The unrivalled Bayreuth Centenary Ring by Boulez/Chéreau is now released on Blu-ray, remastered in HD-quality. The opera production sent ripples through art and society even before the curtain was lifted. Leaflets were distributed, signatures were collected and musicians left the orchestra pit in disgust, all because of disagreements over the bold new interpretation of Wagner’s Ring cycle by conductor Pierre Boulez. The festival hired 31-year-old film and theatre director Patrice Chéreau, a relative unknown.

Chéreau’s submitted concept for the multi-part, many hours long Ring cycle had fitted on a single typewritten page. Once hired, he had just four months to prepare the monumental dramatic work. The “Centenary Ring” was a fulfilment of Richard Wagner's dictum that the Ring cycle should represent a musical synthesis of the arts. With the staging, set design and lighting, costumes, musical interpretation and, last but not least, the exceptional singing of the numerous soloists and choir, a legend was born. When the curtain came down, the Franco-German project was already being celebrated as a musical triumph, and in time the production would be celebrated as an event of the century.