VHS : Die Walkure / The Making Of The Ring [1980]

Rating: - An essential Walkure
From a dramatic point of view Die Walkure is arguably the most intense of the four parts of The Ring, owing it's success (or failure) to the ability of a cast to act as well as sing, and time has proved the success of Chereau's casting.

Gwyneth Jones' Brunnhilde has now become almost legendary. While her acting ability may not quite match up to Behrens, who followed her in Hall and Solti's subsequent Bayreuth production, she throws her formidable vocal might into the part with an enthusiasm worthy of Birget Nilsson. No-one is going to worry about her occasional tendancy to overact the part so long as she can sustain that voice! She really shows her greatest dramatic strength during her extended dialogues with Wotan.

Critically, Wotan often falls into Brunnhilde's shadow, but Donald McIntyre's performance in the role ensures that this cannot happen here. This is the stuff that careers are remembered for, and McIntyre must surely go down as one of the great Wotan interpreters alongside Hans Hotter. Here is a truly memorable reading, which brings out the sheer desolation of the situation which Wotan finds himself in. This is no longer a god, but a man who finds his world crumbling around him. His despair as he declares that all he wants now is "Das ende" and his anger as he sees Brunnhilde defy his instruction, leaving him to ensure Siegmund's death are powerfully felt, even through the television screen.

Jeannine Altmeyer and Peter Hofmann are equally compelling as Sieglinde and Siegmund. Altmeyer treads a perfectly balanced line as her character falls deeper into neurosis and despair. Hofmann looks every inch the hero, and holds us in the palm of his hand as he takes us through the credulity-stretching dialogue with Brunnhilde. In his final scene, his death is as convincing as we could hope for on the opera stage.

As Hunding, Matti Salminen has the singular misfortune of dying on stage for the second time in 24 hours, as he also sings the role of Fasolt in Chereau's Rheingold. He brings considerable weight to the part both vocally and physically, and has a suitably menacing stage prescence.

Hanna Schwarz' Fricka is genteel and poised, while Brunnhilde's eight valkyrie sisters are enthusiastic, if a little histrionic at times and any family resemblance is, to say the least, only passing! However, their bravery in singing for the best part of ten minutes about each other's horses has to be praised - when there is not a horse in sight.

Patrice Chereau's architectural staging works very well indeed. Hundings dwelling for Act 1 and the valkyrie rock for Act 3 are entirely convincing without being over-complicated. A real triumph comes in his decision to re-set the first two scenes of Act 2 in a hall within Valhalla. The use of a full length mirror in which he is able to talk both to Brunnhilde and to himself at once, and a pendulum with which he is able to bring the motion of time to a standstill are both genuinely inspired. The production has a clarity and simplicity which allows the music to speak for itself.

And what of the music? Pierre Boulez directs the Bayreuth orchestra with an architectural feel to match the setting. The orchestral playing is excellent and the score is given an entirely lucid reading. The overall feeling is that of a romantic Walkure without being too stylised. All the notes are the there and we can hear them too, but the sound is never clinical.

Philips are at pains in their booklet notes to explain that this was one of the earliest uses of videotape in opera recording, by way of excusing any shortcomings in picture quality. They need not have bothered, as both picture and sound reproduction are more than acceptable throughout. My only criticism of the video recording would be my usual difficulty with Brian Large's television direction, which gives rather too much precedence to close-up shots and leaves us longing for a full view of the entire stage picture from time to time.

All in all a very successful and well balanced DVD set which no Ring enthusiast's collection is complete without.