WATCH and LISTEN: Wagner’s Ring Really Fast!

Every now and then, I pull out Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen and listen to the entire thing from beginning to end – without stopping. I have a variety of performances and formats to do this. At any moment I can listen to recordings by: Georg Solti, James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Hans Knapperstbush (Bayreuth 1951), Clemens Krauss (Bayreuth 1953), or Karl Böhm (Bayreuth 1967).

If I’m in the mood to sit for 15 hours, I can watch the version from the Metropolitan Opera (Levine), Bayreuth (Boulez), Bayeruth (Barenboim), Het Muziektheater Amsterdam (Haenchen), Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona (de Billy), or Staatsoper Stuttgart (Zagroesek).

I’m compelled to admit that my iPod contains the Solti recording as one long Playlist. But there are (actually) times when a shorter, less intense version is what’s needed to calm the inner Dunderlumkins. This 45-second German language clip just hits the right button for that.

If you’ve never heard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and are interested in learning what all the fuss is about it, Anna Russell’s explanation, The Ring of the Nibelungs (An Analysis), is also available on YouTube, and on CD titled The Anna Russell Album at Amazon. There’s also a transcript of her presentation here. It’s a good way to get the story under your belt and out of the way, so to speak.

There's no such thing as the perfect recording of the Ring. Each has merits and liabilities unique to itself. Personal taste comes into play when deciding which you prefer. At different time, different performances will seem right. For me, the Solti is the sound recording I always want to hear, and the Boulez Bayreuth video recording is hard to beat. The staging is inspired, and the interplay between Wotan (Donald McIntyre) and Brünnhilda (Gwyneth Jones) is unsurpassed in its pathos. Whichever version you choose, enjoy!