Building a new production of the ring is a significant financial commitment for any opera company and will require a substantial fundraising campaign to create and present an entire cycle. Metropolitan opera production of wagner s epic opera cycle. A roundup of the finest recordings of wagners ring, as the opera world prepares to celebrate the composers bicentenary next year. With pierre boulez, zubin mehta, michael portillo, john tomlinson. Trailer for robert lepages new production of wagners ring cycle, starring bryn terfel, deborah voigt, and jay hunter morris. Seattle opera has a long history of performing wagners ring cycle starting in 1975, with the most recent performances in august 20 building a new production of the ring is a significant financial commitment for any opera company and will require a substantial fundraising campaign to create and present an entire cycle. Richard wagner 22 may 18 february 1883 wilhelm richard wagner. Apr 15, 2012 most opera dvds have english subtitles. A few years ago, media cafe publishing came out with an interactive guide to wagner s ring cycle on cdrom, appropriately called the ring disc. But thats over several days, with days off between each of the four operas and long breaks after every act. Nov 29, 2016 to watch the entire cycle, presented in the manner wagner intended complete with dinner breaks, is to go on a mammoth journey with the people around you. Im with tony haywood, but in fairness, i should add that others have praised rheingold in particular as closer to wagner, a work of smart dramaturgy. Amazons choice for wagner ring cycle additional dvd options. Conceived and written over a period of more than 25 years, wagners ring cycle is an epic musical journey of four operas.
Detractors, on the contrary, find the sets drearily realistic, the production short of drama and describe it as a nibelungen ring museum. Synopsis of the four operas which comprise wagners ring cycle by lorin maazel. Of the three wotans, the wandererwotan is the best suited to james morris. Trailer for robert lepages new production of wagner s ring cycle, starring bryn terfel, deborah voigt, and jay hunter morris. Tolkiens lord of the rings and scored the ride of the valkyries scene in apocalypse now. Euroarts dvd 2057368 7 dvds, playing times as above the ring cycle in english translation by andrew porter alberich derek hammondstroud wotanwanderer norman bailey. The ring cycle is in a tough box,with the dvds placed in plastic cases. Whenever wagners ring cycle comes to town, music critics start hearing about how impossibly long it is. Wagners dream the making of the ring at the metropolitan opera 2012. Clocking in at approximately 15 hours, this makes it the longest opera ever created and the second longest song in the world. Wagner s ring of the nibelung richard wagner had a vision.
Its story of gods, dwarves, and men and the quest for an allpowerful ring was inspired by many sources, including thcentury icelandic writings and the. Download recordings of all of wagners mature works. To watch the entire cycle, presented in the manner wagner intended complete with dinner breaks, is to go on a mammoth journey with the people around you. I once tried to read a translation of the nibelungenlied,but it had so little to do with wagners epic that i lost interest. The film here, by opera north, comes from live performances in leeds in 2016. Wagners ring of the nibelung richard wagner had a vision.
Lepage production calling attention to wagner s epic ring cycle, this could be a great time to give an opera lover what for me is still the most gripping, insightful and moving ring on dvd. The older audio recordings have been remastered for compact disc and a good number are recordings of live performances. Loony tunes kill the wabbit spoofed the ring cycle, and became an entire generations first, and often only exposure to opera, as ayun halliday noted here recently. Amazons choice recommends highly rated, wellpriced products available to ship immediately. Metropolitan opera production of wagners epic opera cycle.
This weimar production changes the ring from a mythological drama as conceived by wagner into a family saga. In places, wagner tells the story with the orchestra, using leitmotifsfragments of melody that convey emotions and themes as they recur in varying contexts. All of wagners nonring cycle operas in order of composition in june and july, 2022. The ring cycle box set reginald goodall on allmusic.
For this reason, many full ring recordings are the result of unofficial recording of live performances, particularly from the bayreuth festival where new productions are often broadcast by german ra. Subtitles in german, english, french, italian and spanish euroarts dvd 2052098 2 dvds. Admittedly, the ring can be a little daunting to a newcomer. I once tried to read a translation of the nibelungenlied,but it had so little to do with wagner s epic that i lost interest. Joe mclellan this partnership of boulez, chreau and peduzzi put wagner s ring back where it belonged at the centre of controversy. The complete ring had never before been recorded because it was an enormously expensive undertaking and there was no reason to believe it would sell in sufficient numbers to cover the cost, let alone make a profit. Download recordings of all of wagners mature works free. Wagners ring of the nibelung university of michigan. I also recommend the ring from the netherlands opera conducted by hartmut haenchen, which i recently borrowed on interloan from my library. On easter monday radio 3 devoted a whole day to a broadcast of wagners ring cycle. Wagner performances outside the us triangle wagner society.
Wagner, by contrast, uses the ring to shine a light on various intense, confused, alltoohuman relationships. The ring cycles overwhelming demonstration of the gesamtkunstwerk is a thing to behold, and you can see it here performed in full, all four parts, 15 hours of epic opera courtesy of bbc arts and the space. The composer termed the cycle a buhnenfestspiel stage festival play, structured in three days preceded by a vorabend preliminary evening. At first promoted as the greatest ring cycle of the 21st century, christian thielemanns live 2011 rendition with the vienna state opera has since proved to be something of a mixed bag, offering many high points but not approaching the publics high expectations. The better way to answer this question is to list some prominent recordings and say what their different virtues are. Oct 28, 2008 the major strengths of this ring is daniel barenboim. Clearly the best nibelungen ring dvd on the market as i am concerned.
Joe mclellan this partnership of boulez, chreau and peduzzi put wagners ring back where it belonged at the centre of controversy. Somehow, british recording producer john culshaw 192480 convinced decca management that the time was ripe for that recording, and that he was the man to head the. These small, distinctive snatches of music, often no more than one or two measures long, are the bricks with which wagner built his. The result is a ring cycle that many consider the best on home video. Wagner drew on norse legend for the cycle, comprised of four individual operas, and it is generally considered to be his greatest achievement. Of the singers, siegfried jerusalem is close to ideal as siegfried, also seen on dvd with barenboim and heinz zednik repeated his fine mime from the chereau ring. Alberich forges the ring only after the rhine maidens turn away his advances.
For this reason, many full ring recordings are the result of unofficial recording of live performances, particularly from the bayreuth festival where new productions are often broadcast by german radio. Wagner s complete ring cycle screening in cinemas for the first time in the mets cuttingedge new production screenings of all four operas in wagner s epic begin june 30 on june 2, a new. The works are based loosely on characters from the norse sagas and the nibelungenlied. The story comes, in a very general way, from the old norsegermanic legend of the nibelungenlied the song of the dwarves. Download recordings of all of wagner s mature works free written by the wagnerian on saturday, 10 august 20 3. The metropolitan operas production features james levine and fabio luisi as conductors and stars jonas kaufmann, deborah voigt and gerhard siegel. Fully digital 21st century staging of the ring cycle in 2020 on november 1016, november 1926, and november 28december 5. At roughly the same time that the boulez ring was being conceived, in london a starkly different enterprise was under way. It is even possible for the orchestra to convey ideas that are hidden from the. Wagner had his own interests, and he wanted to invoke. Wagner s unparalleled orchestral scenepainting reaches new heights in siegfried. Seattle opera has a long history of performing wagner s ring cycle starting in 1975, with the most recent performances in august 20. Staging is minimal and claims to include all the props mentioned in wagners score and usually omitted frickas rams cart, grane represented by a women dressed in black, etc.
The youthful hero, fearless and free, forges an unbreakable sword from the shards of the weapon that belonged to his father, slays the dragon fafner, seizes the ring from the dragons hoard, and braves a ring of magic fire that encircles the sleeping maiden, brunnhilde, whom he awakens to love. Download recordings of all of wagners mature works free written by the wagnerian on saturday, 10 august 20 3. Its story of gods, dwarves, and men and the quest for an allpowerful ring was inspired by many sources, including thcentury icelandic writings and the medieval. In wagner, subtitles are especially helpful,because his operas contain long passages which are dramatically rather static where the characters are reflecting on. Cd and dvd recordings of richard wagners ring cycle or. Controversial is a mild word for robert lepages production of wagners ring cycle, which has just finished its second cycle of the year at the metropolitan opera in new york and has been described as anything from witless and wasteful to merely adequate.
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