Wagner: Die Walkure

And yet another superb release in the mind-blowing Valencia production of Wagner's "Ring Cycle." This time, the second in the Cycle, "Die Walkure" features flying Valkyries and Gods and staged by La Fura Dels Baus, the brilliant mime company whose members "become" various settings. Stunning projections. Mesmerizing Magic Fire finale--- when all the "tech" becomes moot! All in all, maybe a bit too much of "a little bit..." but still lots of fun, very well sung by a first-class cast,including Jennifer Wilson as the larger-than-life titular Valkyrie, and played mightily by the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana led by maestro Zubin Mehta! Gorgeous blu-ray with two choices of stunning lossless audio tracks! Much fun for the slightly adventurous Wagnerian opera lover.

The opening bars of Die Walküre immediately establish the danger and excitement in the tale to follow. Zubin Mehta's first downbeat conjures up that tempestuous, ferocious flight, as stage projections show running wolves, passing trees, the legs of a man fleeing whom we eventually see stumbling into Hunding's dwelling. Peter Seifert is the Siegmund, Petra Maria Schnitzer Sieglinde, Matti Salminen Hunding. The stage is dominated with the liveliest tree I have ever seen in a Ring production, always changing hues, and importing an alphabet when Sieglinde gives the name Siegmund to her beloved brother. Costumes are eloquently primitive, Siegliende appearing bound by a rope around her neck, clearly Hunding's chattel that must not get away. The imaginative vision of La Fura des Baus with which we first got acquainted in Rheingold continues and grows in this Walküre. The second act brings back the strong, riveting Wotan of Juha Usitalo and the Fricka of Ana Larsson. It also introduces the powerful Brünhilde of Jennifer Wilson, and without reservations one can honestly say: at last, a Brünhilde! One of the joys of this ring is that the voices are firm, secure, in all cases fresh and young (well, we know Salminen is mature, but the voice is rock-solid and overwhelming, as if the years hadn't passed). The singing is always musical, subtle when called upon by the text, and soaring when they need be. The ride of the Walkyres is as close to a ride as one has ever seen (symbolically achieved)..... with an element of terror in their stride. It is all quite astounding. The final Wotan-Brünhilde scene is eloquent and powerful, with the scenic background, always dynamic, reflecting the momentous parting of father-god and human-to-be daughter. The music, the staging, the singing indeed embody the momentuous rupture of the old order, as indeed from this moment on the demise of the old gods becomes inevitable. Twilight really begins here, with Brünhilde's disobedience and embrace of humanity, which is why Wagner treated Walküre as the first opera in the cycle. The long dénouement of Götterdammerung is the final catastrophe for the gods and the rise of humankind, with Siegliende's soaring phrase for her son in the third act of Walküre, sealing the cycle.This production is a treat. If one doesn't like what one sees, one can close the eyes and see with the ears as the singing and playing are stupenduous. The sound on blu ray is sumptuous, demonstration quality if you have surround; it's true high-definition sound. And, by the way, there is real fire on stage when the Fire Music plays. I can hardly wait for the remaining two operas, particularly with the much praised young Canadian Lance Ryan as Siegfried whom I've never heard except in YouTube. One is looking forward to much pleasure.

After their earth shaking Rheingold this production of Die Walküre is more traditional: rather static with long dialogues. It does not have the "action flick" Star Wars style of the prelude, but the basic design is similar with the focus back on the dialogue. The colors are darker and more brooding and the casting has been made with emphasis on the voice rather than physical appearance. With one exception the Walkuries are a formidable lot. Not be messed with! One or two had huge breast shields over just the left breast giving them a rather wierd lop-sided appearance. The mature Siegmund looked more like his twin sister's father. It would have been a better visual fit if Brünnhilde and Sieglinde had changed roles. Having said that the singing is really very good and the movie style focus on carefully planned close ups enables one to fit the acting / facial expressions to the text with considerable benefit to the better understanding of what is a complex story line. A minor concern here was the English translation used. It dates from 1996 but I found it in many places a bit silly and not always comprehensible.The production continues the fantastic style of Rheingold but with fewer options to be so spectacular. The use of acrobats is not really explained in either the booklet or the "making of" short doco - (better than that for Rheingold but not by a lot). I feel this is a frustrating shortcoming of this series. La Fura dels Baus are clearly a remarkable mob who have transformed Wagner in a way no other producer has attempted before, but we are told absolutely nothing about them anywhere. Why on earth not?I am not wholly convinced by Mehta and the orchestra who don't quite catch the extra thrust and fire that one got with say Solti. They are more than competent and beautifully recorded but with such a special production one inevitably looks for a bit more. Despite a few regrets this continues to be a remarkable re-invention of how the Ring is seen and all credit to La Fura dels Baus and the immensely talented production and lighting team. I can strongly recommend this disc and overall it is now my preferred version although I will still return to Boulez and Haenchen from time to time, not to forget my old Solti CDs.

This staging of Die Walkure by Fura Dels Bausto owes much of its success to the consistently high standard of singing and orchestral playing throughout. The musical values of the singers in this production can only be described as outstanding and, in my opinion, there is not a weak point to be noted anywhere in this regard. It therefore seems to me that it would be invidious to single out particular performers for particular praise in this review Sufficient to comment that the remarkably consistent high quality achieved in the previous issue in this cycle is fully maintained in this latest issue.Right from the start the setting and interaction between the three characters at Hunding's home illustrates a level of acting and costuming that adds greatly to the effect of realism. This dramatic interaction and choice of costuming is typical of the whole production.The use of high quality projected backdrops to create scenarios or to imply long journeys are also very impressive and surely an advance in technology that would appeal to Wagner himself. This sense of realism would be hard to match in any `normal' stage production without using this modern technology.The use of mechanical hoists to move the Gods about on raised platforms by on-stage scenery movers during the singing and as mentioned at the beginning of this review are, for me, the most invasive parts to my enjoyment of this production. However, I have found that upon repeated viewing, one adjusts and accepts the concept given the wealth of virtues otherwise present.The camera work and imaging are both of a very high standard as one would expect from an HD recording and the same can be said of the sound which is frequently spectacular. The sound is presented in DTS 7.1 and stereo. There is also a 27 minute bonus feature that focuses on the making of this episode of the Ring.A most enjoyable production overall therefore, but not, in my opinion, sufficient to entirely replace the Barenboim/Kupfer version on DVD complete with bleeding colours at all points of fast movement (and there are many)which still reigns supreme. Buy both if you can. The differences between the two are such that this is musically justifiable even if financially stretching!Despite my preference for the earlier Barenboim version therefore, I still feel that this is well-worth the full 5 stars as such a preference may be more of a personal response. Both versions are equally worthy of 5 stars on any even-handed basis and we can be grateful that such a high quality choice has been put before us.The setting and interaction between the three characters at Hunding's home is especially noteworthy for there the acting and costuming add greatly to the effect of realism.

I happened to catch the last half an hour of this on Sky Arts 2 during their recent Wagner week, and felt compelled to order the blu-ray immediately. Foolishly, I had never given a production of 'The Ring' from Valencia much consideration, not being a fan of Zubin Mehta's conducting in general, assuming the Valencia orchestra could not be the equal of more famous Wagner orchestras, and being suspicious of yet another hi-tech production likely to belittle Wagner's stage directions. How wrong I was!Despite having a reasonable collection of 'Walkure' recordings, notably the Barenboim/Kupfer, Boulez/Chéreau and Levine/Schenk DVDs, and Karajan, Solti, Krauss, Haitink and Janowski on CD (Karajan being my overall favourite, partly due to the ravishing Sieglinde of Gundula Janowitz and the awesome sound of the Berlin Phil of the Karajan era), I was completely bowled over by the ingenuity, imagination, and visual spectacle of the production, and very pleasantly surprised by the commendably fine singing and playing under a seemingly revivified Zubin Mehta, who was in total musical control (one of his faults when carried to domineering excess) but unusually (for him) flexible, sensitive and supportive to his singers at the same time; some have found this an overindulgent interpretation, but it's not OTT and Mehta was clearly enjoying the whole thing, as were the rapturous audience, and now we can become immersed in it at home (accompanied by a handy bottle of chilled Riesling Rheinhessen to cool down the fire, emotional and literal).The DTS surround sound is very impressive (as heard on a Mid-Fi 5.1 system), and the HD picture quality is all one could wish for. Yes, the video editing might be less atheltic, but that surely cannot prevent a 5 star recommendation overall.I can also thoroughly recommend 'Das Rheingold' in this production on blu-ray, but have yet to see the last two parts of this master-work from Valencia: it won't be long before I do.

A while ago I read about this Ring and got quite skeptic but it's impossible not to like it. The singers are excellent, La Fura dels Baus is outstanding and the whole production is spectacular. Pretty hard to beat! Highly recommended.

Wagner would have loved this production. While it is modern and innovative in its use of video technology it seems to me that is faithfull to the spirit of Wagner in a way that creates a real separation between the gods and the humans. You have a real sense of two separate worlds which combined with strong singing, acting, musical direction and playing creates a truly memorable theatrical and musical experience. While all the singing is at least good I can not remember a better sung and acted performance of Wotan than I experienced here. Blu Ray sound and picture are first rate. This is a production that will not leave you unmoved or indifferent

Vedere "Il RIng" con La Fura dels Baus è un emozione indescrivibile! Una messa in scena moderna che si adatta però perfettamente a Wagner e incrementa il piacere dell'ascolto! Da non perdere!!