Single out now: Edward Gardner, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra " Wagner: The Ring Without Word: Die Walküre: The Cavalcade of Brünnhilde's Sisters (Ride of the Valkyries)"

The Gramophone Award-winning team return with an orchestral journey through Wagner's monumental 15-hour Ring Cycle, arranged by conductor Lorin Maazel

Released on Decca Classics on 22 January 2027, coinciding with the Norwegian National Opera's first complete Ring Cycle at the Oslo Opera House

The first single, Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries, is out today. ListenHERE.

Four-time Gramophone Award winner Edward Gardner reunites with the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra for Wagner: The Ring Without Words, released on Decca Classics on 22 January 2027.

The album presents an orchestral journey through Richard Wagner's monumental Ring Cycle, which spans four operas and around 15 hours of music. Created by conductor Lorin

Maazel in 1987, The Ring Without Words brings together some of the cycle's most memorable orchestral passages into a continuous symphonic work, without adding a single note of music not written by Wagner.

Originally conceived at the request of Telarc Records for a recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, Maazel's arrangement was designed to capture the essence of Wagner's epic drama without singers. Rather than presenting a series of individual orchestral highlights, the music unfolds as one continuous narrative, with instrumental lines taking the place of vocal passages where needed.

Recorded at the Oslo Opera House in Norway, the album takes listeners through the musical world of the Ring, from the opening of Das Rheingold to the dramatic conclusion of Götterdämmerung. Along the way, it features some of Wagner's most celebrated music, including the Ride of the Valkyries, Forest Murmurs, Siegfried's Rhine Journey and Siegfried's Funeral Music, before reaching the final Immolation Scene.

Gardner, formerly Music Director of English National Opera and now Music Director of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, has a longstanding relationship with Wagner's music. He previously collaborated with the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra on their Gramophone Award-winning recording of The Flying Dutchman.

The release also marks an important moment for the orchestra as it prepares to perform Wagner's complete Ring Cycle at the Oslo Opera House for the first time. Conducted by Gardner, the four operas will be presented across three seasons, from 2027 to 2029, beginning with Das Rheingold on 22 January 2027, the same day as the album's release.

The album artwork features the distinctive chandelier inside the auditorium of the Oslo Opera House, home of the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra.