Der Ring des Nibelungen (CD): Christian Thielemann, Albert Dohmen, Stephen Gould, Linda Watson, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Andrew Shore
Christian Thielemann (conductor)
Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra
Albert Dohmen (Wotan)
Stephen Gould (Siegfried)
Linda Watson (Brünnhilde)
Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde)
Arnold Bezuyen (Loge)
Gerhard Siegel (Mime)
Andrew Shore (Alberich)
Edith Haller (Freia/Helmwige/Gutrune/Third Norn)
Fionnuala McCarthy (Woglinde)
Ulrike Helzel (Wellgunde)
Robin Johannsen (Woodbird)
Sonja Mühleck (Gerhilde)
Michelle Breedt (Fricka)
Martine Dike (Waltraute/Second Norn)
Christa Mayer (Erda/Waltraute)
Simone Schröder (Flosshilde/Schwertleite/First Norn)
Anna Gabler (Ortlinde)
Wilke te Brummelstroete (Siegrune)
Manuela Bress (Rossweise)
Annette Küttenbaum (Grimgerde)
Endrik Wottrich (Siegmund)
Clemens Bieber (Froh)
Ralf Lukas (Donner/Gunther)
Kwangchul Youn (Fasolt/Hunding)
Hans-Peter König (Fafner/Hagen)
14 CDs
Reviews
George Hall, Opera Magazine
The cast, while consistently more than presentable and often excellent, is hardly likely to shake any of the Wagnerian legends of the past from their plinths.
[...]
Albert Dohmen’s Wotan is a source of considerable strength, with a grand manner and a level of articulacy that quite rightly places the god’s wide-ranging concerns at the centre of the listener’s attention. Linda Watson’s Brünnhilde is bravely and largely accurately sung, though her high notes don’t always quite get there; still, it’s a hugely impressive assumption.
[...]
Thielemann’s conducting has many strengths. It has a superb sense of flow and a deep feeling for the symphonic nature of the writing, with an acute sense of musical growth. There’s certainly no impression of grabbing momentary attention at the expense of continuity. Each section finds its natural place in the whole. This recording confirms his credentials as one of the great Wagner interpreters of our time, and his contribution, as well as those of his cast, is admirably presented in the overall sound picture.
Opera
The Guardian
The live recordings capture the grandeur and theatrical flair of Thielemann's approach very vividly. He's especially good in the big set pieces in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung, but his sifting and shaping of accompanying textures is often equally impressive; the way in which he conjures up the weary emptiness of the world that the Norns describe in the Götterdämmerung Prologue, for instance, is musical scene-painting of the highest order.
[...]
Yet the real problem with the cycle as a whole is the very variable quality of the singing. Of all the live Bayreuth Rings I've heard from the stereo era, beginning with the glorious Keilberth set from the mid-1950s, available on Testament, this is the least distinguished vocally, and only three singers, Andrew Shore as Alberich, Gerhard Siegel as Mime and Eva-Maria Westbroek as a radiant-sounding Sieglinde, emerge from it with reputations enhanced.
[...]
Whether the quality of Thielemann's conducting outweighs these significant shortcomings is down to personal taste; for me it doesn't.
Read the whole review