Product description
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Anello Del Nibelungo (L') / Der Ring Des Nibelungen (8 Dvd)
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The first opera (the prologue) in Wagner's Ring Cycle, Das
Rheingold, is a beautifully conducted and thoughtfully staged
performance. As soon as the clouds of mist have dissipated, while
the daring, long-held opening chord is still reverberating, the
screen clears to show not only the River Rhine and the three
maidens (dressed like prostitutes in this production) assigned to
guard the gold hidden there. It also shows an enormous dam (not
mentioned in Wagner's text). This is the underwater base of a
hydroelectric , and its presence tells us two things
immediately: that this production takes the story out of the
vaguely medieval fantasy world in which Wagner had placed it, and
that a basic theme of the four-opera cycle would be power.
Alberich, the Nibelung, is willing to renounce the love of women,
after stealing the gold from the Rhine, to become the ruler of
the world. Another basic theme is greed. The cast is uniformly
excellent. The approach of stage director Patrice Chereau
carefully balances realism, symbolism, and fantasy. The two
giants (Matti Salminen and Fritz Hübner) tower over the gods who
are waiting to enter the newly constructed Valhalla; Loge
(brilliantly played by Heinz Zednick) appears in a burst of
flame; the subterranean lair of the Nibelungs looks something
like a prison and something like a mass-production sweatshop. In
contrast, the gods look like members of a rather less leisure
class. Freia, the goddess of youth (Carmen Reppel), whose e is
one of the basic items in the plot, is presented as a lovely but
helpless beauty queen. Pierre Boulez conducts this episode. like
the entire cycle, with power and precision.
Wagner's ideas of "racial purity" reach a logical conclusion in
Act I of Die Walküre. 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
her 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 a 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.
Siegfried is the most eventful of the four Ring operas: the hero
of the cycle grows to maturity, forges his her's broken
Notung, kills the dragon Fafner and the dwarf Mime, takes the
cursed ring, frees Brunnhilde from the spell that has kept her
a, and falls in love with her. It is all presented,
powerfully and as efficiently as the self-indulgent text will
permit. Not seen in the cycle's previous operas are Manfred Jung
(Siegfried) and Norma Sharp (the Forest Bird), the central figure
of the cycle and one of the most peripheral. Sharp is lovely in
her brief appearance. Jung is the most controversial bit of
casting in the cycle; his voice and acting have been criticized,
but they seem to be up to the standard for this role, Perhaps the
criticism really applies to Siegfried, who is neither intelligent
nor compassionate, but a naive youth who knows nothing of the
world and has never seen a woman. Jung conveys these qualities
effectively. Wagner's ideal hero turns out to be a bit of a
proto-Nazi in his own naive way, swaggering arrogantly, killing
the dragon Fafner and the dwarf Mime with hardly a second
thought, and blithely assuming that he deserves all the good
fortune that comes his way. Wagner may have thought he was
inventing another sort of hero, but this Siegfried rather
faithfully reflects his creator's personality. Jung's
characterization faithfully follows the text of the opera and it
is compelling for those who can take their Wagner without
illusions, those who have come to terms, for example, with the
self-centered, unsympathetic personality that emerges from his
wife Cosima's voluminous and blindly adoring diaries.
According to director Patrice Chereau, "Götterdämmerung
undoubtedly presents a world in which no values exist any more...
a world in which it is difficult for anyone to believe in
anything any longer." It is truly, as its title procls, "The
twilight of the gods." Siegfried is tricked, drugged, and
treacherously murdered by power-hungry humans, deceived into
betraying Brunnhilde, who remains faithful without hope. An air
of weariness and decadence pervades the action and much of the
music (though the score includes two of Wagner's finest
instrumental inventions: Siegfried's Rhine journey and his
funeral music.) A new note is the introduction of a chorus of
humans (effectively used by Chereau) for the first time in the
cycle. The heyday of the gods is over; now, world domination is
sought by a human family, the Gibichungs. The cursed ring is
stolen from Brunnhilde, who has kept it as a token of Siegfried's
love. Siegfried, who has taken the ring in disguise, has been
drugged and deceived into wooing Gutrune, a Gibichung. Brunnhilde
is forced to marry ther, another Gibichung, but still faithful
to Siegfried she commits suicide on his funeral pyre. The fire
spreads to destroy Valhalla. The ring, snatched from Siegfried's
dead hand, is dropped into the Rhine, where it is restored to its
rightful place, and the situation returns to the normality of the
time before Das Rheingold. The Gibichungs, new to the cycle, are
well-portrayed by Franz Mazura and Jeanne Altmeyer, and Fritz
Hübner is impressive as the treacherous Hagen. Gwemdolyn
Killibrew stands out as Brunnhilde's ally Waltraute. As always,
Pierre Boulez conducts with a clear vision of the total work.
--Joe McLellan
