Die Walküre

Die Walkure is just one of four wonderful operas that is part of Wagner's truly epic Ring Cycle. Of the productions seen so far, I'd seen the 1990 Met, the 1980 Bayreuth, one from 1996 with Domingo and Meier and the 2011 Met, but this one is my favourite. It does look effective visually, not in the traditional sense, but it has a lot of atmosphere. The technical parts of the DVD are above par too, with the sound especially the singing fills the house. The orchestra are also excellent especially with Brunnhilde's War cry and the monumental Wotan's Farewell, and Daniel Barenboim provides an enigmatic, bombastic and sometimes nuanced reading. The cast are superb, but John Tomlinson with his firm command of the stage and resonant voice was the standout as Wotan. Linda Finnie makes for a powerful and vocally steely Fricka, Nadine Secunde conveys the ardour and pain of Sieglinde very affectingly, Graham Clark is an oily Mime, Anne Evans a very involving Brunnhilde(though she's even better in Siegfried and Gotterdamerung) and Matthias Holle an unyielding and aggressive Hunding. Poul Elming is appropriately heroic as Siegmund. In conclusion, a superb and always compelling Walkure. 10/10 Bethany Cox