Recorded during the 2008 Bayreuth Festival, Christian Thielemann’s Ring Cycle is sonically sumptuous, instrumentally dazzling, and vocally inconsistent. As Brünnhilde, Linda Watson’s huge voice battles uphill when high notes and sustained power are required, although softer, lower-lying passages bring out her best work, and Christa Meyer is clearly more comfortable in Erda’s tessitura than in the Gotterdämmerung Waltraute’s more demanding music. Enrik Wottrich’s odd diction and monochrome timbre make for a most unattractive Siegmund. However, Andrew Shore’s slightly frayed top register is of little consequence when considering his superb vocal acting as Alberich. Gerhard Siegel’s Mime also stands out for characterization, and is beautifully sung.
In addition to the respective Norn and Rhinemaiden trios, Michelle Breedt (Fricka), Eva-Maria Westbrook (Sieglinde), and Edith Haller (Gutrune) easily stand out among this Ring’s female singers. Albert Dohman’s fabulous legato, registral evenness, and textual sensitivity make for a consistently engaging Wotan and Wanderer, while Hans-Peter König does double duty as Fafner and Hagen, gracing each role with his rich vocal presence and dramatic malevolence.
The orchestra is to die for. Thielemann obtains standards of execution that rival and often surpass Boulez and Barenboim in their respective 1979/80 and 1993 Bayreuth cycles. No matter how prominent or obscure the leitmotif, Thielemann makes sure that it resonates within the barest or thickest textures. Technical sheen and characterful intensity distinguish the first-desk soloists, and the percussion section never holds back, while the strings mesh with painstaking calibration and unanimity. The agile, gorgeously blended brass may well reflect the Karajan/Berlin paradigm that Thielemann credits as an influence; listen to brass/harp balances in the sequence leading into Das Rheingold Scene 2, or notice the seamless textural interweaving in the long instrumental stretch leading into the final scene of Siegfried.
At times Thielemann slows the music in its tracks where Wagner does not, such as the Siegfried Forging Song’s incongruous tempo pullback, or, in Gotterdämmerung Act 1, the lethargic, enervated underscoring just before Siegfried returns to the rock, disguised as Günther. If you judge the Ring by the orchestra first and the singing second, by all means investigate this release.
