Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Levine, Metropolitan Opera (Complete Ring Cycle)

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Product Reviews

(3 stars) - It's not that it's traditional, it's just dull
I video-taped the broadcast of this production the year it was on PBS and have not seen the commercial dvds. I do have this cycle on cd which is a much better set of performances than you'll see here on film.

I like traditional productions, I also like innovative new 'takes' on these old war horses, though most regietheatre geniuses simply mutilate Wagner's masterpieces to suit their personal vanity. The only 'modern' version I've liked (and actually purchased) was the Pierre Audi/Hartmut Haenchen cycle from Amsterdam. Audi does not twist and torture the story into some modern socio-political parable but expresses the mythology of Wagner's vision in a highly creative and visually beautiful and fascinating way.

This Levine/Otto Schenk film is the only 'traditional' production on dvd. We are currently at the receiving end of an onslaught of trendy, childish mediocrities being poured forth onto film from Europe. They are all, the Audi being the exception, utter rubbish. Which is more shameful because some of them feature some fine singing and orchestral/conducting work.

James Levine is not my favorite Wagnerian. He often lapses into a musical coma and takes his audience with him, his recording of 'Der fliegende Holländer' being a case in point. I've noted that he always performs with far more energy and insight when working at Bayreuth than he does at the Metropolitan Opera.

The Schenk production is, as one other reviewer said, Blah. It's as if Schenk had a brilliant vision but couldn't quite realize it in the material world. The result is like lovely wallpaper. The direction of the singers seems non-existent and they are left to their own various levels of competence to characterize as best they can. Few have succeeded in this show.

The pluses: The orchestra. They play beautifully, technically perfect and slightly soulless, which is not uncommon with the American way of training musicians. Technique is ALL and if you are able to convey something deeper, all to the good.
James Morris is a very fine Wotan, though he's better for Sawallisch on the EMI recordings. But he can't act. Siegfried Jerusalem is ideal as Loge and stretched as Siegfried, though he's far better than his other filmed counterparts, and he looks great which is a major advantage in a film.

Matti Salminen is one of the two GREAT performers here. His Hagen is terrifying vocally and histrionically. A major milestone in recorded Wagner singing. The other great performer is Ekkehard Wlaschiha's Alberich. Both these singers take hold of the reins and soar to the greatest heights of dramatic and vocal interpretation.

On a slightly lower but still high level is the ethereal Erda of Birgitta Svendén. We are lucky Levine cottoned on to this gorgeous voice and we have her beautiful self preserved for posterity. She is also Barenboim's Erda and First Norn and sings even more gloriously for his filmed version. Heinz Zednik was always an outstanding Mime and he is at his peak in this cycle. Kurt Moll is good too but he's hardly on stage long enough to balance the overall mediocrity of the balance of the cast.

I might almost say that the rest of the cast goes for dross, but that wouldn't be entirely true, but almost. Gary Lakes and Jessye Norman are better heard than seen, though the cd of Walküre were the least successful of the four operas on the DG audio releases. There is something constipated about that recording that this live action film counteracts simply because people are moving around, even if their movements are stylized and stodgy, as they are here. And Norman sings much more beautifully on the old Janowski set, with a young, virile Siegfried Jerusalem as Siegmund. A fine, under-rated Ring cycle recording.

The Gunther and Gutrune are indeed awful. It's no surprise that no one had ever heard of Hanna Lisowska before and, now, after this production was filmed. Her Gunther is just as big a non-entity, and I've forgotten his name..
Philip Joll was it? Who cares?

Freia is okay, Froh and Donner fade into the scenery. Hildegard Behrens started her career late, singing her first Brünnhilde at Bayreuth for Solti in 1983, she was already mid-40s at the time. It was a spectacular debut in this role and should be released on cd. She soon after recorded the part for Sawallisch on EMI, to much better results than she achieves in New York. I can't stand watching her sing, as her veins and eyeballs are popping out of her head and her voice takes on a constricted, strangled sound that nullifies the great silvery beauty of her top voice. Her low notes are gutteral, almost barked out. NOT a good Brünnhilde, I'm afraid. Recorded too late in her career. And Christa Ludwig was way beyond her sing-by date. It seems churlish to diss this great singer for this performance but it was not an advisable way to bow out of her recording career with a vocally vinegary, visually elderly Fricka and Waltraute.

The Valkyries are a typical raucous bunch that only the Met can scrape up (the cd recording valkyries are much better).
The Norns, beside Mignon Dunn's performance, are nothing to write home about either.

All in all, the hoop-la over this film seems unjustified. But as most people only recognize James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera on the cover they assume it HAS to be great. Typical provincial jingoism.

We still await an excellent 'traditional' Ring cycle, which I don't think I will see in my lifetime, given the penchant of all those geniuses in Europe to regurgitate their vapid visions onto the stages and screens of the operatic world.

I'd skip this film, and if you are still young, hope for something better in the future. For now, I highly recommend that, if you are not averse to non-traditional productions, you investigate the Pierre Audi/Hartmut Haenchen cycle. It is the most successful of the 'modern' productions on film, and though the cast isn't perfect there are no vocal land minds and ditches to be encountered like there are in the Levine/Schenk show.

(5 stars) - This Ring is Wagner's Ring
This is Der Ring Des Nibelugen the way Wagner meant it to be. Otto Schenk based his stage directions on Wagner's stage directions. This brilliant production has the gods, giants, humans, and dwarfs in their proper environments. This is the production against which all the new "clever" productions should be judged. I'm not an expert on opera, but to me the singing and music were fantastic. I loved Hildergard Behrens and thought she did a great job singing and acting. James Morris was fantastic. Siegfried Jerusalem was great as both Logi and Siegfried . Ekkehard Wlaschiha and Heinz Zedick were excellent, too. In fact, I enjoyed all the actors/singers. Levine did a great job conducting. I have recently seen live postmodern versions of the first three operas of this opera cycle, and that has made me appreciate this traditional production even more. It is a shame the Met has retired this production, and I'll never get to see it live.

(4 stars) - The Ring Cycle
The DVD is everything I expected. I had watched this production on PBS about 20 years ago. The price was well worth.

(5 stars) - A good experience
To buy this complete cycle of the "Ring" at the Metropolitan has been a good experience; first the follow up service of Amazaon has been great and then, this version is a must for all music loving who want to understand this master piece of Wagner.

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