Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B (Live)

Opera Choice

Performance ****        Recording ****

"... this is outstanding, an ideal starting point for newcomers ..."
 

Artistic Quality 9        Sound Quality 8

“Matthias Goerne, the great Lieder singer, is the Wotan, as he was in Rheingold. …his Abschied is ravishing. It’s really quite a beautiful performance. The Wälsungs are stunning. Stuart Skelton sings Siegmund as if it were an easy role. His tone is big and clean, wobble-free, truly tenorish rather than pushed-up baritone. …Heidi Melton’s Sieglinde is brighter and more soprano-like than I prefer, but she’s wonderfully expressive. The listener hangs on every perfectly pronounced, clear word she and Skelton sing, and thanks to Zweden, who leads their interactions as if the opera were bel canto, we feel for them.Maestro van Zweden never gets in the way. …The orchestra plays wonderfully for the most part; textures are translucent; brass ring out; lower strings offer danger and sadness. The word I’d have to use for this performance—if I were allowed only one—would be, “beautiful”.”

“This atmospheric Walküre, the second part of the Ring, is evidence of Van Zweden’s success in dramatically raising standards at Hong Kong—and although Naxos is a budget label this is much more than a budget performance”  ****

"Recorded in concert in Hong Kong at the beginning of this year, the second part of Jaap van Zweden’s Ring Cycle for Naxos easily maintains the high standard and promise of Das Rheingold, 12 months ago.As before, the playing of the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra provides the foundation of the performance, putting down its marker in a taut, intense account of the first-act prelude and maintaining its grip right through to the radiant account of the Magic Fire music with which Die Walküre ends. Van Zweden’s sense of pacing and drama never falters either, and some of the climaxes he engineers are thrillingly vivid. The orchestral depiction of Wotan’s rage as he seeks out Brünnhilde in the third act is as frightening as any on disc.And once again, he has a first rate cast..."   ****

"...Thus Heidi Melton’s generous-voiced Sieglinde is given all the space in the world to make the narration about the twins’ father Wotan the high point of Act 1 that it should be… Van Zweden follows up by allowing Stuart Skelton’s accurate and virile Siegmund equal space in ‘Heiligste Minne... Michelle DeYoung argues Fricka’s case with power and sweep; Falk Struckmann, in a new part of the Wagner Fach for him, uses text rather than colour to frighten as Hunding. The Valkyrie group is well chosen—someone with an excellent ear has sampled recent European cast lists skilfully. These girls not only make for a tight ensemble but provide a real foil in their little individual moments for Wotan and Brünnhilde... this is an impressive and likeable acheivement."