‘Götterdämmerung’ auf Naxos: Niall Hoskin reports on the final instalment of Jaap van Zweden’s Hong Kong ‘Ring’ cycle

Review of Götterdämmerung, conducted van Zweden, Hong Kong, 2018 (Naxos, 4 CDs).

March 2019, Volume 13, Number 1, 80–81.

This recording marks the culmination of a mission for Jaap van Zweden and his Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and for Klaus Heymann, founder of Hong Kong-based Naxos records. Many of its strengths lie in the live concert format: the orchestral sound is rich and round, eminently well captured by a technical team headed by Phil Rowlands, and unimpeded by stage noise or audience reaction. The orchestral playing is of the highest standard. There is much to admire in the unanimity and sweetness of the string playing, which must be in part due to van Zweden’s pedigree as one-time concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The brass are indefatigable, with impeccable horn solos and ensembles, not least as the sun comes up at the start of Act II Scene 2; and the winds are impressive too, as when sounds of bass clarinet, cor anglais and low clarinets lend character to the nocturnal opening of Act III Scene 3.

Yet the ‘stand and deliver’ concert format has disadvantages as well.