Götterdämmerung

"Reactions to Elder's recording will depend on your view of Götterdämmerung. Is this a monumental opera or does it tend more towards the cut and thrust predominant in the Italian operas Wagner ostensibly scorned, but mirrored within Götterdämmerungs (sub)plot complexities? ... Elder's new recording is certainly the best "expansive" DDD Götterdämmerung but for raw drama and all-round singing Barenboim's set is closer to the edge".

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"Den Jyske Opera's ... production of Wagner's Ring cycle 1984 - 1987 was a great success and it has become legendary. Therefore it is pleasant to have this recording as a memorial of a great event ... Laila Andersson-Palme ... in her mid-forties has the perfect instrument for this repertoire: strength, brilliance and stamina ... Besides the vocal resources she is also deep inside the role. So is Elliot Palay ... The scheming Alberich becomes so much more alive, well characterised by Jörgen Klint ... Eva Johansson, quite early in her career, is well cast as Gutrune. The most towering character in this performance is however Aage Haugland's sinister Hagen ... A valuable documentation of legendary project thirty years ago as well as a musically substantial recording which can be enjoyed without any references to this specific occasion. I enjoyed this more than several more prestigious recordings I have heard".

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"I must tell you that what I have heard of the full Ring just now complete - by soloists, choral forces and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden - is quite good ... For one thing as a digital recording of the present-day it is sonically glowing ... Secondly the Hong Kong Philharmonic under van Zweden has all the fullness and balance of the large orchestral Wagner sound as we demand today and he set out for us then. The strings, winds, brass etc. bring out the nuances as Wagner intended them. It is a delight to hear it all! Then the choral ensembles and soloists are big-sounding and dramatic as very much needed ... The van Zweden Segfried and Gotterdammerung come though remarkably well for budget recordings! ... Recommended!".

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"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "In any event it's the most compelling and best-cast Götterdämmerung on disc since Barenboim's from Bayreuth".

"Once again, it is Janowski's work with his Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin that takes pride of place here ... It seems a shame, perhaps, that for the role of Siegfried, Janowski has chosen singers already represented on disc in that role ... The supporting parts are all strongly casts ... In sum, I have hugely enjoyed listening to Janowski's Ring".

"All the principals are on top form and Joseph Keilberth, for so long regarded as an amiable second-rater, conducts like a man possessed ... When it was over I sat for a long time shaken as only Götterdämmerung in a truly great performance can shake one ... This triumphant enterprise deserves all the awards it will certainly win".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "So the great project reaches its glorious close, as magnificently conducted, played and sung as the rest of the revelatory Ring. One wonders anew at the fidelity of the sound, the dedicated intensity of the orchestra and the uniform strengths of every member of a memorable cast, the like of which is hardly likely to be heard again in a Ring at Bayreuth or anywhere else ... I am quite certain that his cycle will be hailed everywhere as the one to have".

"Barkmin brings imagination and flair. It's quite a 'white' voice and not a huge one but she's a committed projector of the drama. Brenna's voice, again not heavy but well focused, certainly records comfortably and he is always fully in touch with the dramatic requirements. Eric Halfvarson's Hagen, more experienced than this pair, is both vicious and frightening ... There's little dull here, it always sounds good and it could make for an ideal economic first-time listen to the work".