I red about the SFO-ring on this list.  At the same time here in Amsterdam
we can hear the first self-made staged Ring ever!  Though the parts could
be heard in the last 100 years, last monday the Dutch Opera concluded the
first own staged Ring-cycle ever!  This month the Opera perform four cycles
- I join the second and fourth one (tomorrow evening the Gotterdammerung -
second cycle).  The four parts were also given each in series of eight
performances since september 1997, with some months time between them.
This first Dutch Ring is a very good one, with a great stage-direction
(by Pierre Audi) full of technical details, but placed in a time-less
setting.  There are also some great singers:  Chris Merrit as a very
special Loge, John Brocheler as Wotan/Wanderer, Graham Clark as a wonderful
Mime, Kurt Rydl as the 'best' Hunding and Hagen I can imagine, Reinhild
Runkel as Fricka and Janine Altmeyer and Nadine Secunde alternating as
Brunnhilde/Sieglinde.  The only weak thing is Heinz Kruse as Siegfried.
Not a very bad singer at all, but his acting is like a puppet.

It's of course a little bit late, this first Dutch ring, but I'm glad I
live just in this period!

Jan Anton, Amsterdam
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