I am wanting to try watching the Ring Cycle operas, either on DVD or on the web. If anyone has suggestions for particularly good performances, please share. I plan to start with Das Rheingold
The Great Performances at the Met “Ring” that PBS ran last year:
was generally well-received, should be easily available, and has lots of additional material on the website and in the “… making of …” documentary.
Dammit, I missed that.
I was entranced by the Frankfurt Ring cycle last year. The staging was fantastic, the singing was just great, and I was swept up in the storytelling. The Wagner cliché is how long his operas are, but nobody talks about what a compelling storyteller he was.
What was the costuming like?
I caught Walkure on PBS (my ex-GF texted me about it) just in time for the Flight. Marvelous. I’ve also seen Gotterdammerung live at the Met. The new productions are not what you’d call traditional, due to “the Machine” (the big…thingamajig that makes up the set), but it’s of course up to you to say how that’ll affect your perceptions. It’s impressive as hell to see in person, whether you like it or not, though.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of Wagner at this point in my opera-fandom, but there’s no denying his impact on music as a whole. You might check out the hour long documentary Jad Abumrad (of Radiolab) did for WNYC–it’s interesting and informative.
I retain a preference for the Boulez/Chéreau cycle from 1980, Bayreuth. To my ears, it’s the best conducted and directed of any of the major cycles available on an optical disc, although not the greatest cast; a very good cast, but not the greatest. It’s also not the most impressive video quality, but that’s not so important in my opinion. In any case, no other conductor retains such an intense focus on the dramatic pacing of the entire story.
If you prioritize visual splendor, there are other preferences. Probably Met/Levine. If you prioritize total music drama, Boulez/Chéreau is the choice.
Relatively subtle, based generally on nondescript modern clothing for the most part. The real feast for the eyes and the mind was the stage, which was comprised of concentric, well, rings that when they fit together formed a round stage elevated more at the back than the front. The whole stage could rotate, still connected, to show an open, tall ground-level space, or the individual rings could rotate to create a varied-height set. It was just so cleverly done!
Hang on, here’s a page with several pictures of the staging.
Ooo, I’m getting chills remembering the production! My favorite Wagner is still ‘Parsifal,’ but the Ring Cycle is just extraordinary. That music!
$140 in Blu-Ray at Amazon. A bit more than I’d like spend. There’s also a copy of the cycle from Bayreuth in 1992, directed by Daniel Barenboim and for $86. Is anyone familiar with that recording? Is it worthwhile?
And I, but the costuming is cool in the Met version.
I like the Vienna Philharmonic, Sir George Solti from the 60s, save for when Wotan whacks Hunding.
He whispers, “Go, go!” In other versions, he screams it out.
Not a genuine operatic production, but Anna Russell’s Analysis of the Ring Cycle is hilarious. The link is to Part 1.
Damn you for beating me to this!
I was amazed I actually was the first to do so…
It is funny as hell, and I’m a Wagner fan. 
I think it MAY only be funny to Wagner fans. Anyone who isn’t familiar with the Ring just won’t understand what she’s making fun of.
Hitler loved “The Ring”. What would the performances he wold have seen (in the 1930’s) be like-would they differ much from what Bayreuth pumps out today?
His favorite movie was Siegfrieds Tod.
I like it, too. Embarrassing for a Jew.
Wagner’s grandson began the strange productions, leading to the gods wearing evening gowns and tuxedos, Siegmund and company being miners or factory workers.
I recall critics of one of the Bayreuth productions were Fafner and Fasolt wore space suits: “The giants resemble Michelin Men stumbling across the stage”.