Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene Top 10

[Haffner]

Also, I was a little perturbed at the omission of Gwyneth Jones and Pierre Boulez (Bayreuth 1980). Not that either of them were reference-making in their respective roles, but I found that to be one of the more intelligent casting choices given Boulez' musical Konzept.

I really liked that one, but am personally still in awe of the Nilsson/Solti. I'll have to get that dvd (the Boulez) , as I only have the Levine dvd, and I bet that's nobody's favorite. I didn't like the Brunnhilde in the latter, but the ending of the Gods was pretty cool (maybe it's because it was my first ever Ring).

I also like the classic Krauss, mono recording.

[Brünnhilde forever]

Does the originator of this topic exclude Immolation scenes performed within the last ten years or so?

Evidently GMG members have difficulties letting Ms. Nilsson and Mr. Solti rest on their laurels. This afternoon I watched the Immolation scene at the 2006 Ring at the ROH, Antonio Pappano conducting and Lisa Gasteen as Brünnhilde. Stunning! Stunning singing, acting and of course the scenery and directing.

[Lilas Pastia]

Liebling, can we have a sample ? A link? A recording? I'd love to see my flame rekindled!

[Brünnhilde forever]

Schatzele, I'll see what I can find. Be patient, have another Ayinger while I am working on it! 

[Brünnhilde forever]

Throughout this Keith Warner directed Ring, small gold figurines show up, images of the gods. During the immolation scene supernumeraries retrieve life-sized gold figurines, images of the Ring's gods, and hoist them up, above the flames of the pyers, being lit by Brünnhilde. At the climax of the immolation scene, as Brünnhilde throws herself in the Rhine, the gold statues also crash down into the pyres.

Don't ask me why there are more than one pyre, one for each god: Thor, Loge, Fricka, Freia; I haven't figured it out yet. Wotan is separate from the hung-up gods, he lies at stage-front, and Brünnhilde hugs and holds his shroud-wrapped corpse, kissing his eyes, the way he put her to sleep, taking the Gottheit from her, a gesture of she taking his Gottheit from him.

Look at the hanging figure on the right, the one with the ram's horns. That's Fricka of course!

It takes some thinking to come to grips with Warner's ideas; some I like, others I don't, but Gasteen sings beautifully!

[Lilas Pastia]

It does look like a quite interesting concept. Throwing figurines into the flames is an ancient ritual that can symbolize different things. In some cultures it means the freeing of the spirit (through death). In others it's a curse put on enemies.

[mjwal]

1. Lilian Nordica (with Alfred hertz)
2. Florence Austral (with Albert Coates)
3. Frida Leider (with Blech presumably)
4. Marjorie Lawrence (with Artur Bodansky)
5. Kirsten Flagstad (with Furtwangler)
6. Astrid Varnay (Knapperstbusch)
7. Eileen Farrell (Bernstein)
8. Helga Dernesch (Karajan)
9. Anne Evans (Barenboim)
10. Linda Watson (Thielemann)
To re-open the can of worms: yes, as several people pointed out, this was an absurd list. As one or two suggested, Mödl was perhaps the most dramatically convincing and womanly Brünnhilde of all. I would discard the bleeding chunk recording for its tinny & uninvolved sounding orchestra (last time I listened) and go for her in 1953 with either Furtwängler/Rome or Keilberth (Bayreuth ) - of course, I would love to hear her in better sound in the '55 Keilberth that has just appeared on Testament, but those prices...Varnay, in the same year in the other Ring series under Krauss, is also magnificent, though she doesn't burn to the quick quite so much, here or elsewhere (Kna, Weigert) as far as I know (I haven't heard Keilberth '55). These are the latest Brünnhildes I really rate - I can hardly stand Nilsson in anything, certainly not this role or Isolde.
Earlier performances with the requisite tragic grandeur and not too dimly recorded:
Helene Wildbrunn ('24), Frida Leider ('28), (I have forgotten what Austral's performance is like, no doubt it belongs here), Helen Traubel/Toscanini ('41), Kirsten Flagstad/Furtwängler '48 and /Sebastian '52.
Now, is there a Wesendonk-Lieder thread (including the piano version) or must I create one?