This is the closing section of Das Rheingold: the first (and best) opera of Wagner's Ring Cycle. As a composition and work of literature (Wagner did the libretto as well as music) it is extremely well-structured; and has a mythic power only exceeded by that greatest of all musical compositions: Mozart's Zauberflote.
As a college student, I spent a memorable four consecutive days listening to the Ring in the famous LP boxed-set recording by Georg Solti with the Vienna Philharmonic. This is not just a musical classic, but a classic of recording quality - showing that what was achievable in 1964 has never been surpassed; not least because it was analogue, like real life.
The above section is the close of Rheingold, which contains several enthralling passages. The sound of 'Thor's hammer (actually Donner) on anvil at 1:59 begins one such - and the very end of the opera (depicting the gods grandiose procession across the rainbow bridge into Valhalla) is literally hair-raising.
Solti was regarded as one of the truly great conductors, the Vienna Phil of this era was one of the great orchestras - and here Solti demonstrates what great conducting can be, when he plays upon the orchestra as if it was a single many-multi-instrument.
In particular, what Solti gets from the brass section - so large and vital a component of the Wagner effect (for which he invented several additional instuments) - is remarkable. The combination of brightness with internal balance of the brass chords, and they way the volume is shaped, is something quite beyond most conductors and orchestras - a whole extra dimension.
