Wagner: Götterdämmerung (Remastered 2022)

The world’s bravest hero and the world’s wisest woman have fallen in love. They don’t realise that the thread of Fate has already snapped—and when Alberich’s sinister schemes ensnare the lovers, even the gods of Valhalla can only watch in horror as events accelerate towards a truly apocalyptic conclusion. Götterdämmerung ties up the threads of Wagner’s vast modern myth. But the finale of the Ring cycle is also a tremendous experience in its own right: a legend of power, vengeance, love betrayed and a world redeemed, told in music of shattering descriptive force. Decca producer John Culshaw and conductor Georg Solti pulled out all the stops when, in 1964, they recorded what would become the climax of the first studio-recorded Ring cycle. The production reaches new imaginative heights: you hear, and feel, the moment when Valhalla crashes and falls. But what really matters here is the beauty and wholehearted commitment of the central performances: with Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde) and Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried) joined by Gottlob Frick and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the malevolent Hagen and Gunther. The last word goes to Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic, who play—as they have throughout the whole epic journey—as if they’re in love. The Solti Ring, as it’s come to be affectionately known, is an incredible achievement that has been polished afresh in this newly remastered version.