The single The Ride of the Valkyries marking two centuries of Wagner

On the eve of two centuries since the birth of Richard Wagner, the Mariinsky Theatre has prepared a special gift for all music lovers. The famous Ride of the Valkyries which opens Act III of the opera Die Walküre is to be released as a single in the special Mastered for iTunes format, ensuring the sound is conveyed exactly as the performers and sound engineers intend it to be.

This famous Wagnerian hit has been taken from a recording of Die Walküre released by the Mariinsky label on 11 February this year that features leading opera singers of the present day – soprano Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde), bass-baritone René Pape (Wotan), tenor Jonas Kaufmann (Siegmund), soprano Anja Kampe (Sieglinde), mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova (Fricka) and bass Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding) as well as Mariinsky Opera soloists (Valkyries) and the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. This disc, which has received lofty praise from respected music critics and magazines, Diapason d’Or and Diamant d’Opéra awards and five stars from Audiophile Audition magazine, was the first in Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen to be released; the complete Ring cycle recording is due to be complete by late 2014. Two years ago the Mariinsky label also released Parsifal, Wagner’s last opera, with René Pape as Gurnemanz which was named “Disc of the Month” by BBC Music Magazine and “Editor’s Choice” in the October issue of Britain’s Gramophone music magazine.

The single The Ride of the Valkyries can be ordered from the iTunes website.