Wagner: Die Walküre

パーペ、ステンメ、カンペ、カウフマンと来日公演とは打って変わった豪華なキャスト。今にして思えばロシアンバブル絶頂期ならではの贅沢さ。最近多いキャラクターバリトン系のウォータンよりもバス・バリトンの正攻法のウォータンが好きなのでパーペのウォータンを絶賛したい。ステンメ、カンペ、カウフマンも申し分ない。2014年までに完結予定と伝えられていたが実際はジークフリート以降が続かなくて残念。カイルベルトのバイロイトライブを別格として近年のワルキューレのCDではピカ一と絶賛したい。

Wonderful, this really shows the deficiencies in my old James Levine recording. Also have the Mariinsky recording of Das Rheingold. Waiting for Siegfried and Gotterdammerung to be released. The Mariinsky web site says this would be in 2015?

Excelente versión. Me atrevería a calificarla como la mejor de las versiones modernas.(La versión de Solti sigue siendo mi preferida a pesar de tener casi 50 años)Stemme es una valquiria de primera y Pape emana poder y fuerza pero también es capaz de transmitir mucha ternura en la escena final.Kaufmann imponente como Siegmund.La orquesta bajo la batuta de Gergiev tiene un sonido espléndido.No puede faltar en vuestra discografía!

I've now listened to this recording twice (three times for some portions), because I wanted to better understand why it hasn't gotten better reviews. However, the mediocre and poor reviews surpass my understanding. Here's my take on this recording:First, the performers. Even if I agreed with the negative comments about Gergiev's conducting (which I don't), the performers have to count for something in an opera recording, and I can't think of a better cast than this - and I'm not just talking about today's group of singers. I cannot think of a better Siegmund than Jonas Kaufmann - is there anything this man doesn't do brilliantly? He's been compared to Vickers, which is a pretty big achievement, but in my opinion he's better. While I always respected Vickers as an artist, he sang everything with a degree of angst. Of course, there are certainly portions of the role that call for angst, but other portions call for a heroic voice that Kaufmann has in spades, whereas Vickers still had the angst. Equally impressive is René Pape as Wotan. He is simply magnificent; 'nuff said. And Mikhail Petrenko is a realistic Hunding - not the bellowing brute you hear most of the time, but a human who is understandably jealous of what's going on. The female singers are no slouches either. I've not heard Nina Stemme in many recordings, but she's very impressive and reminds me of one of my favorite Brünnhildes, Regine Crespin on the Karajan recording - a huge voice but one that never loses its femininity - and she has a great lower range that I'm not sure either Crespin or my other favorite, Birgit Nilsson, had (I really do have to listen to their recording again one of these days). Anja Kampe is a passionate and strong Sieglinde - her vibrato almost goes over the edge, but never does. And Ekaterina Gubanova as Fricka is, likewise, terrific.Which brings me to the conducting. I listened carefully to see if I ever thought Gergiev's tempi were too slow; I literally experienced that in only one case, near the very end of the opera. However, in all other cases, I thought his conducting was lush and expansive and romantic without ever losing an ounce of the drama.I don't always agree with professional music critics, but in this case I found it reassuring to see that no less than Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times agrees with me; he noted that some Wagnerites have said that the Ring is an epic symphony and that "I mean it as high praise when I say that the work comes across this way in...Gergiev's recording, with a superb cast and the Mariinsky Orchestra.... Mr. Gergiev conveys the depth, breadth and weightiness of this masterpiece."As I said above, "nuff said."

Das war für mich immer der Karajan-Ring, obwohl ich auch den Solti-Ring besonders mag, und ebenso die neueren Versionen von Barenboim, Janowski und Thielemann. Noch abgesehen von den Aufnahmen auf DVD, wie z.B. der Levine-Ring (die ältere Version und die Version von neulich die er zusammen mit Luisi macht).Nun aber gibt es diese Walküre von Valery Gergiev. Ein neuer Standard? Ich glaube ja. Gergiev hat eine ganz eigensinnige Art den Ring zu dirigieren. Schwer zu beschreiben. Geigen, Holz, Kupfer ... alles kommt zusammen in einem einmaligen Erlebnis. Nicht wie es sich gehört, aber völlig neu. Dazu die fabelhaften Solisten, allen voran Jonas Kaufmann als Siegmund und Nina Stemme als Brünnhilde. Kaufmann macht einen Siegmund wie ich ihn vorhin noch nicht gehört habe. Besser noch als sein eigener Siegmund in den New Yorker Ring vom Met. Stemme singt eine wirklich erstaunende Walküre. Dazu noch der überraschende Wotan von René Pape und die anderen Sänger in dieser Walküre. Es lässt nur vermuten wie sich demnächst Rheingold, Siegfried und Götterdämmerung anhören werden.Viele mögen Gergiev kritisieren. Er sei kein echter Wagner-Dirigent und seine Tempi taugen nicht. Ich kann nur sagen: höre und lasse dich überzeugen!

I have to concur with the other assessments of Gergiev's conducting. The tempi are very similar to Furtwaengler's but without his depth, structural grasp, rhythmic flexibility and intense drama. It most reminded me of Solti's in the Culshaw Ring which was by far his weakest effort in that cycle. And yet there is more life in it than Levine's Fliegende Hollaender, a set with an all-star cast let down by DOA conducting. The orchestra (as with Levine) plays beautifully with ample detail.There is enough here to recommend it because of the stellar cast. Kampe is not quite the possessed, impassioned Sieglinde heard on earlier recordings from the likes of Lotte Lehmann, Leonie Rysanek or Regine Crespin but her singing is lovely. Stemme is a fine Brunnhilde, maybe even a degree warmer than Nilsson, and Kaufmann and Pape give singing lessons as Siegmund and Wotan, respectively, while fully inhabiting their characters. Pape does find the high Es and Fs a challenge but then so did the later career Friedrich Schorr, and Pape's singing is on that level. So this set does generate drama. I was moved in all three acts, and Pape's sensitively phrased and legato Farewell wiped me out.

Technical issues: these CDs had fingerprints on them, plus one disc was scratched badly enough to cause skipping. I'm wondering if Amazon sent me a used copy? Otherwise, the CD sound (I haven't heard the SACD sound) is terrific, clear and transparent, full and exciting.Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I really liked Gergiev's expansive, involved conducting. Reminded me of both Solti and Von Karajan at times. Nothing felt over-driven and the playing is clarity itself, but I'll admit there are unusual choices of tempi here and there, usually on the slow side. But the bottom never falls out, and the sheer gorgeousness of the music is paramount. The orchestra plays very well indeed and the performance works very well.The cast is decent to great. Jonas Kaufmann is superb, everything one could want in a Siegmund: beautiful, exciting singing and excellent musicianship - a thrilling performance. Nina Stemme is a very fine Brunnhilde. (She's no Nilsson, but who is?) She manages nice trills for War Cry, and sings with warm, feminine (if sometimes thick) tone. She is especially magnificent in the last act, very moving. She reminds me somewhat of Astrid Varnay.Rene Pape is vocally just my kind of Wotan. His top is secure and the dark solid lower voice is exactly what I want to hear in this role. It really anchors the music. Here is a great, intelligent singer caught at his vocal peak. He never blusters. Wotan's Monologue is riveting and his long scene with Brunnhilde at the end is really splendid, a truly great performance from both of them.. It is so well sustained (with some pretty broad tempi) that I hung on their every word and was genuinely moved by it in a way I rarely have been. Surely this is the most sheerly beautiful final scene of WALKUERE on record.Anja Kampe is a decent Sieglinde, though she won't efface memories of the past. I heard a few suspect pitches. A very nice, expansive "O hehrstes wunder" is followed in the next line by an ungainly yelp, which should have been redone. Similarly Ekaterina Gubanova is a good Fricka: she hectors very well and the voice is an attractive one. She knows what's she's doing and makes no ugly sounds. Mikhail Petrenko is a more-than-acceptable Hunding, perhaps too lovely of voice. The Valkyries are an uneven bunch and a bit on the squally side at times, sad to say. I've heard better.Sonically, this is probably the best WALKUERE available. Its clarity is stunning, and I regret I don't own an SACD player. I may have to get one just for this. This is really a wonderful recording, overall. If I prefer a few of the older versions, put it down to my age and Birgit Nilsson.

It was not so long ago that the prospect of a new recording of any complete segment of the Ring aroused excited anticipation, but for the last 20 years or so this has been replaced by anticipated disappointment to outright dread!Cycles from Haenchen, Simone Young, Weigel and Thielemann have all had their merits, but vocally they have been at best serviceable.While Elder got his putative cycle off to a magnificent reverse start, the second instalment was a disappointment and it is unclear as to whether a full cycle will yet emerge. I found the recent Gergiev recording of Parsifal to be a qualified success, with again some vocal frailties being the cause of disappointment, so with the strength of the casting in this set, it was with a long lost sense of excitement that I opened the box on this cycle.It is easy to understand why Wälkure was chosen to start the cycle, as it is the most popular work by far and the most often given as a "stand alone" performance, and we must remember that this cycle derives from concerts where it was important to get off to "a flying start!" Karajan adopted the same strategy for his 1960's cycle.I expected Gergiev to dive in with both feet and give us a fiercely driven reading which outpaced Leinsdorf, but I could not have been more wrong. I should not have been so surprised at the slower tempo however, as memories of Gergiev's Kirov Ring in Cardiff and London are of very slow tempi which I put down to necessity through unfamiliarity by singers and orchestra (it was a mess!), but it would appear is actually Gergiev's interpretative stance. We are not talking Goodall or Kna here, but it is expansive in the Karajan vein without being able to maintain Karajan's sublime and almost ethereal long line especially in Act One.I'm not mad about the Maryinsky Concert Hall Acoustics which are a bit dry and accentuate the rather wiry quality of the lower strings which results in bass light recordings when no audience is present, but here, with an audience present there is sufficient air around the musicians to give pleasing results.The recording, produced by the ubiquitous James Mallinson, is well balanced and detailed and the orchestra plays very well, with the usual sheen to the upper strings, rather "buzz saw" lower strings and trumpets and horns with just a hint of the "blarpy" sound that used to characterise all brass sections in Russian Orchestras, We certainly know we're not in Vienna or Berlin, or indeed London.Vocally the expectations are more or less met. FINALLY we get a complete role recorded by Kaufmann, and he is the best Siegmund since Vickers, many would suggest the best in the stereo era and though I don't necessarily agree, I wouldn't argue either-it's very close!His extended cries of "Wälse" raise the hairs on the neck, the "Winterstürme" is both heroic and tender in equal measure, and even in what can be a real drag in the wrong hands, the "Todesverkundigung" scene , he is superb and very affecting. He makes a triumph of the role.He is partnered by Anja Kampe instead of the seemingly default Westbroek, a singer who has been singing Isolde and Brünnhilde for some time, and who has a powerful attractive upper register but has the usual difficulties in the mid range. She gives a feisty performance, not in the same vein as Janowitz, Brouwensteijn or Crespin, and relies on her vocal acting rather than the nature of the voice to convey vulnerability. I like her performance-she sings thrillingly at times-but she is not my favourite Sieglinde by a long way. Petrenko's Hunding, familiar from the Rattle filmed performance, is a more sinister, younger sounding character, far from the hulking bully we usually get and is very effective.The Fricka of Gubanova is steady voiced and hectoring, a real "shrew" but not much else. However, it's a relief to hear the part so well sung. The Valkyries are reasonably secure with occasional "Slavic tendencies"Nina Stemme is the Brünnhilde of this generation, and in modern terms she is superb, with thrilling "Ho-Jo-To Ho's" as she enters, and rich fulsome tone throughout. She too has more than a touch of the wobbles in the lower range, but she counters this with a wonderful dramatic sense and understanding of the role. She is perhaps nearest to Varnay in vocal quality and is particularly fine in her extended duets with Wotan.Which brings us to René Pape: He is simply the finest Wotan in this work since George London and Thomas Stewart. He has rich firm tone, a secure upper register and in his performance conveys wonderfully the exultation followed by frustration in Act 2, and the anger and finally love and compassion in Act 3. Although he is nominally a bass, there is none of the fragility in the upper register of Tomlinson, and of course Hotter in later years. He outclasses a now shaky Terfel in vocal quality, and is a tad less histrionic in his acting which I prefer.So, back to Gergiev's conducting. He steers it all beautifully, supporting the singers well, and conjuring up really lush sound in the lyrical passages especially, and the show stopping moments such as the sword coming out of the tree, the Ride of the Valkyries and Wotan's Farewell are all well done though Gergiev picks up the tempo for the Feuerzauber and robs it of some its grandeur...and yet, and yet there is a little something lacking-dare I say it, but a little more drive would be welcome,and in his seeking to achieve a chamber-like quality at times the orchestra ends up sounding thin on the ground, but I don't want to exaggerate this-it is INFINITELY preferable to the perfunctory style of the likes of Janowski and even Haenchen. So all in all it is a great success. Is it my favourite recording? Not by a long way, that's a straight slugfest between Leinsdorf and Karajan, but it is one with which I would be reluctant part and to which I will return with pleasure. I suppose in terms of a really modern recording it deserves 5 stars, as I would award Leinsdorf 10 and Karajan 9.99 stars respectively. If we are to view 5 Stars as the absolute maximum award for all comers, then I guess the correct rating would be 3.5 to 4 stars.Those for whom SACD is a prerequisite need not hesitate as I cannot envisualise the Janowski rivalling this set in overall quality, not least singing, and the Haenchen is just not in contention.Highly recommended as a very enjoyable if slightly different take on the work, sounding a touch different from other recordings, and not only with no vocal weaknesses, but many vocal triumphs as well. I look forward to future instalments with restored entusiasm if not excitement. Stewart Crowe.