Cheap Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Levine, Metropolitan Opera (Complete Ring Cycle) (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Levine, Metropolitan Opera (Complete Ring Cycle)

objections are unrealistic
Many reviewers are very negative about this production but I do not think their objections are clearly thought through. To begin with the plot of the ring is a mythological fantasy and much of it is clearly absurd. Updating it only makes the absurdities more ludicrous. For all his musical genius, Wagner clearly needed a librettist (like Arrigo Boito, perhaps) or at least an editor. So often there is too much music separating a statement and its response. This does not allow for anything like realistic acting. The cast in this performance was certainly chosen for visual appearance as well as vocal ability given the fact that there would be many closeups. It is also noteworthy that there are hardly any big wobbley voice in evidence which so often happens with larger voices who can easily ride above all that orchestral sound. Nobody can quibble with Morris's Wotan. He has a beautiful sound and acts well enough. Behrens never had what I would call a beautiful voice and it is not large. The chest voice is certainly not pleasant but she uses it as needed. The fact that she gets through the role attests to her knowledge of how to sing, even if the result is not always satisfying. She looks the part more than other singers I can think of. (Some like Gwyneth Jones as Brunhilde but that wobble is a liabilty) Jerusalem is awkward as Siegfried but he is trying to be vital and boyish and athletic but the music does not support his efforts. This is a killer role and a more beefy tenor would not be able to be as bouyant as he is. Late in his life Wagner conceded that he wrote his tenor parts too high. We have to admire that Jerusalem does as well as he does. Ludwig has always been a favorite singer of mine but again, her acting is hampered by too much music. What can these characters do but stand there and sing and then wait for a while until their next line comes by? Seeing things on film makes us much more demanding in what we expect of acting while singing. Wagner might have been nonplussed by the amount of acting going on nowadays in productions of this cycle. Wagner set out to creat a total work of theater but I think failed in part from a seeming lack of understanding of dramatic timing. Everything goes on far too long...and then following section tells all about what happened in the previous part. Of course, it is the music which keeps us coming back to the work. For grandeur, orchestral color and originality there is nothing like it in all of music. But we have to be realitic about the inhuman demands that the composer placed upon his singers. Those that look like the characters in the story rarely have the large bodies that would produce the heroic sounds that the music demands. <
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>So you can keep your prostitutes and Nazis, I'm sticking with the mythological Norse protagonists.

Excellent! This is just how Wagner would've liked it!
This isn't the usual "ugly singers parking and barking" kind of production, this is an opera production that really is one:everything looks flawless, sets and costumes actually are Wagnerian, and the angles of the sets and singers are nothing to worry about. Hildegard Behrens and Gwynneth Jones are by far, the loveliest Brunnhilds in Ring productions. We have a big cast. Jessye Norman as Sieglinde is far lovelier than I would've expected her to look here. Hildegard Behrens, to me is one lovely Brunnhilde. Thank you, Otto Schenk. This isn't like most Deutsche grammophon opera videos(Tristan, Fidelio, Fledermaus with ugly sopranos and tenors, ugh!) I feel as if I were Wagner himself when I watch this Ring production. I'm sure you'll like this production too. This is how opera dirctors should tell a story. This isn't the usual Otto Schenk! He actually made the singers look flawless. Even the Seattle opera wouldn't have a Siegfried/Brunnhilde pair or a Siegmund/Sieglind pair anywhere as good-looking as Siegfried Jerusalem, Hildegard Behrens, gary Lakes, and Jessye Norman. Please! Only the Bayreuth/Chereau production would have as flawless a cast as the MET with Der Ring. Highly reccommended! If you can't find this MET video, get the Bayreuth/Chereau Ring. It's every bit as good.