Götterdämmerung, act two

[HeavyOpera1]

I think Hubner does a great job. Frick or Salminen?  No, but who is?

[verdiguy]

With all due respect to Hubner, who I remember from the telecasts and

Salminen from the Met production, go to the Bayreuth recordings from the

1950s, led by Knappertsbusch or Keilberth for two great Hagens, Greindl

and Frick. Even in the clip from the 60s on You Tube, Greindl radiates evil

and venom. The voice isn't as steady as it was in his prime but the great

size of the voice and the rendering of the text are still impressive. Frick is

amazing as well as the clips on You Tube attest.

[Stellavox]

And to think that this production (well the whole of this RING) was villified. It is now respected as being one of the best productions for many years. (Present Bayreuth producers - please note)

[IrishClaudius]

Yes they MUST bring this production and Boulez back it was this Ring that foretold the future as the reality we are all living in Dubai Capitalist Vahalla has fallen now must bury the demigods of the free market.

[Waldvogel91]

I love watching men in suits waving spears around.

[erniesparks]

:) "Which one of you mugs left this on my driveway??"

[dimakauffman]

after listening gottlob frick's hagen nobody excites you anymore

[isabelle070209]

Mais c'est QUOI cette mise en scène?

[deusirae76]

@isabelle070209 Oui, aucun intérêt de caler une interprétation marxisante sur cette oeuvre ... il y a de très bons jeux d'acteur mais l'ambiance bourgeoisie/classe ouvrière + décors et costumes afférents ça ne le fait vraiment pas ...

[CONTESTAR]

For a chorus to sound as gorgeous as that, every single person has to be a superb musician!

[panegyricoo]

What´s the name of this piece of the opera?

[Waldvogel91]

'The Calling of the Vassals' or 'Hagen's Call'.

It's about 20 minutes into the second act.

[Waldvogel91]

There's a noisy scene in each of the 'Ring' operas and this is certainly the most thrilling.

[gentleterminator]

wonderful !!!

[ariastoteles]

This is the triumph of fall. Falling in love, dawn of darkness. Greetings and faithfull.

[MargraveofTad]

That brass just sounds evil!

[ArturoAlejandroS]

I like very much this, this is one of the ebst moments in the Wagner music, is amazing, really amazing, maybe more than Valkiries ride!!!

[rcdnphy]

For me the phrase "Heil Dir Gunter, Heil Dir und deine Braut" is the very epitome of German Romanticism

[andreaswaigel]

i´m german, and even i can hardly understand the lyrics...

[panegyricoo]

Gee, Is that so andreswaigel?

[josatinho]

i like matti salminen

[batiris]

Brilliant music. I love it how it changes from menacing and warlike to happy and festive.

[canafinwe]

He's not the black, brutal bass what's the best for Hagen. It needs a bass who can sing a tremendous Commendatore or Inquisitor, too.

Also a very dark and very depp type like Salminen the God or Gottlob Frick.

[franz0woyzeck]

I really liked Hubner as Hagen but I think Salminen would have been even darker. But I suppose since he played Hunding and one of the Giants, that they were trying to split the load. Manfred Jung I'm afraid was the weak link in the whole ring......

[songofarirang]

I love wagner despite i can't understand what the lyric means... Just for only music without the lyric, it has magnific charm. If i can understand the lyric it will be more greateful for me..

[chriswillcox]

wonderful music !!!

[dorotheafayne]

beautiful video.

[etucker82]

Fritz Hubner does not have the best diction and his voice is just too light for Hagen and you can hear him struggling. Hearing Salminen or Moll do this scene can scare the bejesus out of you. Kudos to Boulez for keeping things together at such a fast tempo.

[sannemo]

Hübner is doing an excellent job. Moll would not be suitable for this role as he is too warm, you need a certain character for this role. Hagen is everything but nice. Salminen can't be used here because he did already Hunding in the Walküre. Then, in terms of him struggling: well, he is standing towards the back of the Bayreuth stage and this is one of the biggest in the world.

[sannemo]

He also has to cross an immense wall of music created by the orchestra, which again is very different to all other opera houses in the world. Thus comparing this perhaps with a production from the Met is very unfair because the requirements to the singers differ very much. Also, he doesn't play a strong character - they laugh at him in this scene - Hunding on the other hand is not the guy you laugh at and he only dies because Wotan can't keep his hands out of the game.

[goaltucker1]

Nearly everything you say is true. But Wagner's music is saying something different. Hagen is regarded a clown by his peers, but the music is portraying the evil murderer that we see in Act III. You need a black basso for Hagen. Hubner may seem better than he is because his struggle is partially concealed by Boulez's tempo. If Knappertsbusch were in the pit or even Levine, Hubner probably wouldn't have been able to sustain a line at their tempi.

[goaltucker1]

Greindl played Hunding and Hagen at Bayreuth in the 50's, Frick at least did it on the Solti recording and probably live at points I don't know about, I don't see why Salminen couldn't. As for Moll, well... I disagree. You need the basso heft to cut through the orchestra there. If you have it, you don't need to force the tone as much. Hubner's problem is that he lacks it.

[sannemo]

The reason, why Salminen didn't sing it in this recording is because they tend to split up the Giants - one is going to sing Hunding - the other Hagen, not always the case but often - hence, Salminen did sing Hunding, leaving the Hagen party for Hübner. Yes, Moll gets through anything and you will still understand every single syllable at the last standing row but his voice would be not evil enough for this role - as Hunding any time but not as Hagen.

[sannemo]

Then, there is the music theme vs. what's actually going on on stage thing. There are two ways of looking at it. Yours, which would be presumably the most obvious but at the same time - the music describes his character but this does not make him into a self-confiden, upright guy; were he - they would not dare to laugh. Then, this is Bayreuth - surviving the Ring as singer is very demanding - people tend to complain why Siegfried tends to be so weak when meeting Brünhilde at the End of Siegried

[sannemo]

- this guy has been giving everything for the last couple of hours and again - Bayreuth is a hell of an act. Bayreuth and Salzburg tend to be quite close in practising and performance dates and singers often get into trouble when they turn up in Salzburg and start singing - because they are overwhelmingly loud and have to cut down. Also, Hübner might have had a cold or whatsoever - I saw Manfred Jung as Siegfried in Bayreuth - only, he did not sing, somebody else was behind the curtain singing.

[pellmeli]

Pellmeli

OVERPOWERING MUSIC!