Barenboim's Ring

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A bit late to mention it, but Barenboim's Das Rheingold from this year's Proms was re-broadcast this evening.

[amateur51]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mpq8t

I wonder if it will be on iplayer for a week?

[Black Swan]

I remembered the broadcast and have sat her totally enjoying it. I missed Das Rheingold and Walkure but attended Siegfried and Gotterdammerung. I now wish I had heard the entire cycle.

I may be in a minority but think the opening of Rheingold along with the final Entry of the Gods into Valhalla is some of the most fantastic music put to pen. Mind you I love the entire Ring.

[Beef Oven!]

Was blown away over the weekend listening to Sir Reginald Goodall's Rhinegold with the ENO - for me, the best Entry of the Gods into Valhalla known to man

[Petrushka]

I have the entire Proms Barenboim Ring safely stored so don't need to listen to the re-broadcasts. I was enthralled by the original performances back in July and attended only the Gotterdammerung but so wish I'd been able to attend them all.

[Prommer]

Was blown away over the weekend listening to Sir Reginald Goodall's Rhinegold with the ENO - for me, the best Entry of the Gods into Valhalla known to man

Yes he conjured such sounds... I have been re-listening to the Prom performance of Act III of Parsifal he gave in 1987: wow. Such spans, such crescendi, such detail.

[Black Swan]

I don't know the Goodall recordings. I may have to have a listen. I have always shied away as in my mind, and I am probably misguided, I prefer Wagner in German. But I will give Rheingold a try once the holiday congestion on the mail is over.

[teamsaint]

I don't know the Goodall recordings. I may have to have a listen. I have always shied away as in my mind, and I am probably misguided, I prefer Wagner in German. But I will give Rheingold a try once the holiday congestion on the mail is over.

Here you are Blackie, just in case you can't find the ENO version.

http://wiltshire.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CHAN3054-56

[Stanley Stewart]

I also recorded the whole cycle on minidisc and it is satisfying to have Das Rheingold on a single disc without compressing the sound factor.

The Proms cycle is certainly my especial concert highlight of the year where performers, audience and listener became one under Barenboim's Wagnerian hypnotic spell.

In the meantime, I've also acquired Das Rheingold and Die Walkure on DVD, Arthaus Musik, in the 2010 performances by Barenboim/ Orchestra of the Teatro Scala during the Milan season. Only a few cast changes, Rene Papp as Wotan, Doris Soffel as Fricka, although Ekatarina Gubanova replaced her in Die Walkure but sang in both operas at RAH. John Tomlinson sang Hunding at Milan with Waltraud Meier as Sieglinde.

It must have been satisfying for conductor and cast to mature in their respective roles over a few years at a stately pace and no doubt Maestro Barenboim will be reflecting articulately on his development since the Bayreuth productions of the 1990s. I eagerly await the release of Siegfried and Gotterdammerung - the subtitles an additional attraction.

[kernelbogey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mpq8t

I wonder if it will be on iplayer for a week?

Yes, it appears so. I missed these broadcasts in the summer and am prevented by family commitments from listening to the repeats as broadcast, so looking forward to a catch up via iPlayer. I heard bits of Rheingold in the car yesterday, and it sounds like I'm in for a treat.

[bluestateprommer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mpq8t

I wonder if it will be on iplayer for a week?

Yup, so far, so good:

Rheingold: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mpq8t (5 days left as of this writing)

Walkure: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03m3xr1 (6 days left as of this writing)

Soon to come:

Siegfried: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lzqc5

Gotterdaemmerung: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03m7ryq

I do have one question for those who were lucky enough to be at the RAH for Gotterdaemmerung, and who actually stayed for the entire stretch of the 25-minute or so applause. After Barenboim made his speech, and he brought the Staatskapelle concertmaster to his feet, did anything else happen after Wolf-Dieter Batzdorf took his solo bows? Was there any additional audience reaction besides the applause?

[kernelbogey]

I may be in a minority but think the opening of Rheingold along with the final Entry of the Gods into Valhalla is some of the most fantastic music put to pen. Mind you I love the entire Ring.

Your remark has been buzzing around my head over the holidays. A combination of family commitments and a catastrophic computer failure - now happily rectified - prevented me from hearing the broadcasts on iPlayer as I had hoped. But I caught the broadcast of the last act of Goetterdaemmerung: I think that its closing pages also fit your description for me.

[Flay]

I think that its closing pages also fit your description for me.

Agreed. Please also add the ending of Walküre to that list.

[Flay]

Oh calamity... I had recorded each episode for later consumption but have only listened to fragments thus far.

After my above posting I had a quick listen to Walküre's ending only to discover that it had been cut short!

[Keraulophone]

I also recorded the whole cycle on minidisc and it is satisfying to have Das Rheingold on a single disc without compressing the sound factor.

...except that MiniDisc employed Sony's ATRAC audio compression that used a bitrate approximately one fifth of the original, i.e. up to 80% of the information was discarded.