This is one of those times you wish you could grade like a high school teacher of yesteryear. Instead of content vs. grammar, it would be orchestra vs. singers.Give the orchestra here a big fat A, the singers all over the place but averaging out maybe a high C. (Not that kind of high C.)This is the first time the Opus Arte label has published a set of CDs, rather than DVDs. Apparently this 2006-08 production of Wagner's four-opera cycle wasn't up to snuff visually and dramatically. But they figured there was a market for conductor Christian Thielemann's interpretation.Germany has lacked a superstar conductor since the death of Herbert von Karajan 20 years ago. Thielemann has been the heir apparent for a decade. This Ring shows he has the real stuff.Only a few minutes into the first of the tetralogy, Das Rheingold, you are noticing orchestral lines and shadings you had missed in other performances. Generally, Thielemann's Wagner is both propulsive and weighty. How he loves the thwack of those bass drums and the sonorous depths of tubas! In physics, acceleration times mass equals force. This is forceful, luminous, tragic Wagner.But, ah, the singers. In the huge cast, only the Siegmund and Sieglinde (Endrik Wottrich and Eva-Maria Westbroek) and the Hagen (Hans-Peter Konig) are thoroughly pleasurable to listen to. And they're all in only one opera apiece. Albert Dohnen, Linda Watson and Stephen Gould can make some lovely sounds when not under pressure. But Wotan, Brünnhilde and Siegfried make some of the most horrendous demands ever written for voices. Things can get painful.Decades ago, critics carped at the "Bayreuth bark." Singers at the theater Wagner himself founded frequently sounded rough and harsh. Let's hope those days haven't returned in full force. There's way too much lurching from note to note, shouting and squalling here.In a way, economics are responsible for the flaws in this set. If they still made records in the studio, a suitable cast could be assembled, if with difficulty. But it's rare to get the few real players into the same stage productions. Whether you can sit through the singing to hear the orchestral glories here depends on your tolerance for the unpleasant.Wagner --Dallas Morning News, Lawson Taitte, December 20097/10 - Recorded during the 2008 Bayreuth Festival, Christian Thielemann's Ring Cycle is sonically sumptuous, instrumentally dazzling, and vocally inconsistent. As Brünnhilde, Linda Watson's huge voice battles uphill when high notes and sustained power are required, although softer, lower-lying passages bring out her best work, and Christa Meyer is clearly more comfortable in Erda's tessitura than in the Gotterdämmerung Waltraute's more demanding music. Enrik Wottrich's odd diction and monochrome timbre make for a most unattractive Siegmund. However, Andrew Shore's slightly frayed top register is of little consequence when considering his superb vocal acting as Alberich. Gerhard Siegel's Mime also stands out for characterization, and is beautifully sung.In addition to the respective Norn and Rhinemaiden trios, Michelle Breedt (Fricka), Eva-Maria Westbrook (Sieglinde), and Edith Haller (Gutrune) easily stand out among this Ring's female singers. Albert Dohman's fabulous legato, registral evenness, and textual sensitivity make for a consistently engaging Wotan and Wanderer, while Hans-Peter König does double duty as Fafner and Hagen, gracing each role with his rich vocal presence and dramatic malevolence.The orchestra is to die for. Thielemann obtains standards of execution that rival and often surpass Boulez and Barenboim in their respective 1979/80 and 1993 Bayreuth cycles. No matter how prominent or obscure the leitmotif, Thielemann makes sure that it resonates within the barest or thickest textures. Technical sheen and characterful intensity distinguish the first-desk soloists, and the percussion section never holds back, while the strings mesh with painstaking calibration and unanimity. The agile, gorgeously blended brass may well reflect the Karajan/Berlin paradigm that Thielemann credits as an influence; listen to brass/harp balances in the sequence leading into Das Rheingold Scene 2, or notice the seamless textural interweaving in the long instrumental stretch leading into the final scene of Siegfried.At times Thielemann slows the music in its tracks where Wagner does not, such as the Siegfried Forging Song's incongruous tempo pullback, or, in Gotterdämmerung Act 1, the lethargic, enervated underscoring just before Siegfried returns to the rock, disguised as Günther. If you judge the Ring by the orchestra first and the singing second, by all means investigate this release. --ClassicsToday.com, Jed Distler, January 2010A mixed bag, this.  What makes it worth investing in is Thielemann's superlative conducting - powerful and often monumental yet able to bring out chamber-like details and the often broadly funny, often terrifying comedy in the score.  The cast is erratic and to be honest doesn't measure up to some rivals, but it's still an intense and impressive piece of story-telling. --Gramophone Editor's Choice, January 2010From the opening tracks of Opus Arte's new 14-CD set of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ($126) -- recorded live at the 2008 Bayreuth Festival -- Christian Thielemann shows himself a masterful Wagner conductor. Calibrating inner voices to illuminate the drama and building climaxes of sweeping power, he paces the four-opera cycle with a balance of expansiveness and forward motion, symphonic cohesion and molded phrasing. The brass is weighty and fat-sounding, string attacks are incisive and the woodwinds often sound engaged enough in the emotion of the piece to qualify as characters in the drama.Thielemann is helped by recording engineers who have caught the famous glow of the Festspielhaus acoustic -- the opera house that Wagner built -- while providing orchestral sound of thrilling immediacy and punch. Voices, too, sound very present and register with a welcome roundness and clarity. And, in contrast to some recent, less-than-distinguished "Ring" recordings from provincial Central European houses, the voices here are worth preserving.The Opus Arte "Ring" enters a crowded field, dominated by the legacy of legendary postwar recordings -- most iconically the much-lauded 1955 Bayreuth cycle that appeared recently on the Testament label. A terrific set, quite deserving of its elevated status, the '55 cycle is, nevertheless, not without its share of vocal idiosyncrasies and fallibilities. Those Testament CDs are chock-full of great interpreters with acquired-taste voices -- a point that often gets lost in the critical rush to tout its golden-age credentials.If the 2008 Bayreuth cast also is uneven, the singers here really know what this music is about, and possess enough considerable strengths to nudge the new set into the upper echelon. As Brünnhilde, Linda Watson's jackhammer high notes are compensated for by the fullness and clarion power of her soprano, the tenderness of much of her singing and her affecting vocal acting. And while Stephen Gould may lack the nuance and outsized upper register of the greatest Siegfrieds, he offers something few of them have -- a genuine ring of youth in his clear and forthright tenor. Albert Dohmen's Wotan, urgently acted and handsomely sung in a wide-ranging bass-baritone, brings to mind the classic Wotans of George London, Thomas Stewart and James Morris.In fact, the quality of voices here is consistently high, as is the level of passion and color in those voices. Vibrant characters -- not simply singers trying to cope with Wagner's demands, as one hears on some of the most recent "Ring" recordings -- leap from the speakers in a way seldom heard since the great recorded cycles of the '50s and '60s.Eva-Maria Westbroek's shimmering Sieglinde and Gutrune, Endrik Wottrich's gutsy Siegmund (his muscular timbre reminiscent of James McCracken's), Hans-Peter König's splendidly dark and menacing Hagen, Andrew Shore's memorably vivid Alberich -- all of these are portrayals as confident and authentic as the best we've heard. Together with Thielemann's imposing work in the pit, this fine ensemble of contemporary Wagnerians make Opus Arte's "Ring" a worthy shelf-mate for the best recordings of generations past. --The Washington Post, Joe Banno, March 28, 2010Once upon a time, a new recording of Wagner's Ring cycle from Bayreuth, the Wagner shrine, would have set the standard by which all other contemporary Ring s could, and would, be judged. The latest live Bayreuth Ring (Opus Arte, in its first CD-only release), invaluable as it is for documenting the astounding conducting of Christian Thielemann, artistically the steadiest hand in the political maelstrom of the Festival today, also shows how far off the Bayreuth axis has swung. With the exception of the now-epochal centenary Ring directed by Patrice Chereau, Ring cycles since the opening of the post-World War II "New Bayreuth" have been known by conductors' names, an almost eerie number of them Ks: Karajan, Krauss, Knappertsbusch or (my current favorite) Keilberth 1952. Their overlapping casts reflected the fact that the Festival attracted the world's top Wagner singers. These days, a Ring is more likely to be associated with the city presenting it. There is every reason to expect that the new Los Angeles Ring (May 29-June 26) and San Francisco Opera's June performances of Die Walkuere, heralding another complete West Coast Ring in 2011, will generate a great deal more buzz than this latest missive from Bayreuth. And in James Conlon and Donald Runnicles, both cities boast terrific conductors. There are so many compromises in Thielemann's cast that he is almost the only point of interest in this new Ring, culled from the 2008 cycles of a troubled production he has overseen since it was new in 2006. It begs the question whether the singer problem at Bayreuth is related to the central theme of the Ring: greed. Can the world's best Wagner voices no longer afford the time off the lucrative summer festival circuit that a Bayreuth Ring demands? There's abundant evidence that Thielemann can work with - in fact, works best with - top-flight singers. Two recent examples of his music-making at its freest and most risk-taking are DVDs of his Vienna Die Meistersinger (Medici Arts) and Munich Der Rosenkavalier (Decca), where his interactions with his casts are notably spontaneous and charged. The 2008 Ring shows how supportive he is of singers when they need it. The wonders Thielemann works with the Bayreuth orchestra warrant issuing this Ring. His genius at achieving transparency in even the densest orchestral writing reaches new heights here, particularly his fine-grained work with the woodwinds, which often have gotten submerged in the tricky acoustics of Bayreuth's covered pit. The way he brings them forward in the Todesverkundigung scene in Walkuere is revelatory, a mini-drama of its own. It's musically more interesting, and nearly eclipses, the human drama transpiring onstage with Bruennhilde, Siegmund and Sieglinde. Thielemann's best work is in the outer operas, Das Rheingold and Goetterdaemmerung, where, among other achievements, he gets the special sound effects right without the kind of attention-seeking exaggeration that compromises some legendary Ring recordings, like Solti's. Yet, disappointingly, some of the Ring 's big moments, the Ride of the Valkyries, the Forest Murmurs, never quite take off. And there are oddities - abrupt, unprepared tempos changes; vast pauses - that distract. Bayreuth mustered a good bunch of Rhine Maidens, Valkyries and Norns, but the vocal problems begin with the entrance of Andrew Shore's wobbly, menace-light Alberich. The cast is well-meaning overall, but only Michelle Breedt (Fricka) and Eva-Maria Westbrook (Sieglinde) completely fulfill their assignments, and then without the kind of individuality of characterization that lingers in the mind. It's clear that the singers of the major, defining roles have considered their assignments and are doing all they can to realize their conceptions, but far too often their voices fail them. Albert Dohmen's Wotan/Wanderer runs out of steam at peak moments ("das Ende" in Wotan's profound Walkuere narration sounds almost comically like a declaration of "The End" appended to a long story). Linda Watson's big, generous Bruennhilde sounds labored, cutting musical corners just to get out all the notes. Stephen Gould's Siegfried has a genuinely youthful sound, but the tenor approaches the role with a sense of almost haphazard ease, talking as much as singing. If Arnold Bezuyen could do with the notes what he does with the text, his Loge would be a contenda. The dark-voiced bad guys largely disappoint. Hans-Peter Koenig's puddy-tat Fafner brings Siegfried's final confrontation with the dragon perilously close to a comedy sketch. Testament's first-ever publication of two parts of the second cycle of the 1955 Keilberth Ring - whose first cycle, the first-ever live stereo Ring, was such a revelation last year - brings new meaning to the words "consolation prize" for people who like their Ring s with godly voices. Martha Moedl replaces the incomparable Astrid Varnay as Bruennhilde, but that gives Varnay the opportunity to unleash a searing Sieglinde and round it off with a terrific Third Norn. And there's Hans Hotter as Gunther. --Bay Area Reporter, Tim Pfaff, February 25, 2009There's something winningly retro about a brand-new Ring Cycle recording that's neither downloadable (at least yet) nor on DVD. And while zeroing in on the orchestra's contribution, you could believe this is something from one of the Wagnerian golden ages. Christian Thielemann ranks with the best, both now and in the recorded past. His reading of the huge, four-part saga has Georg Solti's towering grandeur as well as Herbert von Karajan's clarity of texture - in a conception that has Thielemann's own unique specificity: With singers, he accompanies in the spirit of a precise German art-song pianist, projecting the most subtle strokes of characterization. The sound quality is the best yet from Bayreuth, and that's saying a lot.The singers, however, give credence to the belief that there are plenty of good Wagnerian singers, but not at Bayreuth. Time and again, the principal singers fail to rise to the heroic heights that Thielemann's conception so often demands. One must expect moments of vocal labor in any live Ring Cycle, but at times, the often-good Linda Watson (Brunnhilde) barely keeps her head above water. The men generally fare better - even tenor Stephen Gould amid the vocal impossibilities of Siegfried, and certainly Albert Dohmen's deeply-felt Wotan - but whether this adds up to a value worthy of the set's $140 price tag is a more personal matter. --Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns, December 27, 2009These days, new Ring recordings are as plentiful as new reality TV shows! Many of the newer ones are imminently forgettable, but a new Opus Arte "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (14 CDs) is very worthy of attention. This Ring, handsomely packaged, features wunderkind conductor Christian Thielemann, the young master of the German repertory. He leads the forces of the 2008 Bayreuth Festival in these live, onstage recordings.Thielemann's conception of Wagner's massive score is indeed a noble one. Under his baton the music drama progresses at a steady pace with the necessary urgency and yet, paradoxically, also with a sense of repose, as if time were properly mythic. Many of the bass undercurrents in the orchestra are given voice, making for a richer orchestral fabric, though few of the details are lost. The Opus Arte sound engineers have captured the spaciousness of the famous Bayreuth acoustics, creating a rather wide sound picture.Vocally, for better or worse, this Ring is state-of-the-art Wagner: Linda Watson, the BrÃ¼nnhilde, and Albert Dohmen, the Wotan, appeared in the Met's complete Rings this spring. Both are expressive singers, neither is ever lost in Thielemann's sea of sound. In general the voices are lighter than in Ring recordings of previous generations (so what else is new?). No one will confuse Watson's BrÃ¼nnhilde with Birgit Nilsson's, in other words. But most of the interpretations here are intelligent and dramatic. Some are wonderful: Eva-Maria Westbroek is outstanding as Sieglinde; Andrew Shore's Alberich is an agile schemer; Stephen Gould's Siegfried has an attractive, clean sound.I've said before in these pages: there is no perfect Ring recording from Bayreuth or anywhere else. Even the now famous Keilberth Ring has its flaws, as does the BÃhm Ring, the Boulez Ring, the Barenboim Ring, and so on. But if you're looking for a grand musical conception from Wagner's very own theater, one that ranks with the best, sung by singers you can see on the world's stages today, by all means go for this Thielemann Ring on Opus Arte! --The Advocate, Jerome R. Sehulster, December 11, 2009This new Ring from Opus Arte seems coloured by tacit criticisms. Most obvious is the fact that there's no mention that this cycle, recorded at the 2008 Bayreuth Festival, was a revival of Tankred Dorst's 2006 production. The box cover for each work in the tetralogy is all we have to give us a hint of what the production was like, while the booklets themselves are rather austere, text only affairs.   It would be interesting to know whether the visuals and the usual Opus Arte DVD format were eschewed for artistic reasons or for more prosaic, contractual reasons. As it stands, this is Opus Arte's first CD release - and the first of a new agreement with Bayreuth; Christoph Marthaler's new Tristan is released on DVD this month - and the emphasis naturally shifts onto the purely musical side of things...   Thankfully, at least Thielemann is up to the billing. Always a controversial character, whose recent appointment in Dresden was greeted with excitement and dread in almost equal amounts, it can be difficult to argue with his achievements in the core Austro-German repertoire. His account of the Ring, then, fully deserves to have been captured...Thielemann's conducting of Rheingold manages to fuse drama with epic expansiveness and I've rarely heard such menace in the Niebelheim music. As such, Andrew Shore's Alberich gets a considerable helping hand, but it is still a portrayal that relies more on verbal dexterity than vocal power. At the other end of the spectrum, the orchestral accompaniment to Wotan's 'Abendlich strahlt' is ideally stirring. Lukas is better cast as Donner, but still worryingly woolly, ill-matched to Clemens Bieber's Froh. Arnold Bezuyen makes a wily, lyrical Loge. König is better suited to Fafner, too, with Kwangchul Youn as Fasolt; neither booms as one might like, but they are very respectable, with Youn later making a fine Hunding.   Throughout, the playing of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra is truly excellent, particularly the luminous brass. The orchestra, with Thielemann, therefore ensure that there's always something in Wagner's orchestra to enjoy, whilst unerringly nailing all the big set pieces. Thielemann's approach tends towards the lyrical and relaxed more than the hard-pressed, often reminiscent of Karajan's sometimes under-appreciated recording, and is not without some minor eccentricities (a sudden shift down a couple of gears at Siegmund's 'Auf lacht' ich' before 'Winterstürme', for example). Ironically, the accompanying contributions of the singers would be less of an issue, I suspect, had we had the Gesamt-shooting-match on DVD. As it is, with just the sound, we are left in a very un-Wagnerian position of judging things in purely sonic terms, where the inadequacies of too much of the singing cannot be ignored.   It's also difficult to ignore the state of the market. The casts of other commercially available Bayreuth Rings are significantly better - indeed, those from the 50s and 60s are in a different league entirely - and this new Ring is not cheap, although Opus Arte's sound is excellent for a live recording. Nevertheless, Thielemann's legion fans will want to snap it up, and all Wagnerians will want to give it a listen.  For lesser record-buying mortals, it can hardly be counted as competitive. --MusicalCriticism.com, Hugo Shirley, January 6, 2010