Wagner: Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods, Crépuscule des Dieux) - CD

“Götterdämmerung has moments of unprecedented savagery, even by Wagnerian standards, and the only conductor to get them brutally right is Solti. In Birgit Nilsson as Brünnhilde, Solti found a sensational voice that shines out in the final moments of the work like a searchlight at the end of a long dark tunnel.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008

“Weigle, an experienced Wagnerian, paces the opera well, with dramatic thrust and epic expansiveness...Bullock's Brunnhilde has the spirit and plenty of it, but vocal strain is more apparent than in her Walküres...The real vocal honours are left for Gunther, Johannes Martin Kranzle. Properly full-toned and formidable at first, his final disintegration, as with his Glyndebourne Beckmesser, is tear-laden - evidently a speciality.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 ****

“Ryan, perhaps not as fresh as he was in the Forging Song of Siegfried, remains a bright-voiced hero...[Bullock's every word counts...Yes, I'd like a more elegant sound, with the highest notes more solid, but this is a world-class performance...[Frank] has an audible sneer that can send chills down the spine...[Kranzle] is remarkable: indeed, his portrayal of Gunther is the most important I've come across.” International Record Review, February 2013

“this is the ultimate 'A for effort' performance. It remained, for nearly a decade, the only way of hearing much of Gotterdammerung on the gramophone and remains, for that reason, an important historical curio. You will not hear it better than in this new transfer.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“the famous aureate amplitude of [Flagstad's] voice is still very much in evidence at certain points and there are frequent glimmers of the old majesty. One is still conscious of the sheer size of the voice even when the tone is a little curdled...The conducting is unexpectedly first-rate. This is alternately driven and sensitive, by a conductor of whom most of us will never have heard, Øivin Fjeldstad.” MusicWeb International, June 2012

“Wolfgang Koch [sic - Koch actually sings Alberich, Robert Bork Gunther] and Anna Gabler are outstanding as Gunther and Gutrune. Simone Young's conducting is ardent, sometimes coarse, but always engaged; her orchestra is almost tireless; and the ecstatic reception of the audience is fully understandable.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ***

“Young is no cosseter of purple passages: set pieces...always serve the drama rather than becoming time out for purely orchestral display. The cast is headed by veterans...experience which shows in their working of Wagner's text. Tomlinson in particular takes Hagen into areas several layers above mere black villainy. Franz is a brave and enthusiastic actor of Siegfried's moods; Lang makes much of Waltraute's emotional blackmail.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2012

“Young gets admirable playing through all three acts, yet without any real dramatic coherence...Among the cast, I'll certainly want to return to John Tomlinson's Hagen. At this stage the voice has its rusty edges, but the veteran bass's craggy strength is entirely suited to the role...This justly celebrated Wagner interpreter has a more than worthy partner in Wolfgang Koch, who firmly projects Alberich's bitterness, desperation and outrage.” International Record Review, March 2012