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- VIEW POINTS, Page 69MUSICThose Valkyries Ride Again
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- First broadcast on four consecutive evenings in June 1990, the
- Metropolitan Opera's RING OF THE NIBELUNG was a high-toned TV
- spectacular that swept up viewers in the passion and power of
- Wagner's masterpiece. Now Deutsche Grammophon has released the
- complete home-video version, on both VHS and Laserdisc, as well
- as a new recording of Siegfried, the final installment of
- conductor James Levine's separate CD Ring. With largely the same
- star cast, including Hildegard Behrens as Brunnhilde and James
- Morris as Wotan (Reiner Goldberg sings the role of Siegfried on
- the CD, while Siegfried Jerusalem plays Wagner's hero on the
- video), the twin projects stand or fall on Levine's
- contribution, and the Met's longtime music director rises to the
- occasion. Levine views the Ring through a glass, darkly; the
- music broods and ruminates, heading inexorably (but sometimes
- oh so slowly!) toward its literally earth-shattering conclusion.
- The video is subtitled so that viewers can easily follow the
- often labyrinthine plot. Is it too much to ask that the Met use
- supertitles in real life?
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- By Michael Walsh.
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