Wagner: Die Walkure
List Price:
Our Price: $16.30
You Save: $9.68 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $13.95 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Richard WagnerConductor: Erich Leinsdorf
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-08-20
Music Label: Decca
Music reviews of Wagner: Die Walkure
Music Review: Leinsdorf+Soloists+LSO: Wagner: Die Walkure (Opera Complete): A Treasure Re-Issued
Rating: 5 Stars
Let's start with true confessions. This set was my very first Die Walkure, back on vinyl. As a fav shelf performance, though, it has a whole lot more going for it than sheer nostalgia, and certainly is more than a memento of either a time past in my life (college), or a particular musical occasion (London, September, 1961). Lucky me - that this was my first Wagner set, ever.
Start with Canadian heroic tenor, Jon Vickers. Was a better Siegmund ever standing on the boards? He certainly had the stamina and the weight to last all evening while he cut through all the mixed Leitmotivs churned out by the Wagner orchestra as protagonist. He also could do the characters, even the ones Wagner derived from ancient myths. He interacts with his Sieglinde, as well as with the glowering Hunding in the first act when he has sought shelter from that furious storm whipped up by the lower strings and the brass in the opening. Faced with those long, Wagnerian narratives which flesh out the mythic status of the characters, and often give us the back story that makes their motivations, if not their conflicts, if not their ultimate fates - vivid; he stands out, unfazed, singing.
Next, Sieglinde. Gre Brouwensteijn has perhaps been equaled. Regine Crespin comes to mind, and others of great musical stature could be added to the list. Count GB in, as a touching feminine character, foil to Siegmund's orphaned yet heroic isolation; linchpin to the waiting plot that will pit Brunnhilde against her own god and father, Wotan. Vocally, she is as tireless as Vickers; and able to phrase those long narrative back stories, so that we do not languish even though we know from long experience that, say, Du bist der lenz is coming along.
Next, Hunding. David Ward has a dark enough bass, though maybe his voice is just a tad smaller than some who have carried through on this role. What he loses from this very slight size difference he probably gains back in focus and point. His malice and suspicion towards his sudden house guest is less of a bear roar than some singers; and he thus conveys a musical-narrative through line, lean and muscular, not just gruff and growly.
Considerable drama weaves among the three principals as the conflicts layed, and treacheries waiting, are spun out in the first act.
Enter the glorious Birgit Nilsson as Brunnhilde, and George London as Wotan. I heard BN sing the princess in Puccini's Turandot, live, once. Our venue was a remarkably cavernous, old WPA public auditorium (multiple use) building in Dallas. Even with soloist singers, chorus, and orchestra going full tilt, the walls of vivid sound rushed past us in the audience, never to return from the far reaches of that odd building. It was a strange effect, having all that sound fly past you without coming back from the farthest walls. Well, except for Nilsson's dramatic soprano that is. Hers was the only voice that came back in those huge musical climaxes, in the riddles scene, and in the triumph that closes Turandot when the ice princess has finally learned the stranger's secret name, Love. During intermission, we met a man from Sweden who was attending the performance. He confided that as a young man his voice lesson was right after Birgit; and that he started to arrive earlier and earlier, just to listen in during her lesson. After an hour's lesson with the master coach, she was just warming up, her voice coming on line, stronger than ever (just when most students were tiring, vocally). Our evening proved him right.
George London has the finesse, the dark weight, and the flexible power to be the great Wotan that he shows himself to have been in this recording. Those narratives that can sink the musical ship get the same dramatic, forward-moving treatment from London as from the other stars. And when Wagner lets either Brunnhilde or Wotan take wing with one or another Leitmotiv, the voices simply take magic wing, prepared by the orchestra's presentation, not defeated or over-primed into anticlimax by what the band has already been doing with those musical motives.
Nor is our Fricka at all weak in this set. Rita Gorr has as much vocal stature as anybody else in the cast. She is not just a shrewish deity of a wife, pestering Wotan and nagging him. She conveys a demanding dignity as the goddess whose protection of home and hearth must be avenged, even with the death of Wotan's hero. Her case is made, dramatically, vocally.
The eight sisters of the Valkyrie riders are also vocally strong. Margreta Elkins or Josephine Veasey are names some listeners might recognize. Their vocal whoops have to compete with the orchestra, after all. And give context to the Brunnhilde who leads them, here sung by that same fiendishly equipped Birgit Nilsson.
The overall shape and success of this reading must ultimately go to Erich Leinsdorf and the LSO players. Leinsdorf keeps the band in full focus, vividly pacing and handling those Wagnerian musical motives. He lets his players whip up drama and desperation and frenzy, as at the opening, and later as the contradictions of Wotan's plotting emerges to take hold on everybody. He can also relax enough to let the band's music paint that Spring night that will flood through Hunding's forest hut door, as illumination for the lovers; or boldly suss out and build the electric tensions as the arriving, air-borne Valkyries with their scavenging of war heroes for Wotan's plotting sizzle like lightning through the battlefield atmospheres; or sharpen the argumentative drama between Fricka and Wotan; or deepen the heart and impending tragedy of Brunnhilde's pleading with Wotan; or bring the whole opera to a sparkling, fire lit close as Wotan casts his fateful sleep spell on Brunnhilde atop the rocky crag of the northern Forests.
The LSO simply does all that Leinsdorf asks, and more. The band really put themselves into it. No, they do not have every last ounce of deep velvet and pearly tones glowing against velvet and richly burnished brass playing that Vienna puts out for Sir Georg Solti in his famous complete Decca set. Nor do they have that the star-turned flash, that fine-tuned, muscular polyphony of Berlin putting out for von Karajan in his complete set. Nor the unique big authority of the Bayreuth Festival band playing live at home for Karl Bohm. So what? No matter. The LSO grabs all the Wagnerian music by its considerably costumed stag-horned helmets, as fully committed as any band that has faced the musical challenge; and keeps up, on a par with the assembled cast of excellent world-class singers. Leinsdorf uniting and unifying all, vocally and band, too.
You can get the full libretto and other enhancements by going on line. Hard to resist at this price. Or any price. Too bad these folks did not give us a complete Ring, all four operas. Highly recommended.
Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.40
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $25.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.94
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.75
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
London Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler: The Complete Works - 150th Anniversary BoxRelease date: 2010-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $40.66
Price in other shops:
The Ring of the Nibelungby Richard Wagner
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1977-08-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.63
Price in other shops:
Puccini: ToscaRelease date: 2011-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $8.62
Price in other shops:
Gounod: Romeo Et JulietteRelease date: 2011-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $8.65
Price in other shops:
An Introduction to Der Ring des NibelungenWAGNER,R.; Release date: 2005-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $12.94
Price in other shops:
Wagner: Der Ring des NibelungenRelease date: 2010-10-19; Music CD
Best price: $43.77
Price in other shops:
Richard Wagner: Das RheingoldRelease date: 2009-03-31; Music CD
Best price: $7.14
Price in other shops:
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg SoltiRelease date: 1997-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $115.00
Price in other shops:
Wagner: Tristan und IsoldeRelease date: 1997-11-11; Music CD
Best price: $22.36
Price in other shops:
Wagner: Die WalkureRelease date: 2011-05-03; Music CD
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops: