This recording is of a very highly regarded production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle; the four operas are completely re-staged at Bayreuth every six years. When recorded in 1991/1992 at the famous Bayreuth opera house built by Richard Wagner himself, this version, staged and directed by Harry Kupfer and conducted by Daniel Barenboim, had matured over five years and is still well remembered and much requested.

"I am more than ever impressed by Barenboim's exciting, excitable conducting. His ability to integrate massive dramatic peaks within the 'symphonic' span of Wagner's long, action-packed acts, his evident love of Wagner's orchestration and his deeply felt response to Wagner's most profoundly moving utterances make this the most compelling of modern recorded Rings." (Hugh Canning, BBC Music Magazine, October 1994)

“From his singing actors director Harry Kupfer has secured performances of unremitting physical and emotional energy… It’s an extraordinary tour de force, thrillingly sung off the text and the action.” (Gramophone 2005)

Clamshell box, with synopsis in English, French and German. No libretto.

Artists

John Tomlinson (Wotan), Anne Evans (Brünnhilde), Siegfried Jerusalem (Siegfried), Nadine Secunde (Sieglinde), Philip Kang (Fafner/Hagen), Linda Finnie (Fricka), Birgitta Svenden (Erda),Günter von Kannen (Alberich), Graham Clark (Loge), Waltraud Meier (Waltraute)

Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Daniel Barenboim