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Wagner: Siegfried

01/07/2007
BBC Music Magazine (UK)
Michael Scott Rohan
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In this latest instalment of The State Opera South Australia’s Ring it is immediately evident what a superb Wagnerian the company has in Asher Fisch. Abetted by the excellent Adelaide Symphony, his conducting is expansive yet never – unlike his SACD rival Hartmut Haenchen (on Etcetera) – slackening the dramatic sweep and tension.

The cast is a good ensemble. Gary Rideout confirms the potential evident to those who saw his 1998 Loge for Arizona Opera. His Siegfried … is the most realistically youthful, lyrical hero since Alberto Remedios. Lisa Gasteen … awakens much more steadily than at Covent Garden for a lively duet. Richard Greager, familiar from Scottish Opera, confirms that Mime is more effective sung than squawked. John Wegner’s baleful Alberich is also unusually mellifluous ...

John Bröcheler’s Wanderer …his angrier moments are powerful … with Siegfried and Liane Keegan’s bronze-voiced Erda … David Hibbard snarls impressively as Fafner.

All told, I found this the most sheerly enjoyable Siegfried since Barenboim’s – made excitingly vivid in multi-channel SACD.

Sound: ***** (5 stars)     

Performance: **** (5 stars)