Die Walkure (Munchen, 2019, Sir Simon Rattle) (Box-Set, Br-Klassik)

After the recording of Das Rheingold published in November 2015 on the eve of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, BR-KLASSIK is now releasing Die Walküre as a sequel, recorded on February 8 and 10, 2019 in concert performances in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residence. With the Rheingold, Sir Simon Rattle had resolutely refuted the long-circulated claim that he and Wagner did not go together. Now the next collaboration between the white and wise British curly hair (as he confidently puts himself in the limelight on the cover) with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and a group of top and top Wagner singers proves once again how well Rattle understands and loves Wagner’s music able to interpret. A few months after the live event, the music drama, which is just as powerful as it is immensely popular with the audience, will be released for the first time on four well-equipped CDs. The fact that Die Walküre became the most popular part of the tetralogy is thanks to the heartfelt encounters between the Wälsungen couple Siegmund and Sieglinde, the all too human gods and of course the musical hits such as Siegmund’s Winterstürme monologue, the Valkyries ride or Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire. The English bass-baritone James Rutherford plays Wotan, the father of the gods. Elisabeth Kulman is there again as his belligerent wife Fricka. Eric Halvarson, who embodied the giant Fafner in Rattle’s Rheingold, is the monster Hunding this time. New to the top-class soloist ensemble are Iréne Theorin as Wotan’s favorite daughter Brünnhilde and Stuart Skelton and Eva-Maria Westbroek as incestuous twin pair Siegmund and Sieglinde. Rattle’s Walküre was enthusiastically received by the Munich concert audience and the specialist press. In the new Munich concert hall, Rattle’s concert ring with Siegfried and Götterdämmerung is supposed to close. Stuart Skelton (Siegmund) Eric Halfvarson (Hunding) James Rutherford (Wotan) Eva Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde) Iréne Theorin (Brünnhilde) Elisabeth Kulman (Fricka) Alwyn Mellor (Gerhilde) Anna Gabler (Ortlinde) Jennifer Johnston (Waltraute) Claudia Huckle (Schwertleite ) Katherine Broderick (Helmwige) Eva Vogel (Siegrune) Anna Lapkovskaja (Grimgerde) Simone Schröder (Rossweiße)