These are some press comments on Wagner's "Die Walküre" at the Gothenburg Opera, January 2004:

Conductor Patrik Ringborg held everything together superbly, bringing out a chamber-like quality from the score which corresponded perfectly to the dramatic action.
(Financial Times, 14.01.2004)

In the production of Wagner's "Die Walküre" at the Gothenburg Opera, the music is born anew. And if someone should be pointed out before anyone else, it is conductor Patrik Ringborg.
The wealth of nuances that he brings out of the orchestral playing is one of a kind.
... Instead focus lies totally on the music, on the in every moment changing feelings which gives unexpected access to the drama. Or rather: to the chamber play, hiding behind all the overwhelming and mythologically complex. A quite different Wagner resounds, definitely closer to Strindberg and Ibsen than you would think at a first glance. Depicting the worries and the cracks in the bourgeois family, telling a story of the complex relationship between the individual and society: To belong or not to belong, build up or destroy?
The seating of the orchestra on stage instead of in the pit is also a fortunate choice. Suddenly the communication between the singers and the single instrumental cues are in focus and the construction of the leitmotifs can be understood in quite a different way.
If someone should be pointed out as the hero of the evening, it is conductor Patrik Ringborg. Exactly like in the production of "Tristan und Isolde" last season he succeeds in bringing out an extraordinary agility and wealth in nuances and it can already be stated that Ringborg with this astonishing Wagner freshness is well on his way to creating his own conductor's identity. Most impressive is the chamber-musical touch, the lightness and flexibility, like in the solo passages for cello, bass clarinet, bassoon and oboe. So refreshingly far away from the heavy and bombastic Wagner playing. So unconditionally beautiful.
The simplicity and the transparency is what stands out the most in this performance, a transparency absolutely to Wagner's advantage. The music is born anew and lives its own life, far from knight's armours and overly ideological interpretations.
(Göteborgsposten, 13.01.2004)

One can experience the orchestra exactly like the chorus of the ancient Greek drama, always ready to comment on the action with flashing Leitmotivs. ... a performance which no Wagner lover should miss. With ... an orchestra in top form it is a pleasure listening to it. Patrik Ringborg shows again that he has a safe grip on the musical language of Wagner. He pushes the nervous parts and consistently proves that he has a sensitive ear not least shown in his supreme feeling for sound: the singers are never drowned by the orchestra.
This in turn is a result of the high level of the whole team.
(Dagens Nyheter, 13.01.2004)

Patrik Ringborg has carefully worked on the details of the immensely rich score. ... in total the orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera made as grand an achievement as always these days.
(Aftonbladet, 14.01.2004)

... The "Walküre" of the Gothenburg Opera is more suitable for listening than hearing. The orchestral playing under Patrik Ringborg is mostly exquisite, well-balanced and - not least - dynamically varied.
(Svenska Dagbladet, 13.01.2004)

Wagners' music ... is impossible to resist, especially since it is performed by an orchestra, which itself is ecstatic, an orchestra, that moreover is to be seen performing and enjoying its artistic task. Patrik Ringborg ... and the musicians give us a fantastical musical experience.
(GT, 12.01.2004)

The orchestra expanded with four harps and the special Wagner tubas was given a leading part. Patrik Ringborg conducts engagingly and full of insight - before open curtain. ... The intimate side - yes, there is one! - of the "Walküre" is allowed to flourish. From time to time Wagner becomes chamber-musical, but Ringborg also makes room for the heroic eruptions in the orchestral part.
(Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 13.01.2004)

A ... musically very impressive reproduction of the most striking part of the tetra-logy ... with a general's overview and never failing observance of detail Patrik Ringborg pilots the singers as well as the orchestra through the intricate shades of the giant score between violent sound eruptions and almost chamber-musical transparency.
(Hallandsposten, 14.01.2004)

... here it is obvious, how intense and captivating the drama becomes, when the orchestra is visible as a co-actor and visualises the music under the same conditions as the singers. ... When the leitmotifs are woven together and wander through the different instrumental groups, we may follow a totally new and very fascinating "Allkunstwerk", for example ... when the bass clarinet turns into a living and perceivable supporting actor in the fight between father and daughter. Thereby the conductor also is moved into the visible centre, and Patrik Ringborg looks as if he is feeling good in the part. He has everything under full control and knows what he wants with his "Walküre". This as well becomes an drama of its own, when he elicits and brings out the nuances, details and dramatic escalation of the orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera, an orchestra giving everything.
(Tidskriften Opera, 01.2004)

The stage in the "Walküre" at the Gothenburg Opera holds not only the singers, but the whole orchestra as well - extraordinary huge with 90 musicians, among others four harps in a row. It is nice, following the work of the conductor Patrik Ringborg not only as a minor matter in an opera performance. He has this gigantic orchestra almost literally in his hand, and in addition to the fact that it sounds good, his body language represents a small performance within the performance.
(Bohusläningen, 13.01.2004)

The music flows irresistibly beautifully when the Gothenburg Opera shapes its production under Patrik Ringborg. It proves successful to have this big orchestra visible, to be able to follow the in Wagner's music so intimate teamwork with the singers.
With this performance, the Gothenburg Opera has secured its position as a Wagner stage, and the guest of honour this evening, Birgit Nilsson, who was celebrated with standing ovations, must have felt satisfied and proud. Now we await the remaining "Ring" at the Gothenburg Opera!
(Borås Tidning, 13.01.2004)

An exceptional orchestra was exemplarily conducted by Patrik Ringborg .
(Ulricehamns Tidning, 15.01.2004)

The fascinating possibility to view the stage as well as the orchestra on the same level, surely brings out the danger of occasionally having the singers drowned by the orchestra. But the conductor Patrik Ringborg is a fantastic musician, and seldom could such a enchanting implicitness and diversity in details be heard in the "Walküre", additionally wrapped in a round and clear sound.
It didn't take many bars of the furious prelude depicting Siegmund's escape, until the excitement reached the boiling point, and there it stayed!
(Børsen, 13.01.2004)

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