Wagner: Die Walküre

Matthias Goerne (Wotan), Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), Michelle DeYoung (Fricka), Stuart Skelton (Siegmund), Heidi Melton (Sieglinde), Falk Struckmann (Hunding), Sarah Castle (Waltraute), Karen Foster (Gerhilde), Katherine Broderick (Helmwige), Anna Burford (Schwertleite), Elaine McKrill (Ortlinde), Aurhelia...

Drawing airy, luminescent textures from the Hong Kong players, [van Zweden] drives the drama excitingly [and] his singers respond superbly…Goerne brings Wotan’s fearful conflicts of love and... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2017 More…

Release Date: 11th Nov 2016
Catalogue No: NBD0051
Label: Naxos

Presto Recording of the Week

11th November 2016
BBC Music Magazine

January 2017

Opera Choice
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2016

Wagner: Die Walküre

Matthias Goerne (Wotan), Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), Michelle DeYoung (Fricka), Stuart Skelton (Siegmund), Heidi Melton (Sieglinde), Falk Struckmann (Hunding), Sarah Castle (Waltraute), Karen Foster (Gerhilde), Katherine Broderick (Helmwige), Anna Burford (Schwertleite), Elaine McKrill (Ortlinde), Aurhelia Varak (Siegrune), Okka von der Damerau (Grimgerde), Laura Nykänen (Rossweise)
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden

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About

Comprising four separate operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is one of the supreme works in the history of music. Part II of the tetralogy, Die Walküre, centres on the young lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde, whose relationship angers Fricka, goddess of marriage, and on the disobedience of the Valkyrie Brünnhilde who is sent to carry out Fricka’s wishes. Performed by an all-star international cast, the work features thrilling set-pieces such as Wotan’s Farewell and the Ride of the Valkyries. The Prologue, Das Rheingold, can be heard on Naxos 8660374-75, selected as ‘Album of the Week’ by The Sunday Times of London, which praised its ‘thrilling sense of drama’.

Sound format: 24-bit, 96 kHz PCM

Artists

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden

Reviews

January 2017

Drawing airy, luminescent textures from the Hong Kong players, [van Zweden] drives the drama excitingly [and] his singers respond superbly…Goerne brings Wotan’s fearful conflicts of love and desperation alive…[Lang’s] high notes soar with cutting power…Skelton and Melton are well established Volsungs, but both their voices seem to have taken on fresh lustre and clarion ring, giving memorably intense performance.

18th November 2016

A sturdy urgency is keeping Naxos’s burgeoning Ring cycle powering forwards...van Zweden rouses much of the drama that would be expected in the theatre, and his Hong Kong orchestra, though hardly in the Wagnerian front rank, supports him strongly. The cycle’s ace is Matthias Goerne’s expressive Wotan.

November 2016

van Zweden has broken free of both tradition and over-literal score-reading to interpret what is in front of him...Goerne is in almost indecently good voice...DeYoung argues Fricka’s case with power and sweep...[Struckmann] uses text rather than colour to frighten as Hunding...this is an impressive and likeable achievement.

January 2017

There are likely to be further individual vocal performances worth seeking out, but it increasingly looks as though this cycle will be collectable primarily for van Zweden’s achievement in turning his Hong Kong players into a Wagner orchestra to be reckoned with.

11th November 2016

it’s the Wälsung twins who pretty much steal the show: Stuart Skelton and Heidi Melton deliver a first act of exquisite radiance and tenderness...t’s above all a very human first act, eschewing the heroics and melodrama that are played up on other recordings.

8th January 2017

I doubt there is any tenor today to equal Stuart Skelton’s Siegmund, as thrilling as he is poetic. The set is worth acquiring for him alone, but there’s also Matthias Goerne: surely one of the most introverted Wotans ever recorded, but so moving..Van Zweden works wonders in transforming the HK Phil into a world-class Wagner band.

9th November 2016

As before, the playing of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra provides the foundation of the performance...Van Zweden’s sense of pacing and drama never falters either, and some of the climaxes he engineers are thrillingly vivid...Skelton is magnificent throughout, surely without a rival in the role today...Overall, the performances become much more than the sum of their parts, some of which are outstanding anyway.

Opera Now December 2016

Stuart Skelton and Heidi Melton provide sheer vocal luxury. Good casting all round makes this well worth purchasing

Videos

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Wagner: Die Walküre

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