The Rhine is where Richard Wagner’s cycle of operas Der Ring des Nibelungen begins and ends, and it was beside the Rhine in 1851 that he first dreamed of this visionary work. Even if Wagner’s plans for a festival would ultimately be realized in an entirely different part of Germany, the performance of a “Ring on the Rhine” will always remain something very special. And where better to make this happen than at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein? Two cities, two orchestras, two casts of singers – with the Rhine opera’s fantastic ensemble of singers and its two outstanding orchestras, the Duisburger Philharmoniker and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, at their two venues in Duisburg und Düsseldorf, the essential conditions were in place.

However, a few weeks before the ensembles' premiere of Götterdämmerung, a defective sprinkler system flooded the theatre Duisburg. The damage this caused made the staged Ring cycle in Duisburg (for the time being) impossible. On short notice, they performed The Ring in concert form at the nearby Mercatorhalle. This supposed “emergency solution” had turned out to be a real stroke of luck. In the brilliant acoustics of the concert hall the singing voices and the sound of the orchestra came together to create a thrilling experience for listeners – one that audiences greeted with standing ovations. A desire was soon expressed to make the experience available to a wider public beyond this one-time concert performance. The result is this live recording of all four parts of the Ring cycle.

-From the liner notes by music director Axel Kober