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Fabio Luisi on Wagner's Ring Cycle
23rd Jun 2026
The Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra speaks about his association with the music of Wagner, and his decision to undertake performances and a recording of the composer's monumental cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen.
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Wagner's Ring Cycle from Fabio Luisi in Dallas
29th May 2026
Recorded live at concert performances in 2024, this new Ring scores highly for the Italian conductor's lyrical, nuanced approach to the score and boasts a fine new Wagnerian hero in Swedish tenor Daniel Johansson.
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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Mark Delavan (Wotan/Wanderer), Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), Daniel Johansson (Siegfried), Sara Jakubiak (Sieglinde), Christopher Ventris (Siegmund), Stephen Milling (Hunding/Hagen), Tómas Tómasson (Alberich), Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
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Sir Donald McIntyre (1934-2025)
17th Nov 2025
The New Zealand-born bass-baritone, who was a regular at the Bayreuth Festival for over two decades and triumphed as Wotan in the 1976 centenary production of the Ring Cycle, has died aged 91.
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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Donald McIntyre (Wotan), Gwyneth Jones (Brünnhilde), Peter Hofmann (Siegmund), Jeannine Altmeyer (Sieglinde/Gutrune), Matti Salminen (Hunding), Manfred Jung (Siegfried), Hanna Schwarz (Fricka), Hermann Becht (Alberich), Heinz Zednik (Mime), Fritz Hübner (Hagen) Bayreuth Festspiele, Pierre Boulez
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Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer from Edward Gardner in Oslo
18th Apr 2025
With Gerald Finley as an eloquent Dutchman and Lise Davidsen firing on all cylinders as the sea-captain's daughter whose love redeems him, this new live recording of Wagner's early opera emerges as a serious contender in a crowded field.
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Michael Spyres on In The Shadows
25th Sep 2024
Ahead of next week's Gramophone Awards and International Opera Awards, the baritenor discusses his shortlisted album (released on Erato in March) exploring early Wagner and the composers who influenced his writing.
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In The Shadows with Michael Spyres
1st Mar 2024
The American singer teams up with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset to explore some of the operas which influenced Wagner - including works by Méhul, Beethoven, Meyerbeer and Spontini.
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Dominic Fyfe and Philip Siney on remastering Solti's Ring Cycle
5th Oct 2023
In the wake of winning Gramophone's Spatial Audio Award for their painstaking work on Die Walküre, Decca's producer Dominic Fyfe and sound-engineer Philip Siney discuss how they went about showcasing Solti's landmark achievement in all its glory.
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Wagner: Das Rheingold
George London (Wotan), Kirsten Flagstad (Fricka), Claire Watson (Freia), Set Svanholm (Loge), Waldemar Kmentt (Froh), Eberhard Wächter (Donner), Paul Kuen (Mime), Jean Madeira (Erda), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Walter Kreppel (Fasolt), Kurt Böhme (Fafner) Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti
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Igor Levit's Tristan
16th Sep 2022
Hans Werner Henze's brilliant, baffling set of ‘Preludes for piano, electronic tapes and orchestra’ sits at the heart of this Wagner-inspired recital, which also includes music by Liszt and Mahler via Ronald Stevenson.
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Catherine Foster on Wagner
16th Apr 2020
The British dramatic soprano, who sings Brünnhilde on the Weimar Ring Cycle which is now available on Arthaus Musik, talks to Katherine about her remarkable journey from midwifery to Bayreuth.
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Wagner: Siegfried (DVD)
Johnny Van Hall (Siegfried), Frieder Aurich (Mime), Tomas Möwes (Der Wanderer), Mario Hoff (Alberich), Hidekazu Tsumaya (Fafner), Catherine Foster (Brünnhilde), Heiki Porsten (Forest Bird), Nadine Weissmann (Erda), Staatskapelle Weimar, Carl St. Clair, Michael Schulz (director)
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Lise Davidsen sings Wagner and Strauss
31st May 2019
The robust young Norwegian soprano thrills in scenes from Tannhäuser and Ariadne auf Naxos, and Strauss's Four Last Songs.
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Lise Davidsen on Wagner & Strauss
27th May 2019
The Norwegian lyric-dramatic soprano discusses her career so far and her debut album on Decca, out this Friday.
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Jaap van Zweden on the Hong Kong Philharmonic's Ring Cycle
13th Nov 2018
As the final instalment of the cycle on Naxos is released, the conductor talks to Katherine about the project's origins, and the challenges and rewards of tackling Wagner's epic with an orchestra whose primary home is the concert-hall rather than the opera-house.
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Wagner: Götterdämmerung (CD)
Gun-Brit Barkmin (Brünnhilde), Daniel Brenna (Siegfried), Eric Halfvarson (Hagen), Shenyang (Gunther), Amanda Majeski (Gutrune), Peter Kálmán (Alberich), Michelle DeYoung (Waltraute) Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus & Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden
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Stuart Skelton on Wagner
4th Oct 2018
The Australian tenor (currently singing Siegmund in the Royal Opera House's Ring Cycle) talks to Katherine about his career as a Wagnerian and his debut solo recording Shining Knight, recently released on ABC Classics.
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Wagner's Die Meistersinger from Bayreuth, directed by Barrie Kosky
27th Jul 2018
Katherine reviews the Australian director's complex but illuminating 2017 production, which places the composer himself at the heart of the action.
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Matthias Goerne - The Wagner Project
17th Nov 2017
German baritone Matthias Goerne offers a selection of monologues from Wagner's operas, accompanied by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding.
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Kasper Holten on Das Liebesverbot
11th Mar 2017
With his new production of Die Meistersinger opening at Covent Garden tonight, Katherine talks to the director about his recent staging of Wagner's neglected early comic opera.
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Wagner: Das Liebesverbot (DVD)
Manuela Uhl (Isabella), Christopher Maltman (Friedrich), Peter Lodahl (Lucio), Ilker Arcayürek (Claudio), Ante Jerkunica (Brighella) Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Real, Madrid, Ivor Bolton (conductor) & Kasper Holten (director)
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Matthias Goerne sings Wotan in Wagner's Die Walküre
11th Nov 2016
Katherine listens to the next instalment in Naxos's Ring Cycle, conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
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Richard Wagner
1st Mar 2015
James selects some of his favourite audio and video recordings of the music of Richard Wagner from amongst the many outstanding available accounts.
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Jonas Kaufmann sings Wagner’s Parsifal
17th Feb 2014
The German tenor gives the performance of his career as Wagner’s ‘Holy Fool’ in François Girard’s production from the Metropolitan Opera, with René Pape as Gurnemanz and Katarina Dalayman as Kundry.
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Wagner from Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra
24th Jun 2013
Wonderfully balanced and beautifully characterised accounts of the Overture to Die Meistersinger, the Siegfried Idyll and three excerpts from Götterdämmerung, including an Immolation Scene of laser-sharp accuracy and thrilling power from Petra Lang.
