Stars: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Morris, Jessye Norman, Kurt Moll, Gary Lakes, Christa Ludwig, Hildegard Behrens

Summary: One of the most passionate, profoundly moving and thrilling recordings ever made of this, the second opera from Wagner's cycle Der Ring Des Nebelungen this production of DIE WALKURE is conducted by the legendary James Levine. Performed at New York's ornate and luxurious Metropolitan Opera, the performance is as melodramatic as Wagner must have intended it, with stunning turns from stars Kurt Moll, James Morris, and Jessye Norman.

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The 1990 Metropolitan Opera performance of Die Walkure ("The Valkyrie") with James Levine conducting is a solid, four-square performance with few frills and no gimmicks, just extraordinarily fine singing and orchestral playing. There is no point in this where you find yourself asking why the director did something: this is the sort of production which could be criticised as unimaginative but defended as serving Wagner's intentions for this instalment of his Ring cycle. Levine and his orchestra give the music an emotional intensity that never overwhelms its grandeur, though perhaps in Wotan's farewell to Brunnhilde, we feel him more as father than as god.

James Morris as Wotan has real stature, making us feel that he has finally created the free agents he needs to avoid the curse he has unleashed on the world, but he has broken his heart in the process. Jessye Norman is surprisingly good and erotically self-assured as Sieglinde; the Act 1 love duet with Gary Lake as Siegmund has an ardour that makes the incestuous aspect less a matter of perversity than of the conduct of heroes. Kurt Moll makes Sieglinde's rapist and husband Hunding, a three-dimensional sinister villain; and Christa Ludwig almost manages to sell us Fricka's interminable paean to family values. The most impressive performance here, though, is Hildegard Behrens as Brunnhilde, the steely godling who sacrifices everything because she learns to feel and to know what is right.

On the DVDDie Walkure on disc comes with menus and subtitles in German, French, English, Spanish and Chinese and with a picture gallery of the production. Awkwardly it is presented in (American) NTSC format not PAL, with a visual aspect of standard TV 4:3. More impressive is the choice of PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 6.1; the sound is admirably clear and well-balanced. --Roz Kaveney

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	German
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	English And Chinese Menus
Subtitles:	Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish
Year:	1991
Release Date:	April 16, 2001
Runtime:	244 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	073 011 9
Keywords:	Music, Die, Opera, Works, Stage, Walkure, Classical, Performing, Operetta, Arts, Unclassified
Genre:	Unclassified