Composer: Wilhelm Richard Wagner
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 4
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Size: 3.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Anja Kampe – Sieglinde
Jonas Kaufmann – Siegmund
René Pape – Wotan
Nina Stemme – Brünnhilde
Mikhail Petrenko – Hunding
Ekaterina Gubanova – Fricka
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) WWV 86b
Act One
Scene One
01 I Prelude
02 II Whoever’s fireplace this may be
03 III A luckless man you have been tending
Scene Two:
04 IV I found this man exhausted
05 V I don’t call myself ‘Peaceful’
06 VI She who granted you a wretched fate
07 VII I know of a savage family
Scene Three:
08 VIII My father promised me a sword
09 IX Are you asleep, guest?
10 X Wintry storms have vanished before Maytime
11 XI You are the spring
12 XII O sweetest bliss
13 XIII Siegmund I am called
Act Two
Prelude and Scene One:
14 I Now bridle your horse
15 II Hoyotoho!
16 III The old storm, the old trouble!
17 IV Today – you have seen it happen
18 V You have never learned
19 VI What are you asking for?
20 VII Your eternal wife’s sacred honour
Scene Two:
21 VIII Badly, I’m afraid
22 IX It is something else. Listen carefully
23 X Then will you deprive Siegmund of victory?
24 XI Then take my blessing, Nibelung’s son
Act Two (conclusion)
25 XII My load of armour weighs heavy on me
Scene Three:
26 XIII Do stop here, and take a rest
27 XIV Where are you, Siegmund?
Scene Four:
28 XV Siegmund, look at me
29 XVI You have seen the Valkyrie’s searing glance
30 XVII So young and fair and dazzling you look
Scene Five:
31 XVIII Deep as a speel sleep subdues
32 XIX He who calls me
33 XX Quick, to my horse, and I will save you
Act Three
Prelude and Scene One:
34 I Hoyotoho, hoyotoho!
35 II Put your stallion next to Ortlinde’s mare
36 III Give me protection and help in my great distress
37 IV Do not plague yourself with worry about me
Scene Two:
38 V Where is Brünnhilde
39 VI Here I am, father
Scene Three:
40 VII Was it so shameful
41 VIII So you did what I wanted so much to do
42 IX Girl, do not try
43 X Farewell, you hold, wonderful child!
44 XI That bright pair of eyes
45 XII Loge, listen! Harken here!
This Mariinsky Die Walküre is the first release of the company’s Ring cycle. The recording is based on concert performances that Valery Gergiev conducted. Any misgivings I may have had regarding Gergiev as a Wagner conductor were blown away by his superb 2009 recording of Parsifal and then by a concert performance of it at the Barbican Hall in April 2012 The warmth and generosity of Stemme’s singing make her a particularly sympathetic Brünnhilde (and will do more so, probably, in the last two music-dramas) and she is thrilling in the Act Three plea-bargaining with Wotan. With a full-throttle ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ and some sumptuous orchestral playing, this is a Die Walküre to be reckoned with.