Metropolitan Opera at Home - Wagner's Gotterdammerung. October 10, 2020.

Original Performance Date: April 21, 1990.

Conductor - James Levine.  Brunnhilde - Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried - Siegfried Jerusalem, Hagen - Matti Salminen, Waltrute - Christa Ludwig, Gutrune - Hanna Lisowska, Gunther - Anthony Raffell, Alberich - Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Norns - Gweneth Bean, Joyce Castle, Andrea Gruber; Woglinde - Kaaren Erickson, Wallgunda - Diana Kesling, Flosshilde - Meredith Parsons.

One reaction I didn't expect to have is that I prefer the 24-plank set to this one, described (somewhere) as the one truest to Wagner's original concept (at least until then, and who is to judge?).

Behrens got hurt at the end of one of the Gotterdammerung Valhalla destruction scenes, and had to withdraw from the last cycle.  Since she also sang in the April 26, 1990 Siegfried, one can assume it wasn't at this performance.  She would die in her early 70s while traveling in Japan.

The quality of the video was quite bad.  I wasn't sure if that is how it is, or my home network had bandwidth problems.  I took a look at the Parsifal broadcast; it was in HD, and was fine.

In a live Ring cycle one sits through 4 operas in 6 to 7 days, here it was broadcast over four nights.  Very difficult to sustain that level of concentration, and there are so many distractions at home.

Gibichung vassals being summoned to the marriage of Guther and Brunnhilde.  One of the few instances in the Ring where a chorus is used.

Hagen, Gunther and Brunnhilde talking about Siegfried's weakness.

Curtain call after Act 2.

Hagen stabbing Siegfried in the back with a spear, as Gunther looks on.

Immolation scene.

Curtain call at end of opera.

List of actual performance dates for this "Ring" cycle.  Looks like only Das Rheingold and Siegfried are from the same Ring cycle.

This recording from Parsifal was done in 2015, the video quality has improved tremendously over the years.