Walkure/Halle/Elder

[mercia]

Act 1 - 20 September Radio 3 7:30pm
Acts 2 & 3 - 21 September 7:00pm (amended)

Following the success of their 2009 performance of Gotterdammerung, the Halle and conductor Sir Mark Elder return to Wagner's Ring for the second instalment of the epic cycle: Die Walkure. This concert performance, split over two days, was recorded at The Bridgewater Hall in July, part of the 2011 Manchester International Festival. The cast includes Egils Silins as Wotan, his performance praised by Tim Ashley in The Guardian as "intelligent, beautiful sounding, and intensely tragic", and also stars experienced Wagner exponents Susan Bullock, Susan Bickley and Stig Andersen. Ian Skelly presents.

Wagner: Die Walkure

Siegmund ..... Stig Andersen
Sieglinde ..... Yvonne Howard
Hunding ..... Clive Bayley
Wotan ..... Egils Silins
Brünnhilde ..... Susan Bullock
Fricka ..... Susan Bickley
Gerhilde ..... Miranda Keys
Ortlinde ..... Elaine McKrill
Waltraute ..... Sarah Castle
Schwertleite ..... Linda Finnie
Helmwige ..... Katherine Broderick
Siegrune ..... Alison Kettlewell
Grimgerde ..... Ceri Williams
Rossweisse ..... Leah-Marian Jones

The Halle
Sir Mark Elder (conductor)

[Ventilhorn]

20/21 September Radio 3 7:30pm

Following the success of their 2009 performance of Gotterdammerung, the Halle and conductor Sir Mark Elder return to Wagner's Ring for the second instalment of the epic cycle: Die Walkure. This concert performance, split over two days, was recorded at The Bridgewater Hall in July, part of the 2011 Manchester International Festival. The cast includes Egils Silins as Wotan, his performance praised by Tim Ashley in The Guardian as "intelligent, beautiful sounding, and intensely tragic", and also stars experienced Wagner exponents Susan Bullock, Susan Bickley and Stig Andersen. Ian Skelly presents.

Wagner: Die Walkure

Siegmund ..... Stig Andersen
Sieglinde ..... Yvonne Howard
Hunding ..... Clive Bayley
Wotan ..... Egils Silins
Brünnhilde ..... Susan Bullock
Fricka ..... Susan Bickley
Gerhilde ..... Miranda Keys
Ortlinde ..... Elaine McKrill
Waltraute ..... Sarah Castle
Schwertleite ..... Linda Finnie
Helmwige ..... Katherine Broderick
Siegrune ..... Alison Kettlewell
Grimgerde ..... Ceri Williams
Rossweisse ..... Leah-Marian Jones

The Halle
Sir Mark Elder (conductor)

Thanks for the advance notification, Mercia

I shall look forward to hearing that and especially the Ride of the Valkiries.

I hope that Sir Mark will ensure that the horns and trombones will, in the main tune, play with the rhythm Ams-ter-dam, dah dah and not Man-ches-ter, dah dah, in view of the performance's location.

Raining cats and dogs here, so I'm going to devise a proms programme for World Wildlife Day.

'morning all'

VH

[Roslynmuse]

I was at the performance(s) and they were superb. Do listen if you can!

[Chris Newman]

This sounds very promising.

A pity that Philip Jourdan could not get the Latvian Egils Silins as Wotan in Paris this Spring. He had him at Zurich this year and his voice sounds much warmer and steadier than the dried out Juha Uusitalo (who was not a patch on his 2008 performances with Mehta. I guess three years of Wagner singing can take its toll).

[rodney_h_d]

Die Walkure Acts 2 and 3 will now start at 7:00pm

I heard on R3 this evening that the broadcast of Acts 2 and 3 on Wednesday 21st will commence at 7:00pm - not 7:30pm as previously announced. The online schedule confirms this.

[BBMmk2]

Very excited about this!! That's a sensible solution toi spread this Music Drama over two days.

[Petrushka]

I heard on R3 this evening that the broadcast of Acts 2 and 3 on Wednesday 21st will commence at 7:00pm - not 7:30pm as previously announced. The online schedule confirms this.

It was obvious from the timings given in RT that they could not possibly have squeezed in both Acts in the time allocated.

[Bert Coules]

Having missed the announcements regarding the start time, I tuned in at 7.30pm for act two and was slightly taken aback to find myself in the middle of Wotan's narration. Some daring cuts on the part of Mark Elder, there, I thought. Or some extremely fast tempi.

[kernelbogey]

Also missed both Act I yesterday (will listen later on the RingPlayer) and the beginning of Act II tonight, but enjoying what I'm hearing now. Susan Bullock excellent from what I've heard. Some tempi a little slow, I thought.

[DracoM]

Band a hell of a lot better than the singers IMO. Sorry - really disappointed with both Sieglinde and Brunnhilde. Wotan was a real lightweight too.

[Flosshilde]

Band a hell of a lot better than the singers IMO. Sorry - really disappointed with both Sieglinde and Brunnhilde. Wotan was a real lightweight too.

I thought that Wotan was fine - perhaps his voice lacked weight a bit, but I don't think that's a problem (I missed the final scene, so don't know how he fared in that). I found Susan Bullock's sudden shrieks a bit too much.