Appropriately enough‚ this first full DVD Ring is the first ever televised‚ the Bayreuth centenary production which garnered worldwide audiences some 20 years ago. Patrice Chéreau’s staging was a considerable succès de scandale; but compared to most modern productions his notionally Marxist approach‚ expounded in his somewhat pretentious notes‚ seems fairly restrained. Exaggerated gestures and comic­book violence have lost their shock value‚ but its strengths are also more apparent. Peduzzi’s grandiose Victorian­architectural settings‚ though sometimes grey and dull‚ yield striking images such as Valhalla’s Foucault pendulum‚ Hunding’s moonlit glasshouse and Siegfried’s birch forest; and Chéreau’s dynamism‚ though often crude‚ does propel the drama effectively. The same could be said for Boulez’s hard­driven conducting‚ though it is never as revelatory as his Bayreuth Parsifal (DG‚ 9/92)‚ and elides too much detail. And individual performances‚ especially in three pivotal roles‚ are outstanding. Finest of all is Jones’s Brünnhilde‚ appealingly feminine and passionately committed‚ developing from girlish vulnerability to tragic grandeur‚ and singing with her distinctively melting middle range and ringing top. Her incipient upper­range pitch problems and unstable ‘beat’ are often audible‚ but not unbearably so. McIntyre’s Wotan is resoundingly powerful‚ although the one­dimensional characterisation‚ tyrannical and brutal‚ narrows his scope for colour and expression and underlines the harsh edge to his voice. His adversary Alberich’s satanic stature is correspondingly diminished‚ but Becht sings rather than barks‚ with telling intensity. Otherwise the casting is variable‚ which affects the individual operas. Rheingold (on one disc!) boasts Becht‚ Schwarz’s superb Fricka and fine Giants‚ but also McIntyre’s monochrome grimness‚ average Rhinemaidens‚ Wenkel’s lightweight‚ overly vibrant Erda‚ Zednik’s undersung Loge‚ Egel’s off­pitch Donner‚ and‚ despite the famous hydroelectric dam‚ some unimpressive sets. In Walküre McIntyre sings with more passion‚ infusing the interplay with Jones and Schwarz with anguished power. Hofmann and Altmeyer are vocally and physically charismatic Volsung twins‚ and with Salminen’s blackly bourgeois Hunding‚ a strong Valkyrie contingent‚ and striking settings‚ this is the best performance of the cycle. Unfortunately‚ Siegfried has an inadequate‚ vocally scrawny hero in Jung; but it fits the production‚ making him a weakling bully unable to forge the sword without the steamhammer Wotan supplies‚ as he does the Woodbird – incidentally destroying the Ring’s entire rationale. Mime often traps insensitive producers‚ and this murderous little megalomaniac is indeed reduced to Zednik’s saucepan­helmeted comic turn. McIntyre’s violence becomes self­defeating; when the Wanderer begins by grinding Mime’s neck to the anvil with his spear‚ it leaves the scene nowhere to go‚ and his confrontation with Siegfried is diminished by too much pushing and shoving. Fafner‚ despite Hubner’s black voice‚ is merely a giant wheeled pull­toy in a woodland garage; Wenkel is again light. Jones’s reawakening is radiant but unsteady‚ and she overpowers a fading Jung throughout the final duet. In Götterdämmerung Wenkel is much better leading a strong trio of Norns. The Gibichungs‚ a dry­voiced Mazura‚ a less characterful Altmeyer‚ and Hubner’s slobbish Hagen‚ become decadent capitalists inhabiting a warehouse dock by a glittering‚ kitschy Rhine‚ the clansmen their labourers – although this vigorous chorus hardly sounds ‘oppressed and exploited’. Jung’s strained voice and ugly characterisation undermines the unfolding tragedy; but the finest performers restore it‚ Killebrew’s rich­toned Waltraute and above all Jones’s incandescent heroine. The cycle’s success owes much to Brian Large’s fluent video direction‚ full of imaginative touches such as the eerily balletic scenery in the Rheingold scene changes‚ yet also capturing the intensity of more intimate scenes. Inevitably DVD shows up the old recording‚ the digital ‘grid’ occasionally visible in backgrounds‚ but its sharpness and clarity improve vastly on the videotape‚ as do the soundtracks. One offers CD­quality stereo‚ the other a Dolby 5.1 remix which caught the Bayreuth acoustic surprisingly well on my modest surround set­up. For all its flaws this is impressive‚ and welcome. Still‚ I look forward to Barenboim’s superior Bayreuth set‚ and the Met version‚ already released complete in Japan. Or‚ better yet‚ a new recording – perhaps Stephen Wadsworth’s brilliant Seattle cycle‚ demonstrating that ‘traditional’ staging can still be characterful and innovative.