Dvd
Wagner: Parsifal (The Royal Opera)
Simon O'Neill (Parsifal); Angela Denoke (Kundry / Voice from Above); René Pape (Gurnemanz); Gerald Finley (Amfortas); Robert Lloyd (Titurel); Willard W. White (Klingsor); David Burr Philip (First Knight of the Grail); Charbel Mattar (Second Knight of the Grail); Dušica Bijeli (First Esquire); Rachel Kelly (Second Esquire); Sipho Fubesi (Third Esquire); Luis Gomes (Fourth Esquire);
"... instead of ignoring or sidestepping the more unsavoury aspects of the libretto, Langridge does attempt to tackle many of them, sometimes in lurid detail, so that the disjunction between them and Wagner's sublime music is often disturbingly clear. There's no doubt of that sublimity in this performance either. Antonio Pappano's approach is both diaphanous and radiant, wrapping the vocal lines in veils of string tone and investing the brass statements with unshakeable authority... Vocally the standard is set by René Pape's immaculate, intense Gurnemanz, who makes every syllable in his narrations matter; O'Neill's shambling Parsifal, his tone slightly raw-edged, is perfectly suited to the production, while Finley manages to bring a dimension of nobility to Amfortas's sufferings, and Angela Denoke's tirelessly sung Kundry is the perfect mixture of the chilly and the unattainably seductive. Every one of them is a fully rounded, fully imagined character, and part of a totally involving, if sometimes problematic unity." (The Guardian)
Wagner: Rienzi (Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse)
Torsten Kerl (Rienzi); Marika Schönberg (Irene); Daniela Sindram (Adriano); Richard Wiegold (Colonna); Stefan Heidemann (Orsini); Robert Bork (Cardinal Orvieto ); Marc Heller (Baroncelli );
"[Steinberg's] reading of Rienzi, too, was full of energy and vitality, well suited to what this music needs. He got a great performance from the Capitole’s orchestra, which is the best in some 400 miles around. The Choirs were also excellent in a very demanding opera for them. [Torsten Kerl] was excellent all along and it can be considered a luxury to have him as Rienzi in Toulouse." (Seen and Heard International)
Wagner: Siegfried
Heinz Kruse (Siegfried); Graham Clark (Mime); John Bröcheler (The Wanderer); Henk Smit (Alberich); Jeannine Altmeyer (Brünnhilde);
"There may be reservations about Haenchen's straight, low-profile interpretation of the music (given in the new critical edition, here featuring colourful percussion and sound effects, and some new brass pitches at the opening of Act 3 of Götterdämmerung), or the harshness of Eiko Ishioka's far from conventionally beautiful Japanese theatrical costumes. But there can surely be few about the freshness of Audi's theatrical thinking, and his reinvention of 'deconstructionist' effects Fafner as his own mouth; a fierily lit and smoked platform to walk into; or the Wanderer's spear presented for Siegfried to break as a huge, ceiling-high, world ash tree-like totem...If you're buying individually, the Audi Götterdämmerung is mandatory." (Gramophone)
Wagner: Siegfried (Gran Teatre del Liceu)
John Treleaven (Siegfried); Deborah Polaski (Brünnhilde); Falk Struckmann (Wanderer); Graham Clark (Mime); Günter von Kannen (Alberich);
"With Siegfried (May 16) and Götterdämmerung (May 23), the Liceu crowned the Ring cycle begun last season with complete success at all levels, beginning with Harry Kupfers clever production from Berlin. Bertrand de Billy, in his last performances as music director of the theatre, enjoyed a well-deserved personal triumph:...he found the grandiosity and nobility inherent in Wagners music as well as its lyrical qualities, and drew a fine response from the orchestra. Deborah Polaski (Brünnhilde,with a moving Immolation) and Falk Struckmann (Wanderer and also a wonderful Gunther) were the prime assets of the cast, but we should not overlook the vocal endurance of John Treleaven, a lyrical Siegfried, Graham Clarks hyperactive Mime, or the luxury casting of Matti Salminen as Hagen." (Opera)
Wagner: Tannhäuser (Bayreuth Festival)
Torsten Kerl (Tannhäuser); Kwangchul Youn (Landgraf Hermann); Markus Eiche (Wolfram von Eschenbach); Lothar Odinius (Walther von der Vogelweide); Thomas Jesatko (Biterolf); Stefan Heibach (Heinrich der Schreiber); Rainer Zaun (Reinmar von Zweter); Camilla Nylund (Elisabeth, Nichte des Landgrafen);
"Camilla Nylund’s Elisabeth and Kwangchul Youn’s Landgraf deservedly received the most applause at the curtain calls" (Bachtrack)
Wagner: The Bayreuth Edition (Box Set)
Kwangchul Youn (Hermann (Tannhäuser)); Torsten Kerl (Tannhäuser (Tannhäuser)); Georg Zeppenfeld (König Heinrich (Lohengrin)); Klaus Florian Vogt (Lohengrin (Lohengrin); Walther von Stolzing (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg)); Annette Dasch (Elsa of Brabant (Lohengrin)); Johan Botha (Siegmund (Die Walküre)); Albert Dohmen (Wotan (Die Walküre)); Edith Haller (Sieglinde (Die Walküre)); Linda Watson (Brünnhilde (Die Walküre)); Robert Dean Smith (Tristan (Tristan und Isolde)); Iréne Theorin (Isolde (Tristan und Isolde)); Franz Hawlata (Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg));
"Thielemann and the Bayreuth Orchestra create a ravishing wall of sound and not a moment is less that aurally stunning: one listens, agape." (International Record Review - Die Walküre)