Wagner: Die Walküre

Berislav KlobuΩar was one of those conductors who never did much wrong, but did little more than hold things together competently. He has a spectacular cast in this Die Walküre, with a virtually ideal pair of incestuous twins in Jon Vickers and Leonie Rysanek. Karl Ridderbusch, as Hunding, has an impressive voice but doesn’t do a lot with it. Things get exciting in Act II, where Nilsson shows her determination to sing everyone else off the stage. Not a chance with the formidable Fricka of Christa Ludwig.

Our rating

4

Michael Tanner

Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:39 pm

COMPOSERS: Wagner
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: Die Walküre
PERFORMER: Birgit Nilsson, Thomas Stewart, Leonie Rysanek, Jon Vickers, Christa Ludwig, Karl Ridderbusch; The Metropolitan Opera & Chorus/Berislav KlobuΩar
CATALOGUE NO: Sony 88697853082

Berislav KlobuΩar was one of those conductors who never did much wrong, but did little more than hold things together competently. He has a spectacular cast in this Die Walküre, with a virtually ideal pair of incestuous twins in Jon Vickers and Leonie Rysanek. Karl Ridderbusch, as Hunding, has an impressive voice but doesn’t do a lot with it. Things get exciting in Act II, where Nilsson shows her determination to sing everyone else off the stage. Not a chance with the formidable Fricka of Christa Ludwig. Thomas Stewart is at his finest as Wotan, and there’s a first-rate collection of Valkyries. Michael Tanner

Michael Tanner

Journalist and Critic, BBC Music Magazine

Michael Tanner is a critic for BBC Music Magazine and the opera critic of The Spectator. He is now a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, having lectured in the Philosophy faculty at the University of Cambridge for 36 years. In 2010, he released The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner.
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