Der Ring des Nibelungen (DVD): Harry Kupfer, de Billy, Struckmann, Polaski, Treleaven, Clark
Stage director: Harry Kupfer
Conductor: Bertrand de Billy
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 2005
Das Rheingold
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Falk Struckmann, Graham Clark, Elisabete Matos, Günter von Kannen, Kwangchul Youn, Matthias Hölle, Wolfgang Rauch |
Die Walküre
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Eric Halfvarson, Richard Berkeley-Steele, Deborah Polaski, Falk Struckmann, Linda Watson, Lioba Braun |
Siegfried
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Falk Struckmann, John Treleaven, Deborah Polaski, Graham Clark, Günter von Kannen |
Götterdämmerung
Harry Kupfer, Bertrand de Billy, Deborah Polaski, John Treleaven, Matti Salminen, Günter von Kannen, Falk Struckmann, Elisabete Matos |
Harry Kupfer's Ring from the Gran Teatre del Liceau
The Harry Kupfer Ring from the Gran Teatre del Liceau in Barcelona is a fascinating production. It is superior to his Bayreuth Ring visually, but otherwise almost everything else is better in the Bayreuth Ring.
Neither Falk Struckmann's stage presence or voice can match John Tomlinson's Wotan from the Kupfer Bayreuth Ring, recorded in 1991. Struckmann's Wotan is certainly the most unsympathetic available on DVD. The tragedy of Wotan's fall, the dilemmas and desperation, is lost in this interpretation. Struckman's shrill voice makes listening a trial, and Struckman has a habit of inserting extra vowels in an attempt to create intensity.
Deborah Polaski (Brünnhilde) is a shadow of herself, compared to her Brünnhilde 8 years earlier in the Kirchner/Rosalie Ring (only Götterdämmerung is available on DVD). John Treleaven is surprisingly good as Siegfried. When given the opportunity to give everything Treleaven can be great. Graham Clark gets the biggest ovation, and deservedly so as Loge and Mime. Clark's performances show very clearly why Mime and Loge should be sung by a character tenor and not fading heldentenors or heldentenors in spe. Lioba Braun is a great Fricka, although also Harry Kupfer sees her as the nagging housewife and not much more. Fricka's authority is to often played as aggressive whining. Günter von Kannen set a new standard for Alberich interpretations in the Barenboim Ring, but has now faded both vocally and dramatically.
- Kupfer's
Barcelona Ring on Amazon
- Harry Kupfer's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth
- Der Ring des Nibelungen
The Ring on DVD
Chéreau/Boulez Ring -
Kupfer/Barenboim Ring -
The Copenhagen Ring -
Schenk/Levine Ring -
Stuttgart Ring -
Kupfer/de Billy Ring -
Amsterdam Ring
Interviews with: Anne Evans, Graham Clark, Iréne Theorin, Stephen Gould
Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival - The Ring on CD -