Gotterdammerung : M.Schulz, C.St.Clair / Staatskapelle Weimar, Schmittberg, Hoff, etc (2008 Stereo)(2DVD)

Richard Wagner: GOTTERDAMMERUNG

Siegfried - Norbert Schmittberg
Gunther - Mario Hoff
Alberich - Tomas Mowes
Hagen - Renatus Meszar
Brunnhilde - Catherine Foster
Gutrune - Marietta Zumbult
Waltraute / Second Norn - Nadine Weissmann
Valkyrie 1 / Floshilde - Christiane Bassek
Valkyrie 2 / First Norn - Christine Hansmann
Valkyrie 3 / Wellgunde - Susann Gunther-Dissmeler
Valkyrie 4 / Third Norn / Woglinde - Silona Michel
Valkyrie 5 - Kerstin Quandt
Valkyrie 6 - Annegret Schodlok
Valkyrie 7 - Elke Sobe
Grane - Erika Kramer

Weimar Deutsches Nationaltheater Opera Chorus
Gentlemen of the Weimar Philharmonic Chorus
Weimar Staatskapelle
Carl St. Clair, conductor

Michael Schulz, stage director
Dirk Becker, set design
Renee Listerdal, costume design

Recorded live from the Deutsches Nationaltheater, Weimar 2008

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Running time: 277 mins
No. of DVDs: 2 (DVD 9)

A bleak wind chord of E flat minor opens Richard Wagner's Gotterdammerung. It establishes the dominant atmosphere of the piece from its fi rst bar: twilight, a deceptive half-light, prevails. Shadowy figures stumble towards the abyss.
The last evening of the Ring is one of plotting and betrayal, of ominous oaths, a chilling lust for power, abuse and humiliation - and, also, of a superbly staged apocalypse, when the beings and things destined for destruction shine brightly for one last time. The leitmotivs and thematic ideas from throughout the whole tetralogy recur in Gotterdammerung, intensified and woven into a musical web from which there can be no escape. Everything appears to fit together fatally with everything else. There is nothing more to be done. The net of catastrophe is knotted too fatefully for that, both musically and dramatically.