![Wagner: Die Walkure [2011]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61dk5JYlB1L.jpg)
Product Description In the second work of Wagner's epic cycle, 'Der Ring des Nibelungen', Wotan (Falk Struckmann) faces the consequences of his actions, begun in 'Das Rheingold', while his daughter Brunnhilde (Deborah Polaski) emerges as the heroic voice of the conscience he strives to silence. Struggles of power mix with adulterous and incestuous love in an episode of dramatic vengeance. This production was filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2003. .com Where Das Rheingold introduces us to the gods, underworld denizens, and giants who inhabit the world of Wagner's Ring cycle, the second of the four operas, Die Walküre, focuses on the interaction of men and gods. The turbulent orchestra brings Siegmund, Wotan's earthly son, into the home of his vicious enemy, Hunding, whose wife Sieglinde turns out to be Siegmund's newfound lover and twin sister. The gods meddle in their showdown battle, with Wotan bowing to his wife Fricka's demand that he uphold the sanctity of marriage by allowing Hunding to win. Wotan's favorite daughter, Brunnhilde, sides with Siegmund, earning Wotan's unbridled anger. She manages to shelter the now-pregnant Sieglinde, though, before being banished forever from Valhalla to a mountaintop ringed by fire. Like its predecessor, producer Harry Kupfer's Barcelona production of Die Walküre is spare and symbolic, the darkened stage dominated by the ash tree from which Siegmund extracts the sword planted by Wotan years earlier. Lighting transforms the stage with brilliant effects, creating striking images like the screen backdrop upon which light bars symbolize the ring of fire with which Wotan surrounds the mountaintop upon which Brunnhilde sleeps until a brave hero will wake her. Such bold strokes are sometimes sabotaged by scenes of the Valkyre sisters wandering around the stage aimlessly or of Brunnhilde painting Siegmund's face with white paint, transforming him into a warrior in a Noh play. Falk Struckmann's Wotan is more petulant than commanding, with a bleat sometimes infecting sustained high notes. The great confrontation between Wotan and Brunnhilde features an intense Deborah Polaski, who captures the pathos of the valkyrie's plight. Her Brunnhilde cheerfully struts as the aggressive warrior, displays troubled anxiety as the disobedient daughter, and her final dialogue with Wotan is sung with tonal warmth, moving in her plea to modify her punishment. But where the great Wotans of the past infuse their voices with tenderness and make palpable the character's regret at cutting off his favorite daughter, Struckmann seems more comfortable in a hectoring mode. He's also the loser in another great confrontation scene, where he's out-sung and out-acted by Lioba Braun's Fricka. Eric Halfvarson is a black-voiced, nasty Hunding, while the ill-starred lovers, tenor Richard Berkeley-Steele as Siegmund and soprano Linda Watson as Sieglinde, sing well and act with feeling. Bertrand de Billy conducts with an understanding of the ebb and flow of Wagnerian structure, but tension sometimes slackens, as in the last scene's fire music and the tame "Ride of the Valkyries." --Dan Davis
L**G
If you hate Wagner, this will conform to your expectations
This DVD edition does have advantages. Both audio and video are extremely well recorded and mastered, and from a purely technical point of view this disc is a pleasure to watch and listen to. There are also outstanding performances, both vocally and dramatically, from Deborah Polaski and Linda Watson. The orchestra sounds a bit undermanned, but for that is capable of a welcome agility and precision that Wagner-sized orchestras often fail to deliver. Unfortunately, the production is marred by any number of silly directorial decisions. In particular, Falk Struckmann's Wotan, costumed as Ming the Merciless, is continually bouncing around the stage in a constant, agitated rap strut that's hardly the appropriate body language for the most thoughtful character in the cycle, or for the opera of the cycle that should most emphasize that thoughtfulness. The effect of this is to tend to turn Wagner's extended meditation on freedom and slavery into the kind of empty bombast that Wagner-haters always thought it was. There's more of this ilk. In deciding how to present the dead heroes the director seems to have been channeling George Romero: one can only surmise that what gets served up on the trenchers in this director's very personal Valhalla are brains. One could go on -- I couldn't fathom, for example, why Brünnhilde smears Siegmund's face & scalp with what looks like cold cream before the fight with Hunding (is this some detail of the Edda that I'm not familiar with or is it just important to condition before battle?). All in all, this is yet another of those "modern" productions that's best seen with your eyes closed.
M**Y
Three Hojotohos and a Heiaha
"Hello. Do you have a copy of the Walküre DVD from Barcelona in store?"Brief hesitation at the other end, much typing and ruffling."The Polanski version?"Brief hesitation at my end."Uh...that's it, I s'pose."***So, I now own this shiny new 3 DVD set of Harry Kupfer's Die Walküre (the Berlin, not the Bayreuth version, which was later sold to Barcelona) and do not regret a single penny spent on it. Contrary to the call center agent's belief, the part of Brünnhilde is not sung by Roman Polanski, which is all the better because, as many a viewer would no doubt agree, the bluish "Walhall's Angels" gear looks a lot better on Deborah Polaski.Who delivers a fabulous show. Big voice, powerful stage presence, fine acting--as far as Brünnhildes go, she is a class of her own. I've heard a few not-so-enthusiastic comments about Falk Struckmann, but I adore the interaction between the dad who just can't do anything right and his darling tomboy daughter. Lioba Braun as well is a believable Fricka, with a bit of nice Impedimenta-style facial expression. Richard Berkeley-Steele left me somewhat indifferent, but Linda Watson is a wonderful Sieglinde, feminine but not girlish, vulnerable but not whingey.I heard the same production live under Barenboim's baton, which means I am probably a little biased when it comes to the orchestra, but no complaints about de Billy's conducting from here. The production itself, of course, is Kupfer at his best. Timeless, restrained, stripped of all visual excesses, with beautiful texture in stage design and costumes, and a moving solution for the final scene. You don't have to be a fan of light pipes to love it.The only disappointing bit: the extras. A synopsis in English is fine, but what's the point of a cast gallery when you can look at them for five hours in full motion and with sound? Also, while the whole thing might be a tad too long for a running commentary, would it have been so difficult to collect a few statements from the protagonists?
S**D
Decent
This is still good, but about as close to being bad as possible. All the singers are generally competent while none shine(like Loge in Das Rheingold). From the first we here breaks in both Wotan and Brunnhilde-a horrendous Heotaha- but she warms up and by the Brunnhilde\Siegmunde exchange is in much better voice. Wotan is alright-his voice\power is more like Theo Adam than Hotter(that is not a comparison to the actual singers but a guide as to the kind of voice)-Stuckmans voice tends to break at times-though it is usually not to obstructive but is noticable. As other viewers have mentioned-the horns are really not very good-from the outset this is apparent, especially the tubas.There are some good moments here-the actions are at times identical to the earlier Kupfer set with Barenboim-such as the initial Hoyotiha.Some stupid things-Brunnhilde smears shaving cream over Siegmundes face during their exchange-way too distracting during this pivotal moment.Overall-musically this doesnt come close to the Barenboim Die Walkure by Kupfer-actually for the most part I would have loved to see those singers in this staging, but what can you do. I would recommend the first Die Walkure\Barenboim over this one, along with the Levine, Haenchen, and even the Boulez, but do recommend this over Zagrosek(dont ever go there), or Pappano. The Das Rheingold is much better, stagewise preferable o the earlier Barenboim, but musically it has even worse issues with the exceptions of Loge(Graham Clark is pretty good and Fafner.
J**
Gran versió
Una gran versió que vaig poder veure en directe.
H**L
Konzeptionell mythisch - sängerisch ambivalent
Nach dem sehr guten Rheingold,die Fortsetzung des zweiten Ring-Konzeptes von Harry Kupfer in bühnenbildlich mythischer Struktur. Hans-Schavernoch zeichnet verantwortlich für das sehr düstere Bühnenbild, dessen Basis einen interpretatorischen Denkansatz beinhaltet, den man auch als "ökologisch" bezeichnen könnte. Sobald der Mensch aus der reinen unreflektieren Naturebene heraustritt, also denkend wird, beginnt der Kreislauf der Machtausübung und Gefährdung der Schöpfung.Dies ist kein "verfälschender Ansatz" wie von übereifrigen, aber belegbar fachlich unwissenden Propheten des ausschließlich Traditionellen behauptet wird. Hierzu folgendes Wagner Zitat, aus einem Brief an August Röckel vom 11.2.1853: "Mein Gedicht zeigt es. Es zeigt die Natur in ihrer unentstellten Wahrheit mit all ihren Gegensätzen, die in ihren unendlich mannigfaltigen Begegnungen auch das allseits Abstoßende enthalten." Weiter heißt es: " Kaum bemerkte ich nun aber wie ich mit der Ausführung, ja im Grunde schon mit der Anlegung des Planes unbewußt einer ganz anderen, tieferen Anschauung folgte, und, anstatt einer Phase der Weltentwicklung das Wesen der Welt selbst in allen seinen erdenklichen Phasen erschaut und in seiner Nichtigkeit erkannt hatte." So könnte fortlaufend zu den Werkintentionen Wagners zitiert werden. Damit wird klargelegt, daß eine einfältig, romantisierend, mythisch märchenhafte Wagner Sicht, dem weltanschaulichen Denker Wagner nicht gerecht wird. Wenn es aus bestimmten traditionellen Lagern, generell abgelehnt wird, sich mit Wagners belegbaren Werk-Intentionen inhaltlich auseinanderzusetzen, so zeugt das eher von einer psychischen Zwangsvergesellschaftung und schwarmgeistiger Ausrichtung mit imaginierten Wunschinhalten, aber nicht mit Fakten, die wissenschaftlich dokumentiert sind.Die sängerische Umsetzung ist insgesamt auf recht unterschiedlichem Niveau. Überzeugend wirken Falk Struckmann als Wotan mit kernig, knorrigem Bassbariton und einer allerdings teilsweise,recht nasalen Intonation, die man mögen muß. Eric Halvarson als Hunding und Lioba Braun als Fricka agieren ebenfalls ansprechend. Deborah Polaski als Brünnhilde und Linda Watson als Sieglinde singen durchaus involvierend, aber leider ist der Ton in den Höhen, in der forcierten Gesangsattacke, zu oft reichlich verzerrt.(Abgehört über professionelles Equipment). Ob das ein Einzelproblem bei dieser DVD ist, kann nicht ermittelt werden. Insofern ist die Beurteilung mit diesem Vorbehalt zu verstehen. Schwachpunkt ist der Siegmund von Richard Berkeley-Steele. Ein in der Expansionsfähigkeit begrenzter Tenor, dem das klangsinnliche Timbre leider fehlt.Bertrand de Billy dirigiert überzeugend.Insgesamt eine aufgrund der sängerischen und tontechnischen Ambivalenz schwierig zu bewertende Aufnahme. Zu empfehlen nur dem, der sich zwingend ein eigenes Bild aller DVD-Einspielungen des Rings machen möchte, die auf dem Markt vertreten sind.
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