Götterdämmerung

Richard Wagner

Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Vienna Philharmonic (Sir Georg Solti, cond.)

album cover

Gods Wreaking Havoc from on High

This is some of the most thrilling music ever made on Planet Earth. Its massive peals of sound flatten the notion that classic opera can't equal—or surpass—the sheer raw power of guitar-driven contemporary music. Its harsh chords amount to the basic DnA of heavy metal—the good, dramatic kind. Its bellowing vocal lines demand extraordinary energy (and discipline); some opera stars simply can't hack Wagner. There are extra-large distraught outbursts from the singers and equally extreme flashes from the brass. And it's got one of the longest arias in recorded opera history—the finale, Brünnhilde's "Immolation" scene.

Götterdämmerung, which premiered in 1874, brings Richard Wagner's sixteen-hour Ring cycle to a tumultuous close. It is the most challenging section, in part because Wagner has lots of loose ends to tie up. His devilishly complex intertwined plots require a slew of villains. These are introduced during the eventful Act 1, and their machinations lead to the death of Siegfried in Act 3, which has Christ-like significance—he died for the world's sinful greed. Brünnhilde burns everything down, and it's as though she hit some biblical reset button: The slate is wiped clean, the world begins anew.

There are many Götterdämmerung recordings; none can top the precision of this 1964 studio effort led by Sir Georg Solti. It's got a dream-team cast—Birgit nilsson (Brünnhilde), Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Gunther)—that would have been too expensive for a live production. Solti approached the task as though shooting a movie (in some cases, a full day's work yielded only twenty recorded minutes of usable music), and pushed the Vienna Philharmonic to a more brusque, edgy sound than it usually achieved. In fact, some critics, suspecting mixing-board trickery, describe the sound of the ensemble as "surreal." To hear Solti at his best, check out the stormy horn entrance in the third act, which explodes into the spotlight like a racehorse leaping from the gate. It's grand, but somehow not bombastic.

Wagner was, of course, temperamentally disposed to the oversized—many of the Götterdämmerung highlights are thundering, larger-than-life passages. There are times when the singers seem to inflate their voices to properly execute the themes—listen to Fischer-Dieskau putting his most majestic voice forward throughout, or nilsson's enraged aria in the third act, an excellent showcase for her gleaming high notes. Though Wagner wrote memorable choruses in other operas, the one in the third act is the only one in the whole entire Ring cycle. It's tremendous—a two-hanky requiem for the gods in twilight, complete with deep existential questions from the mortals, who look warily to the heavens and wonder: What now?

Genre: Opera
Released: 1964, Decca (Reissued 1997)
Key Tracks: "Wintersturme," "Hoiho, Hagen!," "Heil dir, Gunther," "War das sein Horn?"
Another Interpretation: Astrid Varnay, Bayreuther Festspiele Orchester
Catalog Choice: Die Meistersinger, Herbert Lippert, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Georg Solti, cond.)
Next Stop: Birgit Nilsson: Sings Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss
After That: John Adams: Nixon in China, Orchestra of St. Luke's (Edo de Waart, cond.).
Book Pages: 840–841