'Das Rheingold' DVD

My God, what a thrill.

But nobody needs this poor schnook's estimation
of grand music drama. A few words about the DG
DVD might be in order, though, and a question.

The DVD I just watched is the 1990 Met production
that was broadcast on TV, though it was a stage
performance with audience, and not broadcast
live, as near as I can tell. I don't know who is
the current Met conductor, but it was James Levine
in 1990.

I don't recognise the singers, but these are the
last names of those listed on the front of the box:
Morris, Ludwig, Jerusalem, Wlaschiha, Zednik,
Rootering, Salminen, Haggander.

It's 2 hr 43 min, including curtain calls, and is
aspect ratio 4:3. Before ordering it I couldn't
find any widescreen version, so apparently it
was filmed in 4:3. It's in German of course, and
has five language choices for subtitles, plus
the usual three audio choices.

The only Wagner I had on LP and CD are music-only
excerpts from several operas and the 'Ring' cycle.
But after seeing Malick's 'The New World', which
used the Rheingold prelude at the beginning and
near the end, I wanted to find CDs of the complete
thing, but found the number of available choices
so daunting that I kept putting off ordering it.
The Solti version seemed to be some sort of modern
standard, but not with the most recent sound, so
I didn't get it.

Then I stumbled onto the DVDs on the internet,
and this Met/Levine version looked very attractive.
I have no regrets for choosing it, but then I have
nothing to compare it with.

Question for opera and music drama lovers: Would
it make more sense to get the version of 'Die Walkure'
that is part of this same Met/Levine 'Ring' cycle, or
would it be better to go for entirely separate productions
of it and 'Siegfried' and 'Gotterdammerung'?

On Oct 26, 6:14 pm, Calvin wrote:
> My God, what a thrill.
>
> But nobody needs this poor schnook's estimation
> of grand music drama. A few words about the DG
> DVD might be in order, though, and a question.
>
> The DVD I just watched is the 1990 Met production
> that was broadcast on TV, though it was a stage
> performance with audience, and not broadcast
> live, as near as I can tell. I don't know who is
> the current Met conductor, but it was James Levine
> in 1990.
>
> I don't recognise the singers, but these are the
> last names of those listed on the front of the box:
> Morris, Ludwig, Jerusalem, Wlaschiha, Zednik,
> Rootering, Salminen, Haggander.
>
> It's 2 hr 43 min, including curtain calls, and is
> aspect ratio 4:3. Before ordering it I couldn't
> find any widescreen version, so apparently it
> was filmed in 4:3. It's in German of course, and
> has five language choices for subtitles, plus
> the usual three audio choices.
>
> The only Wagner I had on LP and CD are music-only
> excerpts from several operas and the 'Ring' cycle.
> But after seeing Malick's 'The New World', which
> used the Rheingold prelude at the beginning and
> near the end, I wanted to find CDs of the complete
> thing, but found the number of available choices
> so daunting that I kept putting off ordering it.
> The Solti version seemed to be some sort of modern
> standard, but not with the most recent sound, so
> I didn't get it.
>
> Then I stumbled onto the DVDs on the internet,
> and this Met/Levine version looked very attractive.
> I have no regrets for choosing it, but then I have
> nothing to compare it with.
>
> Question for opera and music drama lovers: Would
> it make more sense to get the version of 'Die Walkure'
> that is part of this same Met/Levine 'Ring' cycle, or
> would it be better to go for entirely separate productions
> of it and 'Siegfried' and 'Gotterdammerung'?

rheingold is the only wagner opera i done watch--on vhs--without
dozing off or having my mind wander. it's grand, powerful, fun, and
exciting. and only 2 hrs and 40 minutes. as for the rest of the
nibelungen, they'd prolly be better if they were 2 hrs each, or 3 hrs
at most. but some go on for nearly 4 hrs and repeat the same stuff
over and over.
the nibelungen version i saw was conducted by james levine who looks
like a nibelung himself--not surprising since the nibelungen were
meant to be jewsters.
it had james morris as wotan. he looked and sounded right. but, i
must say it's always a bummer to watch most opera stars up close.
what a bunch of fat, ugly ogres and dogulas.
anyway, i remember had walkure had some beer bellied german fatso as
sig-something or other. he was supposd to be the father of siegfried.
if i recall correctly, sigfried's mother was some fatass aunt jemima--
was it jesse ENORMan? no wonder siegfried grew so big and strong.
he's half eggplant.
but, he sure doesn't look it. it was played by some skinny kraut who
looked like peter pan. he looked like jeff bridges on atkins diet.
really, the only dudes i liked to see close up were james morris as
wotan and matti salimen as the giant and as some the villain at the
end--the guy who shouts hi-ho, hi-ho like a dwarf in snow white on
steroids.

i'd like to see nibelungen opera redone as satire of 1992 presidential
political campaign. bush sr was wotan who made a tricky deal with two
houses--giants--of democratic congress. pat buchanan as thor.
jimmy carter and dukasis as former democratic losers--as the old
nibelungen. clinton as sigfried. he rejects the sword made by carter
and melts and turns it into a saxophone. he blows on it and birds
drop dead.
when clinton with sax confronts bush with spear, clinton blows on his
sax... the horrific music breaks the spear in two. clinton passes.
bush pulls out a golf stick from the broken spear and decides to
retire from politics...