Alexandra Steiner

Frank Castorf revolutionised German-language theatre in the post-Berlin Wall era, bringing to the stage intellectual and political acuteness, brash references and a not infrequent use of crude humour. He brought these qualities to the Bayreuth Festival where his production of the Ring ran from 2013 to 2017. This 2016 recording of Das Rheingold captures Marek Janowski's festival debut as conductor of this unique production, in which Castorf replaces the Rheingold with oil as the central commodity in a pre-capitalist society. The first night of the Ring cycle begins at a gas station off of Route 66, the main road connecting the East and West coasts of the USA, that played an important role in commerce in the 1920s.

"Oil is the equivalent of what used to be gold. A luxury that we cannot eat," explained director Frank Castorf in an interview, outlining one of the key ideas behind his production of the Ring at Bayreuth. In the final part of the tetralogy, the wild journey ventures to the Buna chemical plants in Schkopau and to New York's Wall Street, among other places. Inspired by the aesthetic of Hollywood B movies, the production was first met with disapproval but grew to gain many supporters over the years.