| The Copenhagen Ring: The Complete DVD Set | 
| Director: Kasper Bech Holten
Actors: Stig Andersen, Irenie Theorin, Gitta-maria Sjoberg, Johan Reuter, Stephen Milling
Studio: Decca
Category: DVD
List Price: $119.98
Buy New: $70.97
You Save: $49.01 (41%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 4917
Format: Ac-3, Box Set, Classical, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Languages: Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), German (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 920 minutes
Number Of Items: 7
Discs: 7
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.5 x 2.5
UPC: 044007432648
EAN: 0044007432648
ASIN: B0019LZ19O
Release Date: August 12, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
First release of the acclaimed recent Ring Cycle production at the Royal Danish Opera. Striking, memorable and controversial staging by Kasper Bech Holten. The action, experienced as an extended flashback, presents Wagner s epic as a family saga from a feminist perspective. The production is visually stunning, disturbing and at times explicit. Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese
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| Customer Reviews:
The best DVD production of the Ring September 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This Ring is different from all other Rings on DVD and is mostly successful in what it aims to bring. It is wonderful to have this pinnacle of operatic spectacles in a staging worthy of the subject, a stage with `actors who can sing' as Wagner wished it. The singers do act as if in a movie and the DVD has been filmed as a dramatic movie, not as a static stage performance though a live stage performance it of course is. This may at times be a bit tiresome as images and image angles may seem to switch a bit too often but most of the time by far this cinematographic approach pays off well and enhances the drama without disturbing the operatic enjoyment. The result is an experience unlike the live experience in the opera house itself but I'm inclined to say the choice was well made. After all, a film on DVD is not a stage performance even if it is based on one.
Staging and acting, all of the visuals are evidently extremely important in a DVD release and the Copenhagen Ring gives you decors to relish and acting on a very high and convincing level indeed. As in the Boulez Ring, the acting closely follows the music and specifically the text though it may sometimes appear to stretch the imagination a little too far. The film quality in itself is superb and so is the sound.
Speaking of sound, the orchestra is more than up to the task. No one I think expects this orchestra and this conductor to give the best-ever performance of Wagner's Ring on record. It is however more than adequate to deliver a good reading that never disappoints and often impresses.
There are moments when the singing (never less than adequate, often quite good) struggles without really succeeding to rise above the orchestra. It is noticeable and thus it is a blemish albeit a small one and more forgivable in a live performance than in a studio recording.
A few remarks on the side : Hagen acted splendidly but his voice was less impressive. Siegfried in Goetterdaemmerung was not that strong either. Bruennhilde was great.
There was one scene that I thoroughly disliked : the Norns in the introduction to Goetterdaemmerung really knew how to irritate me, making by exaggerated playacting a parody out of what could have been an original idea (casting the Norns as members of the audience), it simply does not fit in the whole and to me it stands out as a black spot on this otherwise quite excellently directed Ring.
I feared for even worse when the curtain rose on Siegfried and Bruennhilde's farewell scene and uncovered a sight that awakened horrified memories of Konwitschny's Goetterdaemmerung (for those who watched it in the Stuttgart Ring) : you will see Siegfried donning an apron to start doing the washing-up (a la Konwitschny) but then Bruennhilde gestures him not to be silly and to take it off again, and the story starts at last to unfold again in a Wagnerian mould. So was this only a director's joke ? If so, I find it out of place in a production such as this one.
In short, this is a very good production and a very good DVD release with some weak moments that do not fundamentally alter the overall impression of a rewarding experience. If it weren't for the Norns, I'd give it overall five stars despite of a number of imperfections here and there. The first three parts of the cycle deserve five stars, the fourth only four (without counting the Norns) or three (when counting the Norns).
Should you watch this Ring ? Yes, absolutely.
 Brilliant August 23, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Royal Danish Opera clearly wanted to create for itself some international prestige, and went all out with a Ring production to compare to any other. There is a ton of scenery, a superb cast even without a single Big Star, wonderful conducting, and an intriguing director's concept. Even the most jaded Ring veteran will find many a detail to ponder--the Rhine gold as a naked swimming youth, or the way the ring leaves physical scars on those who wear it. By comparison, the Harry Kupfer Bayreuth staging is cheap and ponderous, with a kind of "I'm Bayreuth, I don't have to have scenery" feeling to it. Cheap, I call it. This one is elaborate and fascinating.
 The Feminists' Ring June 7, 2008
11 out of 22 found this review helpful
I saw this Ring live in Copenhagen, and look forward to this souvenir of the production on DVD. An interesting, modern interpretation with a decidedly "feminist" leaning: the whole story is essentially Brunnhilde's flashback on her family history, with her now pregnant at the end but spared immolation.
Cast was good-to very good, with the rising Theorin a more than acceptable Brunnhilde (she rises to Isolde this year at Bayreuth), James Johnson a servicable Wotan, and the energizer bunny Stig Andersen a known quantity as Siegfried (and I remember him also doing Siegmund in my cycle). Direction is interesting, if not necessarily true to Wagner.
Let's hope they've included footage of the new Copenhagen house itself - one of the real reasons to visit!
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