Wagner - Die Walkure
Gambill; Petrenko; White; Westbroek;
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Rattle
Bel Air BAC034 (2 DVDS)

Release date October 2008

Rattle again proves his mettle as one of the most able of Wagnerian interpreters in this DVD release taken from the 2007 Aix-en-Provence Festival. From the stormy prelude to Act 1, to the heart-rending finale to Act 3, Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic scale all 710 imposing pages of full score with a sure-footed eminence. Predictably, they set a high standard for the singers to follow, and happily they are up to the task. Robert Gambill and Eva-Maria Westbroek as the ill-fated lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde capture the cathartic lyricism of the first act, a lyricism which Petrenko’s Hunding leavens with an implacable presence and commanding voice. The doom-laden Act 2 is similarly impressive, with Johansson’s impetuous Brunnhilde and Paasikivi’s aggrieved Fricka joining the incestuous pair in fashioning a musically and dramatically effective whole. But the other Sir involved in this production, Willard White, takes the honours with a suitably magisterial performance as Wotan. The finale is remarkable: White (complete with prosthetic contact lens) gives a rare involvement and passion to his reading of the conflicted god, something well captured by the close-up camera work. Braunschweig’s staging is an interesting mélange of 19th century dress (save Fricka who seems to be auditioning for “The Apprentice”!) and a modernist backdrop onto which appropriate images of mountains or fire are projected. In general it is quite effective, with the possible exception of the “Ride of the Valkyries” itself in which what appear to be dummies of paratroopers are somewhat indecorously dragged up a flight of stairs by the ferocious maidens!

Reviewed by James Booth