Disappointing
This 1999 Amsterdam 'Ring' is well directed by Pierre Audi, and features colourful Japanese-inspired costumes, but is a huge let-down as far as the singing is concerned. The worst soloist here is Altmeyer, miscast at this point of her career as Brunnhilde - no match for her 'Ring' roles under Boulez (Sieglinde and Gutrune), Janowski (Brunnhilde) and Karajan (Freia): in addition to a more-or-less acceptable wobble, most of the top notes are simply beyond her, as when she sounds so tired towards the end of the 'Gotterdammerung' duet that she quickly runs out of breath and even chokes on the final 'Heil!', which her partner sustains superbly; other no less embarrassing moments recur throughout this opera, as well as in 'Siegfried' (to some extent tolerable, given the role's brevity) and 'Walkure', where the beginning of each of the repeated verse of the battle cry is delivered hoarsely (you'll cringe on hearing 2.54 and 4.16 on DVD 2 of the opera); when she just manages to hold a top...
Could Not Disagree More
As a three time Beyreuth sojourner and possessing (as far as I know) every recording (including radio broadcasts) and video of Meister Wagner's
works (including those not available in this country and a unique Japanese language production) I am impelled to disagree with the negative comments about the singers in this production. Of course, few will ever match the golden era of the Wagner sangmeisters (in my opinion but probably biased by my first aural introduction). I was much enthralled with the majority of the singing ability of the artists in this production. As the master noted, a little hoarseness and croaking give reality to the gods (paraphrased). I prefer that you ignore the critics and snide jibes to judge for yourself. Check out YouTube and excerpts available online and YOU BE THE JUDGE as to what you like in performance, letting neither other reviewers or me prejudice you. Purists always live a life in desperate misery in a vain search for the unobtainable...
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