Hans Hopf as Siegfried may not play as youthful as current casting trends have been skewing, but his voice is tireless in the role, and, as opposed to tip-toeing around the higher lying passages of the role (as many justifiably nervous tenors do), he embraces the challenges with gusto delivering excitement you would expect more from an opera like Andrea Chénier. The only disappointment for me was his singing during some of the more lyrical passages in which his pitch had a tendency to go south. Hans Hotter's Wanderer is worldly without coming across as overly cynical. Birgit Nilsson's awaking as Brünnhilde is well worth the wait, bringing both beauty and power to the short but critical finale. Marga Höffgen's Erda is both sensual and maternal.