Wagner: Siegfried

01/04/2007
Göran Forsling
MusicWeb International (UK)

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The first Australian Ring...was recorded during live performances at the Adelaide Festival Theatre during four busy weeks at the end of 2004 and attracted a lot of attention for the stunning SACD Surround Sound. The listener is transported to the recording venue, the atmosphere fully caught and the orchestra’s magnificent playing faithfully reproduced in a well balanced production...

Reviewing the first two instalments I praised the conducting of Asher Fisch as well as the superlative playing and I don’t withdraw a syllable of this concerning Siegfried either ...

As for the singing I am happy to report that the high quality of Die Walküre is in the main retained here...

David Hibbard’s Fafner is imposingly black and sepulchral and Shu-Cheen Yu is actually the loveliest Woodbird I have heard...At the other end of the female spectrum Liane Keegan is an excellent Erda, pouring out steady tone. I have admired John Bröcheler’s Wotan both in the Haenchen DVD Ring and in the earlier instalments in the present one...he has authority and there is some bloom to his tone and very little of the wobble many Wotans and Wanderers produce. Lisa Gasteen was Brünnhilde ... unflinching power and also a great deal of sensitive warm-hearted soft singing...

The find, for me at least, is Gary Rideout as Siegfried. Here is that rarity: a basically lyric tenor, light-toned and able to sing honeyed beautiful cantilena – not the first thing one expects from a Siegfried!...he sings Da sah ich denn auch mein eigen Bild so beautifully and again on tr. 18, ca 2:00, Sonderlich seltsam muss das sein! This is youthful lyric singing of the highest order...It isn’t a flawless performance but so much is admirable.

The presentation is first class...

... this Melba recording ... has a magnificent Fafner, a splendid Mime and Gary Rideout as the most lyrical Siegfried I have heard – at least since Brilioth...

The bottom line still reads: With much inspired playing and singing and superb SACD sound this is a set that can be warmly recommended. Those who have already acquired the first two instalments need not hesitate.