Wagner: Die Walküre

The sets, reflecting the blue-grey and orange hues of the Festspielhaus foyer, create some striking stage pictures...Botha as Siegmund is ungainly, yet gives this dark character unusual innocence... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2011, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Feb 2011
Catalogue No: OABD7081D
Label: Opus Arte
Series: Bayreuther Festspiele

Wagner: Die Walküre

Recorded live from the Bayreuth Festival, 2010
Johan Botha (Siegmund), Kwangchul Youn (Hunding), Albert Dohmen (Wotan), Edith Haller (Sieglinde), Linda Watson (Brünnhilde), Mihoko Fujimura (Fricka), Sonja Mühleck (Gerhilde), Anna Gabler (Ortlinde), Martina Dike (Waltraute), Simone Schröder (Schwertleite), Miriam Gordon-Stewart (Helmwige), Wilke te Brummelstroete (Siegrune), Annette Küttenbaum (Grimgerde) & Alexandra Petersamer (Rossweisse)
Bayreuth Festival
Christian Thielemann (conductor) & Tankred Dorst (director)

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Christian Thielemann, “by common consent the leading Wagner conductor of our time” (Die Presse), returns to Bayreuth for this radiant account of Die Walküre filmed at the 2010 Festival. Appearing on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, it provides the only audio-visual document of Tankred Dorst’s Ring production, and follows the hugely successful release of the whole cycle on CD. Two new singers join the cast: Johan Botha as Siegmund, who was showered with praise by the press (“ideal vocal casting” in the words of the critic on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and Edith Haller, with her “beautiful, strong soprano voice” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) as his sister and lover Sieglinde.

Extra features:

The making of Die Walküre

Cast Gallery

Running time 258 mins

Region Code All regions

Picture format 16:9 Anamorphic

Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Menu languages EN

Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES

Reviews

June 2011

The sets, reflecting the blue-grey and orange hues of the Festspielhaus foyer, create some striking stage pictures...Botha as Siegmund is ungainly, yet gives this dark character unusual innocence and a voice both clarion and lyrical...Edith Haller's creamy-voiced Sieglinde is even more heartfelt...Albert Dohmen's voice isn't large, but delivery and acting make him a powerful Wotan.

June 2011

[Botha] is outstanding throughout as Siegmund...Dorst's production, and this filming of it, are at their best in the latter stages of Act 3 and the result is a powerful and affecting account of one of The Ring's greatest episodes...there's nothing obscure or understated about Thielemann's galvanising presence in the pit and seeing its effect on his singers in Act 3 makes these DVDs even more recommendable than the original CDs.

April 2011

[Botha] cuts an ungainly figure but sings Siegmund just about perfectly; there's power to spare, he sings off the text, his soft singing is appropriate and touching. Haller has a warm sound and uses legato like a bel cantist; the occasional high note may fly sharp but she's exciting and committed...Thielemann and the Bayreuth Orchestra create a ravishing wall of sound and not a moment is less that aurally stunning: one listens, agape.

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Wagner: Die Walküre

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Wagner: Die Walküre

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