Waltraud Meier

Götterdämmerung, the final instalment of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung, is a story of human passions. Two essentially benevolent creatures, involved with and possibly doomed by their traffic with the gods, find treachery and evil in the world of the humans, and are ruined by the dark side of humanity. Iréne Theorin, acclaimed worldwide for her portrayal of Wagner’s heroines, stars as Brünnhilde opposite Lance Ryan, who continues his radiant portrayal of the tragic hero Siegfried. The strong cast also includes Mikhail Petrenko as the dark antagonist Hagen and Johannes Martin Kränzle, who once again shines as his father Alberich. Waltraud Meier has a memorable appearance as Brünnhilde’s sister Waltraute. With this 2013 recording of Götterdämmerung, the musically and visually compelling Scala Ring Cycle by Daniel Barenboim and Guy Cassiers was completed and proved to be one of the highlights of the Richard Wagner bicentenary.

This dramatic production by the brilliant German stage director Harry Kupfer marked Daniel Barenboim's appointment as the artistic director of the Berlin State Opera in 1992. The cast is made up of the finest Wagnerian singers of the period, all of whom enjoyed substantial international careers. Barenboim's superb conducting reveals Wagner's multi-layered score in all it's glory.

Ring Cycle, pt 4. Siegfried is drugged and tricked into kidnapping his wife, since she has the Ring now. More double-crossings, Siegfried ends up dead. Brunnhilde has had enough of this, tosses the Ring into the river and torches the place.

The Nikolaus Lehnhoff production of Richard Strauss's "Elektra", recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2010. Iréne Theorin stars as Elektra, with Eva-Maria Westbroek as Chrysothemis, Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra, Robert Gambill as Aegisth, and René Pape as Orest. Daniele Gatti conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker.

THIRD DAY OF THE RING CYCLE. Günter, the lord of the Rhine people, gives Siegfried a love potion that causes Siegfried to forget Brünnhilde and fall in love with Günter's sister Gutrane. Siegfried has given Brünnhilde the Ring as a token of their love, but her Valkyrie sister urges her to destroy it, because their father Wotan has lost his spear and power and is hiding out in Valhalla. Instead, Brünnhilde keeps it, and under the influence of the potion, Siegfried steals it from her. Enraged, Brünnhilde helps Alberich's son murder Siegfried, but Siegfried's memory returns, and he dies thinking of Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde repents and orders a funeral pyre to be built. She rides into the fire herself, and the Rhinemaidens get the ring back. The story closes with flames flickering about Valhalla in the background. Filmed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in June & July 1991.