Kritiken
 
Wagner: Die Walküre - Mariinsky - Label
 
1 - Musicweb International: Die Walküre, Recording of the Month
2 - The Guardian: Wagner: Die Walküre – review
3 - Financial Times: Wagner: Die Walküre; Jonas Kaufmann: Arias and Lieder by Wagner
4 - Spiegel online: Gergiev und Wagner: Reitet 'ne Walküre auf der Newa
5 - L'Express: La Walkyrie, un enregistrement événement
6 - Associated Press: Various Artists, "Wagner: Die Walkuere" (Mariinsky)
7 - Télérama: Die Walküre
8 - The Sunday Times: Pick of the week - Wagner — Die Walküre
9 - Opera Britannia: Die Walküre (Mariinsky)
10 - Bay Area Reporter: Inexhaustible Wagner
11 - The Telegraph: Wagner: Die Walküre, classical album review
12 - Diapason: Wagner se lève à l'Est
13 - Classicalsource: Mariinsky/Valery Gergiev – Wagner’s Die Walküre
14 - Prestoclassical: Wagner from Jonas Kaufmann and others
15 - El Mercurio: GRAN ELENCO PARA “LA WALKYRIA”
16 - The Boston Globe: WAGNER: “DIE WALKÜRE”
17 - Opéra: Une Walkyrie de rêve
18 - WDR: Valery Gergiev: Die Walküre
19 - Le Figaro: Musique classique: le Top 3 de la semaine
20 - El Nuevo Herald: Nina Stemme y Jonas Kaufmann lideran una Valquiria ‘á la rusa’
21 - Opernglas: Die Walküre
22 - Concertonet: Richard Wagner : Die Walküre
23 - Audiophile Edition: WAGNER: Die Walküre
24 - Classique News: Wagner: La Walkyrie (Gergiev, 2011-2012)
25 - San Francisco Classical Voice: Gergiev’s Starry Die Walküre
26 - Nürnberger Nachrichten: Neue CDs: Gergievs "Ring"
27 - Le Temps: Une «Walkyrie» rédimée par ses voix
28 - Gramophone: Gergiev's new in-concert Ring launches with Die Walküre
29 - Opera UK: Die Walküre, Wagner
30 - The New York Times: Wagner: ‘Die Walküre’
31 - Opernwelt: Gestückelt
32 - Los Angeles Times: Critic's pick: A standout 'Die Walkure' on CD from Mariinsky
33 - Musica: Wagner - Die Walküre *****
34 - Die Welt: Neue CDs zum Wagner-Jahr
35 - Limelight: Wagner - Die Walküre
36 - International Record Review: Wagner - Die Walküre
37 - BBC Music Magazine: Gergiev's Valkyries take flight
38 - Opera News: WAGNER: Die Walküre
39 - Kwadratuur: Die Walküre
40 - KlassikInfo: Zwei halbe Ringe
41 - L'Opera: Die Walküre
42 - Amadeus: Die Walküre
43 - Magazin Klassik.com: Altmodisch modern
44 - RONDO: Richard Wagner - Die Walküre
1 - Much of the attention this release gets will focus on Jonas Kaufmann’s Siegmund, and rightly so because he is a marvel. He is now at the point of his career where his voice is perfect for the role of the Wälsung hero. He combines lyrical beauty with dark, rugged heroism and a supreme sense of excitement in articulating every phrase. The baritonal darkness of his voice makes you sit up and take notice from the very first phrase, and it’s this that makes his assumption of the role so distinctive. It adds an even greater layer of pathos to the character’s suffering while giving Siegmund extra heroic grandeur that makes us root for him all the more. The excitement is there in his cries of Wälse! Wälse! and in his ringing excitement of Wälsungen-Blut that brings down the curtain on Act 1, but the lyrical beauty of his Winterstürme is every bit as compelling, as is his lovely song to the sleeping Sieglinde at the end of Act 2. As important as the vocal beauty, though, is the thoughtful artistry that underpins everything he does. Like a lieder singer, he seems to have thought deeply about the text and each phrase feels laden with meaning, articulated with clarity and precision. Listen, for example, to the way in which he grows into his narration of his past in the first act. The opening phrases seem tentative, even nervous, as if he is reluctant to share his life story with Hunding, but the monologue grows like a great arch leading to a final couplet (Nun weisst du, fragende Frau...) that will break your heart. Likewise, the entire Todesverkundigung scene grows in stature from its dream-like beginnings through to a hair-raising finale, electrified by Kaufmann’s identification with the text, before subsiding into the peace of Zauberfest. Kaufmann’s Siegmund is more lyrical than Jon Vickers (Karajan on DG), more beautiful than Gary Lakes (Levine on DG), more distinctive than Poul Elming (Barenboim on Warner) and more heroic than James King (Solti on Decca or Böhm on Philips). The closest comparison I’ve come across on disc is with Ramón Vinay (Krauss on Archipel and Keilberth on Testament) whose dark voice is of a similar hue to Kaufmann’s and who has a similarly complete identification with the character. This should be enough to show you that Kaufmann’s Siegmund is in a very special league indeed, and for his contribution alone this set is worth the purchase price.

2 - In the first act at least, with Jonas Kaufmann as an incomparable Siegmund, Anja Kampe a profoundly moving Sieglinde and Gergiev pacing the performance to an overwhelming climax, the result is spellbinding. In fact, few performances on disc can match it for sheer excitement, or for Kaufmann's blend of easy power, immaculate diction and lyric beauty.

3 - The link between these Wagner bicentenary releases is not just the master of Bayreuth. It is Kaufmann, who sings a rapturous Siegmund on the first instalment of Valery Gergiev’s St Petersburg Ring and treats us to a matchless Wagner recital with the Orchestra of Berlin’s Deutsche Oper under Donald Runnicles.

4 - Mit Jonas Kaufmann hat er dabei einen Siegmund, der für die nötige Erdung in Sachen deutschen Wagner-Feelings bürgt...Jonas Kaufmanns gemessener Siegmund dient als idealer Ausgleich: Seine immer noch leicht manieriert rollende Diktion bringt eine würdevoll historische Note ins Spiel, die sich mit dem auftrumpfenden Sopran von Anja Kampes Sieglinde verbindet. Ein sexy Paar, das sich vom dämonisch drohenden Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding) nicht einschüchtern lässt.

5 - Première "journée" à paraître, cette Walkyrie réunit les meilleurs chanteurs wagnériens du moment : Kaufmann, justement, est un Siegmund pénétrant, ...

6 - Tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Anja Kampe are just about ideal as the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde

7 - Dans un marché de voix wagnériennes plus florissant qu'il y a vingt ans, Valery Gergiev a préempté le meilleur. Notamment pour les rôles masculins. C'est au Siegmund werthérien de Jonas Kaufmann que revient la palme. Depuis le Canadien Jon Vickers (dans l'enregistrement de Karajan), on n'avait plus entendu l'« Hymne au printemps » chanté avec un phrasé aussi ample et voluptueux, des pianissimi aussi tendres.

8 - His Act I has Jonas Kaufmann’s heroic, poetic Siegmund at the peak of his powers, partnering a limpid, youthful-sounding Sieglinde in Anja Kampe — a dream pair of Wälsung twins for our time, and one to compare with the greatest on disc.

9 - I imagine just about every Wagnerian would put Jonas Kaufmann at the head of their wish-list casting for Siegmund and – rather wonderfully – that’s what the Mariinsky has done here. ‘A voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree’ – Kipling describing Bagheera, the black panther in The Jungle Book; it could equally be applied to Kaufmann, whose baritonal timbre and almost smoky half tones make his Siegmund intensely masculine. His ‘Winterstürme’ is softly ardent, immediately answered by a beautiful ‘Du bist der Lenz’ from our Sieglinde. Anja Kampe might be a surprise choice for some – her Wagner hasn’t always been ecstatically received – but she sings all the notes with a good deal of control. She is possibly less warm than Eva-Maria Westbroek, but she sings tenderly when required and opens into a marvellous ‘O hehrstes Wunder!’ in Act III. Kaufmann and Kampe are simply thrilling at the end of Act I, so much so that it elicited a cheer from this armchair listener.

31 - Die force majeur der Aufnahme ist der Siegmund von Jonas Kaufmann. Er schenkt der Partie nicht nur Fülle des Wohllauts, sondern singt sie auch mit höchster expressiver Energie; überdies sorgt er bei den «Wälse»-Rufen oder in den ekstatischen Momenten des Duetts (etwa bei «So blühe denn, Wälsungenblut») für echten thrill. Vor allem überzeugt er durch ein vokales und verbales Agieren, das jede Geste der Figur in einem Klangspiegel sichtbar werden lässt. Seine Stimme erinnert - gerade in der dunklen Färbung der unteren Oktave - immer mehr an Jon Vickers. Bemerkenswert, wie geschmeidig dynamische Übergänge vom Forte ins Piano gelingen, wobei kaum je der Eindruck entsteht, dass er mit zwei Stimmen, also entweder modal oder kopfig, singt. Imponierend ist vor allem die Stetigkeit seines Singens, die Rundung des Tons selbst in Momenten dramatischer Intensivierung. (Jürgen Kesting, Opernwelt)

 

 
 
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