The Copenhagen Ring (DVD): Kasper Bech Holten, Michael Schønwandt, Royal Danish Opera

Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen from the spectacular production at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen (København) by stage director Kasper Bech Holten is now available on DVD. The production is exciting, the singers very good, but the filming and editing is terrible. Unfortunately the film crew thought that every idea the director had should be presented in close-ups. This said, the Copenhagen Ring is a must for all Ring lovers. It will not leave you indifferent.

Stage director Kasper Bech Holten aka Kasper Holten
Conductor Michael Schønwandt

Chorus Master Philip White
Set and Costume Designers Marie í Dali and Steffen Aarfing
Lighting Designer Jesper Kongshaug
Dramaturgy Henrik Engelbrecht

Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen

• The Copenhagen Ring on Amazon
• Royal Danish Opera Homepage
• Search for The Copenhagen Ring on Amazon

Reviews

Some of Holten’s rewrites are more contentious, not only because they contradict Wagner, or at least add a heavy gloss to his original, but also because they limit rather than expand on what his work can signify. Wotan killing Loge with his spear at the end of Rheingold is one example, partly because it’s nonsensical, but also because it closes off the notion of the fire god abandoning his divine colleagues to become a freer agent. Hagen killing Alberich at the end of their scene in Götterdämmerung is another, because he’s the one major character whose fate is not clearly finished. Arguably, he’s a survivor of the catastrophe, with potentially further havoc to wreak. Maybe his possible continuance would have jarred with Holten’s optimistic mother-and-child end-image. If so, Wagner’s nagging doubt is surely preferable in its ambiguity.
[...]
Vocally, the main players are formidable, with Iréne Theorin’s accurate and tireless Brünnhilde an even match for Stig Andersen’s genuine Heldentenor contributions, which offer a sentient masculinity for Siegmund and a comprehensively commanding and physically youthful (except maybe in close-up) Siegfried. But he certainly looks nothing like 56, which was his actual age at the time, and his acting is as finely wrought as his singing. The Fricka, Loge, Alberich, Mime, Sieglinde, Hunding, Gunther and Gutrune would grace any production. Peter Klaveness does not supply an ideal bass gravitas for Hagen but he’s quite the nastiest exponent of the role one could encounter. This is a wonderful Ring to watch as well as to listen to, a must-have for Wagnerians anywhere.
George Hall, Opera Magazine

In brief, the musical side was an unequivocal success: Michael Schønwandt´s Royal Danish Orchestra sound was gloriously transferred to DVD, with even greater power and more lucidity than I remembered it from the live performances.
The singers were all excellent actors and looked their parts. Furthermore, the singing was never less than average and casting of many of the crucial characters were on the highest international level (Stephen Milling, Stig Andersen, Irene Théorin etc.).
However, the most controversial aspect of this Copenhagen Ring DVD release undoubtedly will be the actual filming, as The Copenhagen Ring approximates a film in its own right rather than a recording of a live operatic performance.
Mostly Opera

• Danish Wagner scholar Nila Parly reviews the Copenhagen Ring on DVD
• Review of the Copenhagen Ring (in Norwegian) on Wagneropera.no
• Review on Mostly Opera
• The Copenhagen Ring - overview and concept (Mostly Opera)
• Interview with Iréne Theorin (also in Norwegian here)
• The homepage of the Copenhagen Ring in English and Danish

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