Performance: ****
Sound: *****

…and another Ring Cycle closes. Rings have proliferated in the past few years to the extent that there have been more of them recently than recordings of Tristan, Tannhäuser or even La Traviata. This one, from Australia, has proven to be one of the best, perhaps the best in terms of sound. The orchestra virtually matches its counterparts in Vienna, Berlin and New York in tonal beauty, range of colours and assurance.

Conductor Asher Fisch has shown himself to be a Wagnerian of the highest order, capable of observing a plethora of details others often overlook while maintaining the long line and creating the equivalent of cinematic drama (the opening Norn scene and the episode just prior to the Immolation Scene are cases in point). Melba’s 6-channel, 64-track SACD sound has won worldwide recognition for its clarity, fullness and sense of “being there”.

This Götterdämmerung features above all the towering presence of Duccio dal Monte in the role of Hagen, as impressively fearsome a voice as nearly any of his predecessors in the role. Jonathan Summers as Gunther pours out an almost unbearable level of frustration and desperation at the end of Act II, Elizabeth Campbell is a deeply moving Waltraute, and John Wegner sustains the high-intensity Alberich he portrayed in Rheingold and Siegfried...

 

The Adelaide Symphony, bolstered by additional players from the other cities, is simply superb. The first chord, so often botched in other performances, is spot-on here. In Act II, the brass outdo themselves, the horn calls in Act III are the lustiest and best-played since the Solti recording. For good reason the orchestra received thunderous applause at the live performance (from which this set is derived) in Adelaide’s Festival Theatre in late 2004.

Robert Markow