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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Metropolitan/Levine [DVD] [2002] [NTSC]
 
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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Metropolitan/Levine [DVD] [2002] [NTSC]

DVD ~ James Morris
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £70.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Metropolitan/Levine [DVD] [2002] [NTSC] + Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg - Wagner [DVD] [2001] [NTSC] + Parsifal - Wagner/Stein [DVD] [2007]
Total RRP: £120.97
Price For All Three: £84.94

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Metropolitan/Levine [DVD] [2002] [NTSC]
63% buy the item featured on this page:
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Metropolitan/Levine [DVD] [2002] [NTSC] 3.9 out of 5 stars (13)
£47.98
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Wagner - Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Boulez) [DVD] [2005] 4.8 out of 5 stars (4)
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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The James Levine cycle of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen is humane and emotionally powerful rather than monumental or spiritual; Levine is more interested in finding our sympathy for the characters than inspiring pity or terror. These are very traditional productions in which you see a rock where you need to see a rock, a dragon where the libretto says a dragon (the Metropolitan Opera has never been a place for experiment). What Levine and the Met can and do offer is excellent orchestral playing and some of the best singers in these roles in the world. Siegfried Jerusalem is boyish and naive and touching as Siegfried, and he is also surprisingly good as the detached mischievous Loge of Das Rheingold. James Morris is uniformly impressive as Wotan and makes the character evolve from the young ruthless god of the first opera to the tired old god of Siegfried, who seeks nothing more than his own necessary defeat and death. As Brunnhilde, Hildegard Behrens makes a convincing shift from goddess to woman, from callousness to tenderness and on to vindictiveness and self-sacrificing wisdom. Overall, this is an attractive Ring cycle, well-cast and beautifully played; others have greater strengths in some areas, but Levine is reliable across the board.

On the DVD: Der Ring des Nibelungen has all four operas, which are also available individually, contained in a single box. All the DVDs come with a photo gallery of the Metropolitan Opera productions and with menus and subtitles in German, French, English, Spanish and Chinese. It's a little disappointing, though, that they are presented in American NTSC format, not European PAL, and the picture ratio is standard TV 4:3. On the plus side, they all have an excellent clear acoustic in the three audio options: PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. --Roz Kaveney

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
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 (8)
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 (2)
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wagners "Ring", 4 Jun 2003
By Mr. Thomas K. Mcgowran "mcgowran" (Cumbria) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This DVD boxed set is a delight to own. 7 discs in 4 cases, each with a booklet detailing performance and production cast, chapter details, and a synopsis of each scene. Also included is an extra booklet giving an overview of Richard Wagner and this awesome cycle of 4 operas.

The discs themselves provide subtitles in a variety of languages, sound in PCM stereo, 5.1 dolby and 5.1 Dts, photo galleries of the production, and details of other operas available in the Deutsche Grammophon series. It would have been helpful to have details of the lietmotifs - the musical phrases linked to persons, events, emotions etc - that run like threads throughout the work. A proper understanding - and enjoyment - of this music is impossible without some awareness of these building blocks, so some homework is advisable.

Sonically the discs are breathtaking. The Dts soundtrack weaves a transparent magic around the speakers, only don't expect too much from the rear channels - this isn't "Star Wars".

The eyes are a little less well served, as the NTSC encoded picture loses some detail at 525 lines (not PAL 625). Nor are we treated to widescreen. But with visual effects as gorgeous as the "rainbow bridge to Valhalla", in the closing moments of Das Rheingold, such technical shortcomings are soon forgotton.

An assessment of the performances, either solo or orchestral, must be largely subjective but the word "definitive" comes to mind. It's unfortunate that the standard of the subtitles doesn't quite match up - like me, you may after a while find yourself automatically paraphrasing the rather clumsy translation.

But any blemishes pale into insignificance against the music. This is to die for. Why not take a long weekend and enjoy the cycle as Wagner intended. At an average of nearly four hours of music on each of 3 days and a preliminary evening, this is an experience for the heart and mind that will be remembered (and repeated many times) for a lifetime.

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43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars New York Met At Its Best!!, 15 Feb 2003
By E. A. Redfearn "eredfearn2" (Middlesbrough) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Channel Four first showed this version of Wagner's Tetralogy some years ago, and now it makes a very welcome addition to the growing DVD Opera Catalogue. First things first, its superb! Picture and sound are simply awesome on DVD, which isnt surprising. Moreover, the production values are first class. There have been numerous versions of Wagner's Ring over the years, and to be honest, one should not compare since all productions are different owing to the conducter's intepretation; singers; and staging. This version almost, but not quite, achieves what perhaps Wagner himself was looking for in the staging. Perhaps he knew that in his time, it was not really possible to achieve the standard that he was wanting. Now, with the wonders of technology and modern stage designs, Wagner's dream has come true. Of course, Sir Georg Solti's version recorded by Decca during the 1960s does remain the definitive version taking into account Birgit Nilson's wonderful intepretation of Brunnhilde. This version however, is for our time. Wonderfully staged and sung by a cast which is difficult to beat. Hildegard Behrens is wonderful as Brunnhilde. She may lack the "extra" finesse of Gwyneth Jones and Birgit Nilson, but it doesnt really matter. Siegfried Jerusalem is a fine Siegfried, strong and youthful, able to deliver with style and panache. A wonderful cast all round really. And finally, James Levine's stylish intepretation makes the music flow from first bar to the last, culminating in Valhalla's destruction and the dawning of a new age for mankind.

My only criticism is however, that this version is NTSC coded; so unless you have a multi region DVD, you may have to decide whether to buy this version now just for the soundtrack which still plays superbly, or wait until you upgrade your DVD player. The choice is yours really. Any die hard Wagner fan cannot afford to be without this version though. Can be bought for a good price too, cheaper than the music CDs version.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars At Last!, 17 Mar 2007
Being a die-hard supporter of the Sholti/Decca Ring Cycle, It's difficult for me to listen to other versions without comparisons creeping in. In this case however, with the addition of the visual drama, I've managed to avoid this and I've finally realised that there ARE other versions.
Finally we see a version which attempts to show us the operas that Wagner produced rather than those of others who seem to consider themselves greater than Wagner. Personally, I've no time for variants showing crashed aircraft, motorway rest areas and other modernist perversions. This story is set in the Heroic past and features Gods and Heroes, let's keep it that way instead of producing sets that give the appearance of having been produced with materials form the local rag and bone merchant! (One description heard at a modernist Ring cycle - "Stage set courtesy Bob the Builder and Costume, by Oxfam").
All in all, a joy to listen to and watch. This is WAGNER !
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars mind-blowing!
History has been blessed with two great Ring cycles laid down for posterity, the audio recording of Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic and this audio-visual experience of Levine... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bookworm

4.0 out of 5 stars I am not sure how good this is
This is the Ring how Wagner imagined it would/should be. Every stage shot and directorial decision follows what 'The Master' had in mind and wrote down. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. K. P. Rogers

4.0 out of 5 stars Traditional MET production with a great Wotan
James Levine takes a relatively expansive view of the score, and this combined with the MET acoustics and superb sound recording reveals wonderful orchestral detail... Read more
Published 15 months ago by pointone

1.0 out of 5 stars A Triumph of Directorial Ingenuity
Could it be possible to transform one of the most exciting stories in opera into 15 hours of purgatorial tedium? Read more
Published 18 months ago by Tmo Wilkinson

1.0 out of 5 stars Dull isn't the word
I don't know what is, but it's impressive quite how dull these performances manage to be.

Musically, Levine takes very slow tempi. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Tam Pollard

1.0 out of 5 stars Stretching credibility too far
It seems churlish to disagree with all the praise heaped on this production here but, having bought it at full price when it first came out, I have only watched it once because I... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. D. M. Blyth

5.0 out of 5 stars The best ring cycle on DVD
Rheingold is my favourite of the 4 parts and it's the one I watch most often, because it's the best in terms of accesibility of the story, utterly mesmerising music and the stage... Read more
Published on 19 April 2007 by maximus

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sound quality
I am impressed with the sound quality of the DVDs.They play well on my humble computer speakers.I have yet to try the official format (PCM Stereo- Dolby 5.1-DTS 5. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2007 by G. S. Lynch

5.0 out of 5 stars AbFab - just AbFab!
Well I used to own the Solti Decca ring on vinyl - but sold it when I was a hard-up student! So I debated about finding it again on oldie-fashioned records (as I'm a bit of a... Read more
Published on 6 May 2006 by Bryan Dunbar

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!
A wonderful production, outstanding cast, amazing maestro. It's obviously the best Ring ever, (if the role of Siegmund was sang by Placido Domingo, it would be flawless)... Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2006 by Ali B. Erkilic

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