This recording of Act I of Wagner’s Die Walküre was recorded in the studio in 1957. Hans Knappertsbusch’s approach is familiar to Wagner fans: big, architectural span, allowing the music to come pouring out naturally rather than ever forcing a tempo, and never obsesssing on details. And here the Vienna Philharmonic plays handsomely for him. Kirsten Flagstad’s Sieglinde is a bit matronly but, of course, beautifully intoned, and Set Svanholm’s Siegmund is sensitive to nuances and can rise to heroic heights when needed. Arnold Van Mill is a stately and arrogant, rather than menacing, Hunding. It’s a good performance–nothing more, really–and the bonus, Siegfried’s Funeral Music, is in the same category.
