The Ring of the Nibelung (4): Twilight of the Gods

This recording of the "Twilight of the Gods" ("Götterdämmerung") forms the fourth and final part of Wagner's masterpiece, his epic "Ring" Cycle. The Stuttgart Opera gave it a revolutionary treatment in a staging by Peter Konwitschny, a celebrated interpreter of Wagner’s operas. He chooses to ignore the wider myth-bound associations of the work and concentrates on the immediate motivations, emotions and obsessions of the characters. Gone are the gods awaiting nightfall in their imposing hall; the action instead is set on a simple wooden stage of a touring theatre company. The final opera of the Ring cycle tells the story of how the ring and its curse bring the downfall of the Gods and a tragic end to the love of Siegfried and Brünnhilde. As Brünnhilde's death becomes an act of redemption for the gods and for all living creatures, a new dawn of hope is ushered in. "It is verly likely that in the near future the Stuttgart Ring conceived by Klaus Zehelein will be remembered as a Wagnerian watershed as much as Wieland Wagner's in the 1950s." (Opera Magazine)