Wagner: Die Walküre: Act 2; Schippers; Osaka (1967) [Stereo] 

Thomas Schippers, NHK Symphony Orchestra
(Recorded 11th April, 1967, Festival Hall, Osaka)
Siegmund - Jess Thomas
Hunding - Gerd Nienstedt
Wotan - Theo Adam
Sieglinde - Helga Dernesch
Brünnhilde - Anja Silja
Fricka - Grace Hoffman
Gerhilde - Lotte Rysanek
Ortlinde - Gertraud Hopf
Waltraute - Erika Schubert
Schwertleite - Grace Hoffman
Helmwige - Elsa Cavelti
Siegrune - Alice Oelke
Grimgerde - Elisabeth Schärtl
Roßweiße - Hanna Ludwig
This was a guest performance by the Bayreuth Festival company at the Osaka International Festival. The production was by Wieland Wagner, who died six months before the performance took place.
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I have synchronised the existing video of this performance with a new stereo audio source.
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Edmund C. Wilkes in "Opera" magazine wrote:
"The idea of importing two complete Bayreuth productions directed by Wieland Wagner seemed almost too ambitious. But Michi Murayame, the director of the Osaka International Festival, is a lady of determination.
Having assured Wieland that his every wish would be adhered to, that no expense would be spared to remodel the stage, the proscenium, the orchestra pit, that all the necessary lighting would be brought from Germany, a raked stage and huge cyclorama installed, and every device exactly to specifications, she received his final assent to the production of "Tristan" and "Walküre", and the most recent Bayreuth productions of these operas were somewhat revised by the already ailing producer to fit the Osaka stage.
Each opera was given four performances. Before that, a crew of thirty German technicians spent two months in preparation "in situ" constructing the sets, reshaping the stage, lighting it and training the Japanese crew that worked with them. The NHK Orchestra, the oldest and most German-oriented of the major orchestras in Japan cancelled a month of concerts to rehearse in anticipation of the coming of Pierre Boulez's "Tristan" and Thomas Schippers's "Walküre"."
After reviewing Boulez's performance of "Tristan", he continued:
""Die Walküre" the next night saw Schippers in the pit. Rumour had it that he was unhappily on the short end of the rehearsal time, and certainly the orchestra played less perfectly for him than for Boulez. His tempos were rushed and the Farewell and Magic Fire music must have been the shortest on record. The first act, stunningly set, was magnificently sung by Jess Thomas, an utterly believable Volsung. Helga Dernesch was a glowing, ample-voiced Sieglinde, and Gerd Nienstedt a hulking Hun of a Hunding. The first act really took fire and was beautifully effected.
The Wotan of Theo Adam seemed a little young, a little two-dimensional. He has a fine bass-baritone but it lacks some of the warmth needed to make the god sympathetic. Anja Silja was an astonishingly slim Brünnhilde, seeming a brave little girl with a big bright voice that she managed well, but she too was a little cold and distant. Grace Hoffman's Fricka" was excellent in voice and as human as the role allows. A coterie of bigger sister-Valkyries was imported from various German and Austrian houses and shouted strongly, even if their appearance was none too glamorous."
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0:00:00 - Prelude
0:01:54 - Scene 1: "Nun zäume dein Ross, reisige Maid!"
0:04:26 - Scene 1: "Der alte Sturm, die alte Müh'!"
0:08:56 - Scene 1: "So ist es denn aus mit den ewigen Göttern"
0:17:09 - Scene 1: "Was verlangst du?"
0:23:10 - Scene 2: "Schlimm, fürcht' ich, schloss der Streit"
0:29:03 - Scene 2: "Als junger Liebe Lust mir verblich"
0:33:07 - Scene 2: "Ein and'res ist's: achte es wohl"
0:38:03 - Scene 2: "So nimmst du von Siegmund den Sieg?"
0:46:06 - Scene 2: "So sah ich Siegvater nie"
0:49:21 - Scene 3: "Raste nun hier; gönne dir Ruh'!"
0:52:36 - Scene 3: "Hinweg! Hinweg! Flieh' die Entweihte!"
0:59:26 - Scene 4: "Siegmund! Sieh' auf mich!"
1:07:27 - Scene 4: "Hehr bist du, und heilig gewahr' ich"
1:12:48 - Scene 4: "So wenig achtest du ewige Wonne?"
1:17:55 - Scene 5: "Zauberfest bezähmt ein Schlaf"
1:22:42 - Scene 5: "Wehwalt! Wehwalt!"
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"Die Walküre" ("The Valkyrie") is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner, with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four works that form the cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). It was first performed at the Royal Court and National Theatre in Munich on 26th June, 1870.

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