Timo Riihonen

..."Timo Riihonen gibt seinen Diener Marcel, der in Kurwenal-ähnlicher Treue stets zur Seite ist und darstellerisch wie stimmlich durchweg überzeugt."...

Achim Dombrowski

CD Review: ..."Finnish bass Timo Riihonen creates an incessantly menacing Hunding, the blackness of his timbre and his athletic delivery of the music making it obvious from his first entrance that he is a man to whom violence comes naturally. Alongside such an audibly young, virile mate, Sieglinde seems more than a mere ‘trophy bride,’ her plight unusually desperate because it is obvious that her husband has the strength and hot blood of youth needed to fulfill his desires. Mr. Riihonen’s voice sizzles with irony in lines such as ‘Heilig ist mein Herd: – heilig sei dir mein Haus!’ When Mr. Riihonen’s Hunding sings ‘Wie gleicht er dem Weibe,’ there is a chilling suggestion that he has divined more than he lets on. The power with which Mr. Riihonen sings is gripping, and a few moments of suspect intonation are quickly sorted out. It is a compliment to the effectiveness of Mr. Riihonen’s characterization in this performance that one is especially relieved when Hunding is dispatched by Wotan at the end of Act Two."

Joseph Newsome