Gotterdammerung

Composer: Wagner, Richard

Librettist/Text Author: Wagner, Richard

Conductor: Barenboim, Daniel

Orchestra: Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Chorus: Bayreuth Festival Chorus

Alberich: Kannen, Gunter von

Brunnhilde: Evans, Anne

Flosshilde: Turner, Jane

Gunther: Brinkmann, Bodo

Gutrune: Bundschuh, Eva-Maria

Hagen: Kang, Philip

Norn: Finnie, Linda

Norn: Priew, Uta

Norn: Svenden, Brigitta

Siegfried: Jerusalem, Siegfried

Waltraute: Meier, Waltraud

Wellgunde: Kuttenbaum, Annette

Woglinde: Leidland, Hilde

Set Designer: Schavernoch, Hans

Costume Designer: Heinrich, Reinhard

Stage Director: Kupfer, Harry

Television Director: Hohlfeld, Horant

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Festival: Bayreuth Festival

Venue: Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Playing Time: 04:31:07

Catalogue Number: A05008444

Libretto

Gotterdammerung

Synopsis

Gotterdammerung

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In 1988, conductor Daniel Barenboim, stage director Harry Kupfer, set
designer Hans Schavernoch and costume designer Reinhard Heinrich came to Bayreuth to realize their vision of Wagner's Ring. They firmly turned away from the work's time of origin and set their sights on a "critique of the history of mankind and of the entire evolution of culture, the destruction of which we are actively furthering"(Kupfer). While Wagner's "critique of mankind's destructive frenzy,its coldness and alienation" (Kupfer) was rooted in Germanic mythology, Kupfer's team locates its Ring in a present that also embraces the past and the future. The place where present, past and future converge is the "road of history", which sets the scene for struggles of power and love, and takes us straight into the depths of the human psyche.

"Harry Kupfer has created a production of great coherency, hard, cutting, transparent, which will delight those who see in Wagner a contemporary and will displease those who consume Wagner like some consecrated artifact in a museum. The entire mythological apparatus is demolished bit by bit: what remains is what Wagner himself wanted: the 'pure humanity' of the myth. [...] The entire 'Ring' unfolds like an intellectual adventure that provokes unforgettable emotions." (La Repubblica)