reviews. I have the first three operas of the Ring Cycle and hesitated on buying the third because of some of the opinions stated here but it is wonderful. And I will buy the fourth. I watch it on my 37" HDTV and feel like I'm sitting in the first row of the Met and enjoy them all immensely. So a big raspberry to those cynical reviewers and a big hand for Levine and company. You give so much joy.

Although Jerusalem is not well-done, but none of the production from the MET is not GREAT,the scenery,well,was terrific and the last scene, I can only use the term "perfect" to describe that!

This Met production returns to Wagner's original intentions, after decades of Bayreuth regietheater productions. While these were interesting, they make what is already a complex story harder to grasp, at least for those new to opera. Although I know the ring quite well, I find regietheater Wagner gets annoying with repeated viewing. It tells me more about the stage director's ego than Wagner's hidden messages. Regietheater can be very good when the director has a worthwhile plan.

I have been able to watch many Wagner opera DVD. This Siegfried is much better than the others despite flaws in singing and staging.

Vocally this Siegfried is good by today's standards, but it's Brunnhilde and Siegfried do not compare to Nilsson and Windgassen on the 1962 recording conducted by Solti. In compensation, we get James Morris as the Wanderer on this DVD who out sings his mentor Hans Hotter on the 1962 recording. The remaining voices are equally good on both these versions.

Visually things are very good except for a Fafner which looks like a heap of dirty rags proped up with broken broomsticks. Act one is as perfect as any Wagner staging could be with very realistic forging of the sword, lots of smoke and sparks, plus superb acting by all, provided you accept a very impulsive Siegfried.
Act two before Fafner appears and after his demise is fine too. Act three has spectacular projected fire, followed by Brunnhilde awakening on a realistic rocky plateau. Behrens and Jerusalem do better than I thought they would with the duet. What's more they look good compared to some other wagnerian singers who shall be nameless. The total effect is very exciting.

This is the only Wagner opera DVD I have that stands up in the long run. The Met orchestra plays very well in this performance with only a few flubbed notes in act two. Otherwise it holds it's own despite (sound only) competition from Solti, Boehm and Furtwaengler. Levine has not always been a favorite conductor, but here he is inspired from beginning to end.

I have only checked out the stereo LPCM sound option which is clean, highly dynamic and demanding of playback equipment. Voices are a bit forward, but not enough to rob power from the orchestra. Again, this is as good a balance as one can expect live.

Considering that this is a great period for Mozart opera, but not for Wagner, this is a very welcome release.

I love this production, which I first saw on the television in 1990.

It is this performance that sold me on "Siegfried," which I used to dismiss unfairly--never having actually seen a production--as a crashing bore. Instead, I discovered a delightful fairy tale (albeit not for children of short attention span), with gnomes, dragons, "talking" birds, and a handsome hero who wakes the sleeping beauty with a kiss.

I especially enjoyed the performance of Siegfried Jerusalem, who not only portrays the archetypical hero of legend--handsome, bumptious, and more than slightly dense about life and love--but also looks the part. His reaction at discovering Brünnhilde's identity as a female is priceless. I am amazed at Jerusalem's staying power in a role that must be physically exhausting. And let his critics have a go at wielding a heavy hammer repeatedly in tempo, while singing a full-voiced "Notung, Notung, neidliches Schwert!" The music in that scene is nothing short of thrilling.

Heinz Zednik plays the gnasty gnome Mime--who gets no respect--with such panache that one almost feels sorry for him, and Ekkehard Wlaschiha is delightfully odious as his brother Alberich, whose green appearance predates that of Shrek! James Morris is outstanding as the wandering Wotan, a rather thankless role, since he subsequently drops out of the cycle (It is almost as if Wagner got tired of the character); and Dawn Upshaw's invisible Waldvogel is magnificent. Although some critics complain that Hildegard Behrens is past it vocally, she certainly looks the part of the ex-Valkyrie, newly awakened to love.

The DVD provides subtitles, which I certainly recommend using to enhance your enjoyment of the story and the music.

This is a production that would make Richard Wagner smile. I am so tired of the rubbish coming from Bayreuth and the rest of the Euro trash productions you see lately.

I do really like Wagner's "Ring Cycle" but this particular segment done
by Jerusalem & Co. is, put bluntly,atrocious. I can't figure out why the
casting director (or whoever it is responsible) chose this guy Jerusalem to play and sing the hero of heroes--Siegfried. I would put him in some
Rossini opera, for he lacked the vocal and physical power of this Wagner hero. Excuse me, Mr. J.--no offense intended!

Wagner - Siegfried / Levine, Jerusalem, Behrens, Morris, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 3) is a dvd recording produced by Deutsche Grammophon and Universal Classics and was recorded in 1990. The DVD comes with a very fine booklet that contains many photographs of the performance. Karl Dietrich Gräwe has written the music notes. Translated into English by Mary Whittall. I am huge fan of Wagner and consider him the king of the opera. His use of the leitmotif is legendary. Highly recommended. 5/5.

I admit that Siegfried's brief combat with the Dragon can hardly bear comparison with Hollywood's super-dynamic, digital, computerized, Three-D, multi-dimensional, animated, current versions of similar events, and, beyond that, only in a few minutes in which Wagner's conception strains even the super capacities of the Met team, this is quite absolutely first rate. Production values are outstanding, Levine's conducting and the orchestra, top of the line, Jerusalem an admirable Siegfried in acting and far above that in vocal prowess, Heinz Zednik is all that can be asked for in a Mime, Behrens' Brunnhilde makes the most of her brief awakening in the Sun of Love, Wlaschiha as Alberich, Salminen as the Voice of the Dragon, Fafner, Brigga Svenden as Erde (the wisest woman in the world who is here given eternal sleep in ignorance), and Dawn Upshaw, all earn plaudits in their brief appearances. James Morris, the Wanderer, never fails to dominate any scene in which he appears. Quite an Onstage presence.
As I have written in other reviews of Wagner, my viewing is not that of an expert in anything. I'm just a guy who found out that opera is prime entertainment, when one has subtitles to provide blow by blow understanding of what is being said and sung. While it is unimaginable to me that Wagner, or anyone else, expected an audience to sit through these marathons he has written, certainly, I could not do so, for home listening, Siegfried can provide two evenings of pleasure, unspoiled by the dread audience fatigue syndrome.