Valkyrie English

I wanted a version in English. The voices are beautiful and very clear. But this is anOpera and understanding the dialogue even in English is still taxing . The men are easier to understand than the women. At least to my ears. The translation from German with the music is terrific. The scenes where I understand the dialogue give me new insight are to how Wagner use the music to emphasize the emotion. Several time the words, "I loved him" have real significant meaning with the music emphasizing the emotion with the English words that I understand. Amazons support for Opera streaming files seem a little sparse. First they have no notes who stared in these roll on their web site or where it was recorded. Seems I have to buy the CD to find out which is cheaper. Next, I dropped the audio files into iTunes on my Mac and they seem to go in fine. Each track also played fine, but I started noticing a blank pause between tracks. In some of the Opera, they are missing, Act III has then all over the place. Amazon needs to get their act together.

As I mentioned in The Rhinegold, this Ring, all sung in English, is terrific. Not a word is muffled, the translation is great, as is the singing and orchestral playing. The Valkyrie presented here practically shimmers in its musicality. The singing is very fine, as is the orchestral playing. I am very, very glad I finally got this Ring, as it holds up to (and in some cases surpasses) other Ring sets considered to be far better. I love it.

This performance of *Die Valkure,* the second and most popular opera in Wagner's Ring Cycle, is musically splendid. Its special significance, however, is that it is sung in English. An English performance of the Ring is perhaps more important than that of any other opera(s), because Wagner's libretti are suffused with his ideas about society, fate, justice, and love. Even if (at times) you need to read along to understand what the singers are saying, *hearing* the lyrics in English is truly stirring in a way that performances in your non-native language cannot match.A particular stand-out on this recording is the Wotan. His timbre, diction, and delivery perfectly embody the troubled god who tries desperately, and in vain, to keep the world under his control. His angst and wrath are utterly convincing.

It is important to have a quality recording of an English translation of an important work.

Being properly the First Evening to Wagner's epic Ring Cycle, the Valyrie is the most famous out of the four operas, mainly because of its Ride of the Valkyries and the Magic Fire Music. This Valkyrie, conducted by Reginald Goodall and performed by the English National Opera, is worth listening to.It's true that Goodall has the slowest tempi ever for a Ring recording: a total of 16 hours and 50 minutes, two hours more than the average Ring recording! But it's not at all bad. Sometimes the slow pacing works, and sometimes it doesn't. "Wotan's Farewell" isn't taken at a slow pace at all, and I do miss the slower approach that James Levine took. "Ride of the Valkyries" is just right, but I do miss Karl Bohm's energetic storm. And let's not forget about the orchestra. I love the bass clarinet that plays after Wotan's cry of dismay in Act Two, Scene Two. The strings and brass in "Magic Fire Music" are astonishing, it's great! The low brass in "Annunciation of Death" makes the scene so much more tragic than in Georg Solti's "Annunciation". So the orchestra gets another point.The cast can only be described as "amazing." Norman Bailey, Alberto Remedios, and Margaret Curphy would be the ultimate Wotan, Siegmund, and Sieglinde for the English language. Rita Hunter is at her strongest here in "Valyrie" and she sings with her heart and soul perfectly. What I wouldn't give if I had a chance to see her live back in the 70's. Clifford Grant is a very good Hunding (just not the most impressive), while Anne Howard is a very believable Fricka. The Valkyrie cast are no match with Furtwangler and Bohm's cast, but they still can make the whole third act worthwhile.And so as the "Magic Fire Music" plays on, we get a little sense of what's going to happen in "Siegfried."The Box Set:  Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set) The Rhinegold (Part 1):  Wagner: The Rhinegold Siegfried (Part 3):  Siegfried (Goodall Ring Cycle/Chandos Opera in English) Twilight of the Gods (Part 4):  The Twilight of the Gods (Goodall Ring Cycle/Chandos Opera in English)

Good recording.

Belle surprise que cette "Valkyrie" chantée dans la langue de Shakespeare et captée live à Londres en 1976 !L'anglais est suffisamment cousin de l'allemand pour qu'il n'y ait aucune gène à l'écoute, moins en tout cas que Rigoletto en français ou La Traviata en russe...La distribution est digne des plus grandes, et de toute évidence bien supérieure à ce que le chant wagnérien avait à proposer sur les scènes à la même époque : Alberto Remedios et Margaret Curphey forment un couple de Jumeaux parfait, de même que Norman Bailey et Rita Hunter constituent un duo père-fille de très belle tenue.Quant au Hunding de Clifford Grant et la Fricka de Ann Howard, ils sont on ne peut plus adéquats.Tout serait donc pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes sur les rives d'une Tamise rhénane si Sir Reginald Goodall avait daigné se décoincer sur son estrade pour donner un supplément de peps à sa direction par ailleurs excellente, pour se départir un tant soit peu d'un flegme aussi obstiné que franchement énervant.Il y a vraiment de quoi désespérer devant tant de retenue là où le feu et les passions devraient sinon se déchaîner, du moins pouvoir se libérer d'un corset aux lacets maintenus si serrés !Las, cette très belle version, avec ses vrais grands chanteurs et son orchestre superbe en aura perdu le rang qui lui revenait de plein droit auprès des plus grandes... en VO. What a pity !