Soloists - WAGNER, R.: Die Walküre, Acts I and II [CD]

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Richard Wagner (1813-1883)Die Walk?\xe2??reRichard Wagner began his great tetralogy Der Ring desNibelungen in 1848 and did not hear it performed in its entirety until 1876. Atfirst he envisaged a single music drama named Siegfrieds Tod, which eventuallybecame Gotterdammerung, but by 1851 he realised that he had the material for amuch larger project. Most of the libretto was written in 1851-52 and theprologue, Das Rheingold, was composed in the following two years. Wagner thenbusied himself with the composition of perhaps the finest segment of his epic,Die Walk?\xe2??re, in 1854-56. Parts of the first and third acts were heard inconcert in Vienna on 26th December 1862, at the Theater an der Wien, and thewhole opera was performed for the first time on stage in Munich on 26th June1870. Finally it was heard in its proper place, as the second evening of TheRing, at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth on 14th August 1876. It reached New Yorkin 1877 and London in 1882.While it is occasionally possible to wince at thepretentious quality of Wagner's dialogue, and to wish that the poet in him hadbeen more self-critical and less long-winded, the musical and dramaticimportance of Die Walk?\xe2??re is so self-evident that it needs no justificationtoday. Drawing on the old Nordic and Teutonic myths, Wagner fashioned gods andheroes who are all too human, so that it is impossible not to feel sympathywith their dilemmas. Die Walk?\xe2??re deals with one of the deepest-seated socialtaboos, incest, and presents us with one of the greatest tragic characters inall Western drama, in the shape of the tortured god Wotan. As always withWagner, there are purple patches - the love duet of Act 1, Br?\xe2??nnhilde's BattleCry, the Ride of the Valkyries, Wotan's Farewell and the Magic Fire Music - andyet the heart of Die Walk?\xe2??re is the most conversational and least sensationalsection, Act 2. And the key to it is the impassioned argument between Wotan andhis wife Fricka. Not the least merit of this historic recording is that ittakes the second act so seriously. In addition the first act, almost a fulldrama in itself, here receives by far its finest representation on record.Even in acoustic days, HMV did its best to bring Die Walk?\xe2??reto gramophone listeners. Extensive excerpts were recorded with such illustriousWagnerians as the conductor Albert Coates, the bass-baritone Clarence Whitehilland the bass Robert Radford. With the coming of electrical recording in 1925,more than two hours of the opera was recorded piecemeal in London and Berlinwith Gota Ljungberg as Sieglinde, Frida Leider as Br?\xe2??nnhilde, Emmi Leisner asFricka, Walter Widdop as Siegmund and Friedrich Schorr as Wotan. Some of thoseexcerpts, mostly conducted by Coates and Leo Blech, have still not beensurpassed. Nevertheless, by the early 1930s the electrical recording techniquehad been further refined and it was hoped to record the whole of Die Walk?\xe2??re inBerlin, with Bruno Walter conducting the State Opera Orchestra. We can gue

Kuhlende Labung gab mire der Quell

Nicts lerntest du, wolt' ich dich lehren

Orchstervorspiel

Was Verlangst Du?

Wee' Herd dies auch sei, hoer mub ich rasten

Deiner Ew'gen Gattin Heilige Ehre

Mud Am Herd Fand Ich Den Mann

Schlimm, Furcht' Ich, Schloss Der Streit

Friedmund Darf Ich Nicht Heissen

So - sah ich Siegvater nie

Ein Trauriges Kind Rief Mich Zum Trutz

Lab ich's verlauten

Ich Weiss Ein Wildes Geschlecht

En Andres ist's; achte es wohl

Ein Schwert Verhiess Mir Der Vater

Raste Nun Hier, G\xc3\xb6nne Dir Ruh'!

Der Manner Sippe sass hier im Saal

Hinweg! Hinweg! Flieh Die Entweihte!

Wintersturme Wichen Dem Wonnemond

Horch, o horch! Das is Hundings Horn!

Du Bist Der Lenz

Siegmund! Sieh Auf Mich!

Siegmund Heiss Ich Und Siegmund Bin Ich!

Du Sahest Der Walkure Sehrenden Blick

Heut' - hast du erelebt!

Zauberfest Bezahmt Ein Schlaf

Er geh' seines Weg's

Wehwait! Wehwait!

Nun Zaume Dein Rob

Geh hin, Knech! Knie vor Fricka

Der alte sturm! Die alte Muh!