From Munich to Paris with love: Unforgettable ride of the Valkyries

Die Walküre in concert, Théâtre des Champs Élysées (TCE) in Paris, April 24 2012

Kent Nagano ..... Conductor 

Humans 

Lance Ryan ..... Siegmund 

Anja Kampe ..... Sieglinde 

Ain Anger ..... Hunding 

Gods 

Thomas J. Mayer ..... Wotan 

Michaela Schuster ..... Fricka 

9 Valkyries

Nina Stemme ..... Brünnhilde 

Danielle Halbwchs ..... Gerhilde 

Golda Schultz ..... Otlinde 

Heike Grötzinger ..... Waltraude 

Anaïk Morel ..... Schwertleite 

Erika Wueschner ..... Helmwige 

Roswitha C. Müller ..... Siegrune 

Okka von der Damereau ..... Grimgerde 

Alexandra Petersamer ..... Rossweisse 

Orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich

Lohengrin in Karlsruhe SC

Lohengrin, Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, April 1st 2012

Renatus Meszar, Susan Anthony, Heidi Melton,"Duke Gottfried", Lance Ryan, Jaco Venter

Director ..... Reinhild Hoffmann

Conductor ..... Justin Brown

Heinrich der Vogler    ..... Renatus Meszar

Lohengrin ..... Lance Ryan

Elsa von Brabant ..... Heidi Melton

Friedrich von Telramund    ..... Jaco Venter

Ortrud .....     Susan Anthony

Der Heerrufer des Königs ..... Seung-Gi Jung

Erster Edelknabe ..... Masami Sato

Zweiter Edelknabe ..... Meike Etzold

Dritter Edelknabe ..... Ulrike Gruber

Vierter Edelknabe ..... Unzu Lee-Park

Erster Brabantischer Edler ..... Doru Cepreaga

Zweiter Brabantischer Edler ..... Peter Herrmann

Dritter Brabantischer Edler    ..... Marcelo Angulo

Vierter Brabantischer Edler    ..... Alexander Huck

Gurre-Lieder in Paris

Gurre-Lieder, La Salle Pleyel in Paris, June 25 2011

Marc Albrecht ..... conductor

Ricarda Merbeth ..... Tove

Lance Ryan ..... Waldemar

Anna Larsson ..... the Dove

Barbara Sukowa ..... Narrator

Albert Dohmen ..... Bauer

Arnold Bezuyen ..... Klaus-Narr

Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg

Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno [Petr Fiala]

Fallen Masks on the Rhine: David McVicar completes his Ring in Strasbourg

Götterdämmerung, Opéra National du Rhin (ONR) in Strasbourg, February 25 2011

The Mask of Erda -- in front of the ONR in Strasbourg

Director ..... David McVicar

Conductor ..... Marko Letonja

Siegfried ..... Lance Ryan

Hagen ..... Daniel Sumegi

Gunther ..... Robert Bork

Alberich ..... Oleg Bryjak

Brünnhilde ..... Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet

Gutrune ..... Nancy Weissbach

Waltraute ..... Hanne Fischer

First Norn ..... Sara Fulgoni

Second Norn ..... Hanne Fischer

Third Norn ..... Nancy Weissbach

Woglinde ..... Anaïs Mahikian

Wellgunde ..... Kimy McLaren

Flosshilde ..... Carolina Bruck-Santos

Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg

Chorus of l'Opéra national du Rhin

Siegfried: Lance Ryan et al.

After I saw this third opera of the Furasic Ring, the publicity stunt by which this DVD-set has been promoted --"The Ring of the 21st Century"-- crossed my tolerance threshold. Did they see the Copenhagen Ring before formulating that PR-line?

La Fura dels Baus did manage to produce a mind-blowing Rheingold. There the timing was perfect, an exquisite combination of their theatrical language with clever ideas that uncovered a different face of that opera. Add to that some superb singing and yes, you may say their Rheingold had set a very high standard and will remain a reference to whoever decides to mount The Ring in the future.

In Die Walkure, instead, Carlos Padrissa started relying too much on video imagery. I'm not complaining about video if it supported the drama instead of diverting our attention from the lack of  theatrical ideas. That second opera was nevertheless wonderfully sung and the verve of the libretto somehow makes you tolerate the excessive use of video.

Siegfried is less crowdy and less busy, and the lack of director's ideas becomes more apparent. Padrisa tries to compensate by throwing the video stuff at you but only to further tickle your annoyance and by the time we reached the hour four of the show, I was this close to stop the DVD...
On the positive note, this opera is as wonderfully sung as the previous 2, and even if there are a few great moments on the stage, it's hard to forgive too much pointless video trash [Fura is usually so much better than this Robert Lepage kind of videology].