Ewa Podles Rheingold Erda “Weiche, Wotan“ LIVE (2005) Wagner

Seattle 2005 Erda: Ewa Podles Wotan: Greer Grimsley Ewa Podleś, the great contralto of our age, sings the Rheingold Erda. Podles’ exceptional vocal qualities are obvious - the enormous range, the swelling, surging sweep of the vocal line, the extremely dark colouring to the voice, and most obviously the baritonal chest register which is virtually nonpareil. But she is not merely a vocal phenomenon - what really sets her apart from so many other singers is her brilliant musicianship and musicality which allows her to wield her extremely unusual instrument to superbly expressive ends. She is often called a “force of nature“, and the epithet is never more fitting than in this role which she might have been born to sing. Podles’ Das Rheingold Erda has been posted several times on YouTube, but I think this is a different source. I have also uploaded Podles Siegfried Erda here: For non commercial educational purposes. Please message me if there is a problem with this video.