Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Michelle DeYoung, David Cangelosi, Deborah Humble, Matthias Goerne, Anna Samuil, Eri Nakamura, Kwangchul Youn, Aurhelia Varak, Stephen Milling, Hermine Haselböck, Charles Reid, Peter Sidhom, Oleksandr Pushniak, Kim Begley
Orchestra: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Jaap van Zweden
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8660374-75
Release: 2015
Size: 2.52 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Das Rheingold
CD 01
01. Scene 1: Vorspiel
02. Scene 1: Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle! (Rhinemaidens)
03. Scene 1: Hehe! Ihr Nicker! (Alberich, Rhinemaidens)
04. Scene 1: Garstig glatter glitschiger Glimmer! (Alberich, Rhinemaidens)
05. Scene 1: Lugt, Schwestern! Die Weckerin lacht in den Grund (Rhinemaidens, Alberich)
06 .Scene 1: Nur wer der Minne Macht entsagt (Woglinde, her sisters, Alberich)
07. Scene 1: Der Welt Erbe gewann’ ich zu eigen durch dich? (Alberich, Rhinemaidens)
08. Scene 1: Haltet den Rauber! (Flosshilde, her sisters)
09. Scene 2: Einleitung
10. Scene 2: Wotan! Gemahl! Erwache! (Fricka, Wotan)
11. Scene 2: So schirme sie jetzt (Fricka, Freia, Wotan)
12. Scene 2: Sanft schloss Schlaf dein Aug’! (Fasolt, Wotan)
13. Scene 2: Was sagst du? Ha! Sinnst du Verrath? (Fasolt, Fafner, Wotan)
14. Scene 2: Du da, folge uns fort! (Fafner, Freia, Froh, Donner, Fasolt, Wotan, Fricka)
15. Scene 2: Endlich Loge! Eiltest du so (Wotan, Loge, Fricka, Froh, Donner, Fafner, Fasolt)
16. Scene 2: Immer ist Undank Loges Lohn! (Loge, Wotan, Fasolt, Fafner, Fricka)
17. Scene 2: Ein Runenzauber zwingt das Gold zum Reif (Loge, Donner, Wotan, Froh, Fricka, Fafner)
18. Scene 2: Hor’, Wotan, der Harrenden Wort! (Fafner, Wotan, Fasolt, Freia)
19. Scene 2: Schwester! Bruder! Rettet! (Freia, Froh, Donner, Loge, Fricka)
20. Scene 2: Wotan, Gemahl, unsel’ger Mann (Fricka, Wotan, Loge, Donner, Froh)
21. Scene 3: Verwandlungsmusik
22. Scene 3: Hehe! Hehe! Hieher! Hieher! Tuckischer Zwerg! (Alberich, Mime)
CD 02
01. Scene 3: Schau, du Schelm! (Alberich, Mime)
02. Scene 3: Nibelheim hier: durch bleiche Nebel (Loge, Mime, Wotan)
03. Scene 3: Nehmt euch in acht! Alberich naht (Mime, Wotan, Alberich)
04. Scene 3: Die in linder Lufte Weh’n da oben ihr lebt (Alberich, Wotan, Loge)
05. Scene 3: Ohe! Ohe! Schreckliche Schlange (Loge, Wotan, Alberich)
06. Scene 3: Dort, die Krote, greife sie rasch! (Loge, Alberich)
07. Scene 4: Da, Vetter, sitze du fest! (Loge, Alberich, Wotan)
08. Scene 4: Wohlan, die Nibelungen rief ich mir nah’ (Alberich, Wotan)
09. Scene 4: Gezahlt hab’ ich; nun lasst mich zieh’n! (Alberich, Loge, Wotan)
10. Scene 4: Ist er gelost? (Loge, Wotan, Alberich)
11. Scene 4: Lauschtest du seinem Liebesgruss? (Loge, Wotan, Froh, Donner, Fricka)
12. Scene 4: Lieblichste Schwester, susseste Lust! (Fricka, Fasolt, Wotan)
13. Scene 4: Gepflanzt sind die Pfahle nach Pfandes Mass (Fafner, Wotan, Loge, Froh, Fricka, Donner, Fasolt, Freia)
14. Scene 4: Weiche, Wotan, weiche! Flieh’ des Ringes Fluch! (Erda, Wotan)
15. Scene 4: Soll ich sorgen und furchten (Wotan, Fricka, Froh, Donner, Freia)
16. Scene 4: Halt, du Gieriger! Gonne mir auch was! (Fasolt, Fafner, Loge)
17. Scene 4: Nun blinzle nach Freias Blick! (Fafner, Wotan, Loge, Fricka, Donner)
18. Scene 4: Heda! Heda! Hedo! Zu mir, du Geduft! (Donner)
19. Scene 4: Bruder, hieher! Weise der Brucke den Weg! (Donner, Froh)
20. Scene 4: Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge (Wotan)
21. Scene 4: So gruss’ ich die Burg (Wotan, Fricka, Loge)
22. Scene 4: Rheingold! Rheingold! Reines Gold! (Rhinemaidens, Wotan, Loge)
First performed as a cycle of four operas in 1876, Wagner’s visionary Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is one of the greatest works of art.
Centred around a ring which offers its bearer ultimate power and the attempts of various people to acquire it, the Ring cycle explores the relationship between love and earthly power and the themes of yearning and loss, all within a setting of medieval legend. The Prologue Das Rheingold depicts the theft and subsequent surrender of the ring forged from the Rhinemaidens’ gold by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich.
The opening evening of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, Das Rheingold is the prologue of the cycle, which is followed in turn by the music dramas Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. The first instalment in Jaap van Zweden’s projected Ring with the Hong Kong Philharmonic — an undertaking he regards as central to his tenure with the orchestra — is a promising beginning that may surprise many experienced Wagnerians. Van Zweden is ambitious in presenting the Ring with this orchestra, which plays it for the first time, though in fairness to the musicians, they offer an intensity and vigor that more than makes up for any minor scrappiness. This Naxos recording also boasts an impressive cast that stars baritone Matthias Goerne as Wotan, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung as Fricka, and baritone Peter Sidhom as the dwarf Alberich, and their singing is as secure as many of the better-known voices at Bayreuth. The only problem worth mentioning is the strange balance of the sound, which is presumably due to miking the live performance, but it may also be a result of the mixing, which in places seems subdued. However, the concert hall’s spacious acoustics give credible presence to the singers. The remaining operas are expected to be released on an annual basis, with the cycle’s completion in 2018.