Oberon's Glade

Tag: DIE WALKURE

  • Scenes from a Munich WALKURE

    Scanned Section 15-1

    Ingrid Bjoner (above) is Brünnhilde in these scenes from a performance of Wagner’s DIE WALKURE from Munich, 1972. The in-house sound quality leaves much to be desired, but I’ve always loved this rendering of the Todesverkündigung as sung by Bjoner and James King.

    There are also three brief excerpts from Act III, with Claire Watson as Sieglinde and Heinz Imdahl as Wotan joining Ingrid Bjoner. Rudolf Kempe’s conducting strikes me as just about ideal.

    WALKURE exc – Munich 1972 – Bjoner King Watson Imdahl – Kempe cond

  • Haitink Conducts DIE WALKURE ~ Act I

    Snapshot haitink

    Sir Bernard Haitink (above) conducts the first act of Wagner’s DIE WALKURE at a concert given by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at Amsterdam on February 24th, 2008. The soloists are Eva-Maria Westbroek, Clifton Forbis, and Sir John Tomlinson.

    Watch and listen here.

  • A Matti Salminen Rarity

    Matti S

    As with so many treasures, I came upon this by chance on YouTube: Matti Salminen, the great Hunding and Hagen, sings Wotan in the finale of DIE WALKURE opposite Birgit Nilsson’s Brunnhilde.

    Here in the link.

  • WALKURE ~ Bayerische Staatsoper 1977

    Behrens (2) jpg

    A 1977 performance from the Bayerische Staatsoper of Wager’s DIE WALKURE features the Sieglinde of Hildegard Behrens (above); I saw Behrens in the role twice at The Met in 1983, and she was thrilling.

    Listen here.

    Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch

    Siegmund – James King
    Sieglinde – Hildegard Behrens
    Hunding – Kurt Böhme
    Brünhilde – Gwyneth Jones
    Wotan – Theo Adam
    Fricka – Brigitte Fassbaender
    Gerhilde – Leonore Kirschstein
    Ortlinde – Antonie Fahberg
    Waltraute – Charlotte Berthold
    Schwertleite – Ortrun Wenkel
    Helmwige – Gertrud Freedmann
    Siegrune – Helena Jungwirth
    Grimgerde – Liliana Netschewa
    Roßweiße – Gudrun Wewezow

  • Larissa Diadkova as Fricka

    Diadkova

    Larissa Diadkova (above) is Fricka and Mikhail Kit is Wotan in the Act Ii confrontation scene from Wagner’s  DIE WALKURE.

    Larissa Diadkova & Mikhail Kit – WALKURE Act II scene – w Sergeeva – Met-bcast 2005

  • Treptow/Konetzni/von Rohr ~ WALKURE Act I

    Von rohr

    Above: basso Otto von Rohr

    From 1952 comes this performance of Act I of Wagner’s DIE WALKURE with Gunther Treptow, Hilde Konetzni, and Otto von Rohr, with the RAI-Rome Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler.

    Listen here.

  • DIE WALKURE @ Bayreuth ~ 2016

    Lundgren

    Above: bass-baritone John Lundgren

    Wagner’s DIE WALKURE from the 2016 Bayreuth Festival, conducted by Marek Janowski with the following cast:

    Siegmund – Christopher Ventris
    Hunding – Georg Zeppenfeld
    Wotan – John Lundgren
    Sieglinde – Heidi Melton
    Brünnhilde – Catherine Foster
    Fricka – Sarah Connolly
    Gerhilde – Caroline Wenborne
    Ortlinde – Dara Hobbs
    Waltraute – Stephanie Houtzeel
    Schwertleite – Nadine Weissmann
    Helmwige – Christiane Kohl
    Siegrune – Mareike Morr
    Grimgerde – Wiebke Lehmkuhl
    Rossweisse – Alexandra Petersamer

    Watch and listen here.

  • Wonderful WALKURE @ The Met ~ 2009

    Botha meier walkure

    On April 6th, 2009, Waltraud Meier and Johan Botha appeared as Sieglinde and Siegmund in DIE WALKURE at The Met – the only time they sang these roles together in New York City. They gave a thrilling performance of their Act I scene, conducted by James Levine.

    Waltraud Meier & Johan Botha – WALKURE ~ Act I scene – Levine cond – Met 2009

    The photo is by Ken Howard/Met Opera.

  • Lise Davidsen ~ Du bist der Lenz

    Snapshot lise

    Soprano Lise Davidsen sings Sieglinde’s “Du bist der Lenz” from Act I of DIE WALKURE, from a concert given by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in 2019.

    Watch and listen here.

    In December 2019, my friend Adi and I met Ms. Davidsen after a performance of Tchaikovsky’s QUEEN OF SPADES at The Met.

  • Nina Stemme ~ Ho-Jo-To-Ho!

    Stemme

    Nina Stemme sings Brunnhilde’s Battle Cry from Act II of DIE WALKURE. Thomas Mayer is Wotan and Kent Nagano conducts.

    Watch and listen to this concert excerpt here.