Naughty me has had a copy of a friend's original pressing for years, which has been regularly played; at last, thanks to recently discovering Opera Depot, I can listen to the work guilt-free!A must for all lovers of rarely heard Grand Opéra, this is a wonderfully committed performance, as far as I know the only complete recording. Some features: Superb BIG voices with no weak links; stunningly dramatic choruses; stylistically distinctly French, with occasional echoes of Berlioz (unlike, say, Chausson's Le roi Arthur, which is more Germanic); epic scope, as befits this French telling of the Siegfried legend; doesn't pall with familiarity, but only gets better and better, leading me to wonder why it's not even as well known as Meyerbeer's operas.Well worth the investment!

… you might have had something like this! All joking aside, there are few comparisons to be made with the Wagner, despite the same source material. Reyer’s librettists constructed an epic, but human drama solidly in the style of French ‘grand opéra’. To put the piece in context, Berlioz’s Trojans dates from 1858, Reyer completed “Sigurd” in 1867 (but it was not premiered until 1883), and Wagner’s complete Ring cycle was premiered in 1876. Funnily enough, Brunehild’s first words are an almost exact copy of Brünnhilde’s in “Siegfried”. However, as mentioned, Reyer’s opera is a consistent alternation of big, often ceremonial choral scenes with private interactions between the main characters. Gunther and his sister Hilde have big parts, there is also Ute, Hilde’s mother, who supplies the potion - closer to the Nibelung legend source. The ballet music from the end of Act 2, and that of the wedding celebrations in Act 3, has been cut, but it’s still a solid 3 hours of well-written, if not always memorable, music, which does owe a distinct debt to Berlioz. There is quite a clear echo of “Les Troyens” in Act 1 particularly.As to the performance and recording, the latter is good, as you would expect from a radio broadcast. The casting is, frankly, sheer luxury, some of the best French singers of the period, and chorus and orchestra are expertly directed by Manuel Rosenthal. Guy Chauvet can be a bit of an acquired taste, but he’s well up to the demands of the title role, while of the others, Robert Massard and Denise Scharley are especially commanding. And the diction, all round, is just fabulous! All in all, a persuasive account of an opera worth discovering.

The voice of Chauvet and this music are balm for my ears.

The performance is very good, with some of the greatest french singers at the time.The Rosenthal edition of Sigurd are heavily cut. The uncut version would last another hour or so. Both Sigurd and Salammbo deserves compete recordings made from critical editions. The technical transfer by Opera Depot are good. The index follows mostly the version of Le Chant de monde label. Except the first act covers the first disc alone.

Knew nothing about this opera. Bought it to expand my horizon and was not disappointed. Music is lush and singers give good performances. Recommend to anyone wishing to encounter new work.

A good performance with some fIne singing. This is not the greatest piece in the repertoire, but for Wagner lovers especially, it's an interesting take on the Siegfried story.

A decent studio recording of a relatively unknown opera. Basically, I felt it was unknown for a reason, since Reyer is not a major composer and seemed to suffer especially to really sustain some of his melodies. It was also somewhat strange hearing the basically Wagnerian German libretto sung in French. All in all a decent opera more in the French than German tradition.

This sprawling work is captured in excellent radio sound with an all-Francophone cast including the very characterful Robert Massard and the fine Guy Chauvet. The women are less distinguished but do fine work and the piece is a lot of fun.