Katarina Dalayman - Brünnhilde's Immolation (2/2) - Götterdämmerung '08

[brolobear]

Dalayman has a lovely voice for Ariadne, but just don't hear it for Brunnhilde.  By the way, where was Grane? Couldn't they find a film of a horse? Wow...what a boring production.

[operassassin]

Thank god she was here at the MET to salvage this run of performances!

[angryjalapeno]

The staging is stupid. Brunnhilde tells the Rheinmaidens that they should fetch the ring from her after she perished in the fire and after the curse of Alberich has been cleansed away by the fire. She doesn't throw the ring to them before she self-immolates!! Dalayman has a dark beautiful voice but she sounds like a mezzo not a soprano.

[angelofsundown]

what a dark beauiful voice with so much feminity, not the typical nordic warrior soprano... it´s a pleasure to listen this music from a round not so metallic as usual voice. Wonderful...

[lomfidi]

Magical performance of Dalayman! So heart felt and with absolutely classy singing. BRAVA!!!

[Theatergraf]

Wirklich eine eklatante Fehlbesetzung! Die Stimme ist einfach von Natur aus zu tief gelagert und kann so nicht die geforderte Sieghaftigkeit in den hohen Phrasen entwickeln,. Frau Dalayman singt nicht "schlecht", nur das falsche Repertoire !

[kevdrwg]

er, Brunnhilde has to jump into the flames, not go look at facebook....

[Chrysothemis]

Can we PLEASE get this thing on DVD? It was all filmed, in HD no less, so what's the problem? It's arguably the finest production in the last 30 years, if not the best sung or acted .

[mizzothify]

This is not bad. Dalayman is a lyrical, feminine Brunnhilde. Of course she doesn't match the power od Nilsson, Borkh or the like, but she has beautiful sound quality and her legato is better than many colleagues'. I am more concerned about the unimaginative, boring production!!!

[silsio]

...a very good singer but, maybe, Brunhild is too much for her voice!

[kraftwerkian]

Well, consider that she was pregnant while she sang this (A reason she had the loose fitting clothes) when judging her stability, and especially: In this clip she has just been performing Götterdämmerung. ;)

[IrishClaudius]

Yes I like the bit at the end where we see the apocalypse now helicoptors come out of the blue - Francis Ford Coppola has a lot to answer for...

[grig035]

@kraftwerkian Amazingly, when she sang this at the Met on the 3rd of February only a week or so back, the whole instrument was even more luscious and at the same time clearer & untiring at the top. She even lingered up there! In this video, for instance, she (and/or the conductor) tightens the tempo just slightly at "Vermaehlt ihm zu sein". This month at the Met, she actually lingered, effortlessly, on this phrase! This was typical of the luxuriant ease throughout the evening.

[egymagyar1111111]

she would be a good Aida, but Brunnhilde, pls

[handofnergal]

love redeems?

I hope so

[anoldperv]

Back-projected movie seems like a great means for handling many of the staging problems of the Ring. I think it would work

for the giants, Fasolt and Fafner. There is little direct interaction with the normal-sized characters (except, maybe, with Freia, and I think that could be managed). Siegfried has to fight Fafner, but by this time Fafner is morphed into a dragon. The dwarves, Alberich and Mime, are more of a problem making plausible on film. But I am willing to be surprised.

[lewars1912]

anoldperv. It would need to be done in such a way that it wasn't a distraction but it's good idea.

[astroboy1960]

In the illustrations of the booklets for the vinyl edition of Solti's recording, it appears that some early stagings may have used magic lantern slide projections to resolve staging issues.

[moghedien13]

hmmm, she may be more a mezzo. very very interesting and nice voice though. if she is singing elektra i that is way to high for her. she'd prolly be better in verdian opera in those mezzo roles, they arent quite as taxing as wagner i think and she def has the colour and voice for it. she might be an interesting ortrud as well. thats techinically a soprano part though but i think almost everyone of the second half the the 20th cent was a mezzo who sang it.

[isabelle070209]

Au moins c'est pas un cuirassé. Bon vibrato un peu trop marqué. Grâve très beau mais ce rôle n'est PAS un rôle de mezzo. Et problème d'une faiblesse dans les aigues. Elle fera Brünnhilde à Paris en 2009.

[basselyrique]

Kungliga Hovkapellet is certainly one of the best opera orchestras. Such beauty, lyric power of Wagner which never cedes to the temptation to make cheap loud & louder - Wagner. Bravo to maestro Bühl!

[Anibaal]

Hay un vibrato notorio en la zona aguda de Dalayman, pero me agradó más acá que cantando Ariadne auf Naxos. Por otro lado me encantó la puesta.

1) las nornas caminando atrás de Brunilda como anunciando el fin.

2) Las ondinas gigantescas que recogen la sortija como una gema de luz una vez que Brunilda la ha arrojado.

[skaisaliveandwell]

I've never heard this tune before so I can't comment on comparisons. But I've got to say that that was the THE MOST INCREDIBLE music I have ever heard. I sobbed through the whole of the climax. Knowing the story helped, but I'm sure it's just the sheer power of Wagner's vision and genius musically. I've just seen the world end... and I feel born again. Drugs have nothing on this.

I'm relatively new to Wagner but he's already my favourite composer.

I want to share this music with the world.

[Brunnhilda]

I have the same feeling every time I'm listening to this last scene of gotterdammerung. That's why I love Wagner so much.

[loboestepario24]

I hate when there is no Grane.

[parsifalius]

Sorry, but this is basically Waltraute singing Bruennhilde's lines. The voice has a certain quality and nobility of tone but that tremolo is a bad sign.

[dannymaestro]

Well, Parsifalius, I don´t agree. But maybe she is more perfect as Kundry. I haven´t heard her singing that part, but I know that she did it in Berlin last year...

[parsifalius]

I agree with you. My comment was a bit harsh. It easy to make comments having in your mind the perfomances of wagnerians like Varnay or Flagstad. Maybe the tremolo is enhanced from the microphones. Of course she is an intelligent artist.

[winegum123456789]

i agree with you completely on your first comment

[ketillflatnefur]

you've got a point - but she sings intelligently, sensitively , so that's a great asset. But yes, it's a bad sign and not all good singers have staying power, and a tremelo is often associated with not singing when she's older.

[erar01]

Personally I love Dalayman's dark and powerful soprano. The tremolo has been there for long, but hasn't worsened for a decade really.

Unfortunately she is set up to sing Elektra next winter. Apart from being the worst (and most stunning) voice murder piece there is, she doesn't have the voice for it. Chrystotemis would be perfect though. As you said, Waltraute would be good too. Unfortunately the biggest stars want to sing the lead roles no matter if it suits their voices or not.