Wagner

Die Walküre

Ligendza, Adam, Jones, Brilioth, Reynolds, Ridderbusch; Stein
Bayreuth, 1971

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Die Walküre

The wonderful thing about casting at Bayreuth in the 1970s was that there seemed to be an appreciation of having voices that still had the ability to convey a certain amount of youth. This is aided by the wonderful acoustics of the hall and the covered pit which allow singers to actually sing Wagner's beautiful lines as opposed to bellow them. Catarina Ligendza in the title role brings all the requisite steel to Brünnhilde as well as an innocence that one almost never gets to hear in Wagner. I can recall no other Brünnhilde who conveys the frightened despair of Brünnhilde in Act III as well as she does. Theo Adam's baritonal Wotan conveys a youthful father, still at the age where he can impart fatherly wisdom but also engage in child's play. Gwyneth Jones and Helge Brilioth must have looked gorgeous on stage as Siegmund and Sieglinde. In 1971, Jones was poised to graduate to the role of Brünnhilde although Sieglinde was still an excellent fit for her rich soprano. Brilioth's voice is virile and youthful.

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4.0 Based on 2 reviews
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4 ★ 2
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David R.✓ Top Reviewer

United States

Overall rating

Excellent Performance in Excellent Sound; Flawed Master

This is an exciting performance of the most popular of the Ring operas. Brilioth and Jones are a wonderful Walsung pair. Jones is one of the few Sieglindes who follows Wagner's stage directions and laughs insanely in her hallucination scene in Act Two. She also gives a blood-curdling scream when Siegmund is killed. Ridderbusch is true luxury casting as Hunding - what a voice! Despite what another reviewer writes this is unquestionably Adam and Ligendza as Wotan and Brunnhilde. The Bayreuth Festival website is not infallible and has a number of errors in the cast listings. The Act Three Valkyrie ensemble is superb, one of the best I've heard - no Wobblers!Horst Stein leads a well-paced, energetic performance. The sound is very good, but there are a number of glitches along the way: thumping and bumping during Sieglinde's "Du bist der Lenz", minor file corruption towards the end of Act Three, etc. The Act One problem is also heard in another copy I have of this performance so it must stem from the original master. It's not bad enough to disqualify this recording from consideration though.Onto Siegfried!
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Christer O.✓ Verified Buyer

Sweden

Overall rating

Something´s wrong

When you read about performances in Bayrueth on their webbside you can see that Ligendza and Adam never sang in the same performance that year. Adam sang with Berit Lindholm and Ligendza sang with Thomas Stewart.
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