DIE WALKÜRE | Hofmann, Varady, Salminen, Ligendza, Estes, Cheryl Studer | López-Cobos | Berlin

Music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner; libretto by the composer. This is an in-house recording. Siegmund - Peter Hofmann Sieglinde - Julia Varady Hunding - Matti Salminen Brünnhilde - Catarina Ligendza Wotan - Simon Estes Fricka - Diane Curry Helmwige - Cheryl Studer Gerhilde - Lucy Peacock Ortlinde - Barbara Vogel Waltraute - Annabelle Bernard Schwertleite - Kaja Borris Siegrune - Yoko Nomura Grimgerde - Barbara Scherler Rossweisse - Ruthild Engert Live, 3 October 1984, Berlin, Deutsche Oper, Jesús López-Cobos (Conductor) A recently published article about this 1984 Götz Friedrich Ring cycle, in which Cheryl Studer also sang Freia in “Das Rheingold“ ( can be read here: In that Cycle she also sang the Third Norn and Gutrune in “Götterdammerung”. She also recorded Gutrune with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera. Third Norn: Gutrune: Three years earlier, Studer was Ortlinde in the Marek Janowski Dresden recording of “Die Walküre“. Three years after these Berlin Helmwiges, she was Sieglinde for Wolfgang Sawallisch in Munich (a role she also recorded in 1988 for Bernard Haitink). Her Sieglinde for Sawallisch can be heard here: She last sang Sieglinde nearly 20 years after her first outing, in 2005 in Beijing, in the first ever Ring cycle performed in China (performances conducted by Philippe Auguin). In 2000 she sang the Walküre Brünnhilde in concert in Budapest with Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra. Also in 2000, she sang Sieglinde at the Bayreuth Festival. And again in 2002, in Vienna. The Fricka here, Diane Curry, recorded the mezzo part in Robert Shaw’s Atlanta Symphony Verdi Requiem (with Susan Dunn, Jerry Hadley and Paul Plishka). Erster Aufzug / Act 1 (00:00:41) Zweiter Aufzug / Act 2 (01:03:44) Dritter Aufzug / Act 3 (02:34:53)