With this 2018 release of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold, Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra begin a full Ring cycle on CD, drawn from their series of concert performances at Bridgewater Hall from 2009 to 2018. Performing Der Ring des Nibelungen with minimal staging and restrained acting seems on its face to be antithetical to Wagner's concept of the music drama, essentially turning opera into oratorio, not the Gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art he had in mind. Even more to the point for this recording is the ...
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With this 2018 release of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold, Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra begin a full Ring cycle on CD, drawn from their series of concert performances at Bridgewater Hall from 2009 to 2018. Performing Der Ring des Nibelungen with minimal staging and restrained acting seems on its face to be antithetical to Wagner's concept of the music drama, essentially turning opera into oratorio, not the Gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art he had in mind. Even more to the point for this recording is the shifting of emphasis from the action between characters to what is heard in the orchestra as the heart of the drama. While this performance offers a solid cast featuring Iain Paterson as Wotan, Susan Bickley as Fricka, and Samuel Youn as Alberich, the Hallé delivers a stunning orchestral accompaniment that periodically comes to the fore and steals scenes, much more than Wagner would have allowed in his performances, where the orchestra was but one part of the whole. For anyone seeking...
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