To follow the release of its November 2015 recording of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold BR-KLASSIK is now continuing the cycle with Die Walküre. With his Rheingold, Sir Simon Rattle has already decisively disproved the longstanding claim that he and Wagner were unsuited to one another. This next collaboration between the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the British conductor not only features a team of first-rate Wagner singers but also reveals once again how well Rattle understands and interprets Wagner’s music. Only a few months after the live event recorded in Munich, this mighty music drama – a huge success with the public – is being released for the first time on four very fine CDs.

Reasons why Die Walküre has become the most popular part of the tetralogy include the heart-rending encounters between the two Wälsungs, Siegmund and Sieglinde, the all-too-human gods – and, of course, such musical highlights as Siegmund’s “Winter Storms” monologue, “The Ride of the Valkyries”, or “Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music”. Wotan, the father of the gods, is sung by the English bass-baritone James Rutherford; Elisabeth Kulman is back as his argumentative wife Fricka; Eric Halfvarson, who was the giant Fafner in Rattle’s Rheingold, now sings the part of the evil Hunding. New additions to the star-studded ensemble of soloists include Irène Theorin as Wotan’s favourite daughter Brünnhilde, and Stuart Skelton and Eva-Maria Westbroek as the incestuous twins Siegmund and Sieglinde.

Rattle’s Die Walküre was received with enthusiastic acclaim by concert audience and critics alike. The plan now is for Rattle’s concert performance of the entire “Ring” to reach its conclusion with Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in the new Munich Konzerthaus.

Cast:
- Siegmund: Stuart Skelton
- Hunding: Eric Halfvarson
- Wotan: James Rutherford
- Sieglinde: Eva Maria Westbroek
- Brünnhilde:Iréne Theorin
- Fricka: Elisabeth Kulman
The Valkyries:
- Gerhilde: Alwyn Mellor
- Ortlinde: Anna Gabler
- Waltraute: Jennifer Johnston
- Schwertleite: Claudia Huckle
- Helmwige: Katherine Broderick
- Siegrune: Eva Vogel
- Grimgerde: Anna Lapkovskaja
- Roßweiße: Simone Schröder