Power & Greed: Ring Cycle Highlights

Welcome to our specially curated playlists, highlighting the essential moments within Wagner’s mighty operatic cycle The Ring of the Nibelung. Through each of our four playlists, you’ll discover the major themes and motifs that make The Ring such a compelling experience. And for those using the Apple Music Classical app, we offer an exclusive Listening Guide commentary as each track plays. This playlist brings The Ring’s themes of power and greed centre stage. Wotan, the chief god, and his nemesis, Alberich the dwarf, both desire world power. The ring, forged by Alberich from the gold he snatched from the River Rhine, possesses magical powers—and so it becomes an obvious means to obtain that goal. Throughout this playlist, you’ll encounter some of The Ring’s most earth-shattering moments, as well as its most prominent musical motifs including those of the Rhinegold, Wotan’s Spear, the Sword (“Nothung”), and the gods’ fortress Valhalla, ultimately fated to be destroyed by fire as the old order gives way to the new. All the music is taken from Georg Solti’s landmark studio recording, made between 1958 and 1965—the first ever made of the complete Ring, its legendary status secured by a matchless cast and orchestra, and pioneering sound that has now been remastered in superb Spatial Audio.