And so to the final instalment… We open with the Rock but now the background room; while still the same 18th/19th century mansion, looks a bit the worse for wear with peeling and cracked paint. The Norns, predictably, are all in white.  It’s all pretty conventional but done well.

Siegfried and Brünnhilde are in a brightly lit bedroom making out.  It’s pretty clear that Brünnhilde knows how things will play out while Siegfried remains clueless.  Brünnhilde’s helmet stands in for Grane and when Siegfried puts it on he sort of “canters” around the bedroom.  Again, he looks naive, she doesn’t.

The Gibichung Hall is, of course, the now shabby mansion but with modern furniture.  The Gods’ furniture may be ancestral heirlooms but Gunther (Daniel Schmutzhard) shops at some upscale Danish boutique.  Gunther and Gutrune (a rather fetching Lauren Fagan) are dressed identically in red blazers, trousers and riding boots which rather sets them apart from Hagen (the very imposing and vocally impressive David Leigh) who wears chainmail and carries a spear.  It all plays out rather nicely; Hagen is clearly calling the shots with Gunther a fairly useless wimp and Gutrune played as quite girlish.

The scene with Waltraute (Sarah Ferede)  and Brûnnhilde is intense.  It’s unclear whether Brünnhilde is just being stubborn or realises that it’s all up for the Gods, so why bother?  The Tarnhelm scene is done pretty well with both men in the frame.  Siegfried wears the magic helmet but he’s doubled by Gunther with his face sort of blurred out.  It’s intriguing.

So on to Act 2.  Hagen and Alberich (Chris Purves again) haggle around the World Ash.  Hagen is obviously three steps ahead of his dad and thinks he’s an idiot.  Then it all gets a bit crazy and confused with the various accusations and oaths as Hagen weaves his web.  David Leigh is immense here and Siegfried (Klaus Florian Vogt) sings really well.  I did wonder of Camilla Nylund’s Brünnhilde was a little strident here but, if she is, it’s probably deliberate.

Predictably the first scene of Act 3 mirrors the opening scene of Das Rheingold though, of course, it gets darker as the Rhinemaidens prophesy Siegfried’s death.  The hunt scene is dark but with really proper bass singing from Leigh and ringing high notes from Vogt.  The murder is appropriately brutal and Hagen’s contempt for Gunther is clear.

The final scene starts around the World Ash, almost in the dark with some fine singing from Fagan followed by Nylund absolutely nailing “Starke Scheite schictet mir dort”.  The staging here is unconventional but highly effective and rather touching.  It needs to be seen as a description would be spoilerish.  The ending is also quite clever.  The Rhinemaidens bundle Hagen unceremoniously out of the window then we cut to the Valhalla “boardroom” where Wotan is watching the Valhalla picture burn!  It wraps up an intriguingly directed cycle rather well.

Musically everything works.  Gianandrea Noseda really gets inside the score and the orchestra is once again terrific.  The house chorus manage their role nicely.  Technical details are the same as for Das Rheingold.  Götterdämmerung isn’t nearly as dark as  Siegfried and so the video direction is back to being a bit more expansive; more like Das Rheingold and Die Walküre.

For ease of access here are links to the related reviews and article:

Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Siegfried
Final thoughts on the Zürich Ring

Catalogue information: Accentus Music ACC60656 (4 Blu-ray disk boxed set)