Wagner recordings keep coming at an alarming rate. Even more unbelievable is that Oehms has 2, count ´em 2, Ring cycles going at the same time. Both are live, one from Hamburg with Simone Young conducting, and this one from Frankfurt with Sebastian Weigle on the podium.
I bought this Walküre because I read good things about it, and yes, overall it´s very good.
It couldn´t start better with a white-hot, impassioned Act 1. Frank van Aken and Eva-Maria Westbroek are husband and wife in real life, and the lust and passion they communicate is just what Wagner calls for. These incestuous, adulterous twins mean business, and they deliver. The betrayed husband, Hunding, is sung, by believe it or not, a basso called Ain Anger! what a wonderful name for a Hunding!
The Wotan is quite a find: Norwegian bass-baritone Terje Stensvold has a powerful, god-like voice the likes of which are very difficult to find. Maybe it´s not SUCH a great voice as James Morris´, let alone Hotter´s, but in these sad days when really big voices are almost extinct, his is a real Wotan voice. Susan Bullock as Brünnhilde also seems to have a powerful voice, but it´s not a steady one, nor a beautiful one. Brünnhilde needs to be more radiant.
The rest of the cast is fine, particularly the Valkyries who launch into battle with gusto.
The Frankfurt Museumorchester is a very good band, very fine playing, and Weigle with several Rings behind him is an expert maestro. This time the sound quality is state-of-the-art helped no doubt by the not too large size of the Alte Oper.
I enjoyed this Walküre so much that I have already ordered the Rheingold and the Siegfried which are already available. The Götterdämmerung will be recorded this year.
A nice surprise.
