Die Walküre waltet frei
Oct. 5th, 2007 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pallas_athenaOn Thursday evening I dragged my mother to Covent Garden for Die Walküre. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was beautiful.
For those who haven't been keeping track: Wagner's Ring cycle consists of four operas. For this latest production, Covent Garden has premiered one opera each year for the past four years, and this year they're finally staging all four in order. Bryn Terfel, who sang the role of the god Wotan (Odin) for the first time in this production, had to pull out earlier this year due to a family crisis-- which is ironic, since the Ring is basically an enormous family crisis in itself.
So this time round, Terfel has been replaced by Sir John Tomlinson, who has been Britain's stalwart Wagnerian bass for many years. I've heard him sing many times, including Wotan twice before. Trust me when I say that to my knowledge he has never sung better than in this production.
Tomlinson is audibly aging now: the voice is getting a little heavy, the vibrato slowing and widening. But I'm also hearing a mastery I've never heard from him before. Before this, whenever I've heard Tomlinson sing a demanding role like Wotan or Hans Sachs, by the end of the evening his high notes have sounded really tired. There was no hint of that on Thursday: on the contrary, his farewell to Brünnhilde sounded fresher than ever, and he sang it beautifully. In this production, Wotan is a real mess: stressed, angsty, indecisive and half-mad. Strange, then, that Tomlinson should bring more sheer majesty to the part now than in previous productions which gave Wotan more dignity. He hints in this interview that he may be approaching his final bow as Wotan: if so, he'll go out on a high.
Other standout voices were Lisa Gasteen's fiery Brünnhilde and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde. Simon O'Neill gets all the notes for Siegmund, though vocally he sounds much more like a Loge. The eight Valkyries were distinctly patchy. Sigh.
All reservations were forgotten, though, when Gasteen and Tomlinson sang their final scene. There was some fairly disturbing staging, but the end result was deeply affecting and has stayed with me.
As for the production, it seems to be steampunk incarnate. You can go look at photos on the neat little website that Covent Garden have put up for this cycle. Without having seen the other three operas, I can't really comment on the whole, but it makes sense to me as the previous Covent Garden Ring did not. Also, crucially, lots of fire. You can't have a Walküre without lots of fire. This production gets the L. Graham Pyromania Seal Of Approval.
Here's my ultimate accolade: this production made me want to see the other three operas. Die Walküre is my favourite of the cycle. I love the gods and monsters of Rheingold too, but I think Walküre is a better story. Siegfried is a satisfying hero-tale, but it disappoints me that the hero is such a bonehead. Götterdämmerung falls under the genre![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
speedlime describes as "People do stupid things and fuck up their lives for no reason." In other words, the plot is incredibly unsatisfying-- though you do get Waltraute's solo, the Rhinemaidens' gorgeous trio and the end of the world. Apparently this production's Götterdämmerung contains even more fire, which to me is reason enough to go see it. Heiaha!
For those who haven't been keeping track: Wagner's Ring cycle consists of four operas. For this latest production, Covent Garden has premiered one opera each year for the past four years, and this year they're finally staging all four in order. Bryn Terfel, who sang the role of the god Wotan (Odin) for the first time in this production, had to pull out earlier this year due to a family crisis-- which is ironic, since the Ring is basically an enormous family crisis in itself.
So this time round, Terfel has been replaced by Sir John Tomlinson, who has been Britain's stalwart Wagnerian bass for many years. I've heard him sing many times, including Wotan twice before. Trust me when I say that to my knowledge he has never sung better than in this production.
Tomlinson is audibly aging now: the voice is getting a little heavy, the vibrato slowing and widening. But I'm also hearing a mastery I've never heard from him before. Before this, whenever I've heard Tomlinson sing a demanding role like Wotan or Hans Sachs, by the end of the evening his high notes have sounded really tired. There was no hint of that on Thursday: on the contrary, his farewell to Brünnhilde sounded fresher than ever, and he sang it beautifully. In this production, Wotan is a real mess: stressed, angsty, indecisive and half-mad. Strange, then, that Tomlinson should bring more sheer majesty to the part now than in previous productions which gave Wotan more dignity. He hints in this interview that he may be approaching his final bow as Wotan: if so, he'll go out on a high.
Other standout voices were Lisa Gasteen's fiery Brünnhilde and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde. Simon O'Neill gets all the notes for Siegmund, though vocally he sounds much more like a Loge. The eight Valkyries were distinctly patchy. Sigh.
All reservations were forgotten, though, when Gasteen and Tomlinson sang their final scene. There was some fairly disturbing staging, but the end result was deeply affecting and has stayed with me.
As for the production, it seems to be steampunk incarnate. You can go look at photos on the neat little website that Covent Garden have put up for this cycle. Without having seen the other three operas, I can't really comment on the whole, but it makes sense to me as the previous Covent Garden Ring did not. Also, crucially, lots of fire. You can't have a Walküre without lots of fire. This production gets the L. Graham Pyromania Seal Of Approval.
Here's my ultimate accolade: this production made me want to see the other three operas. Die Walküre is my favourite of the cycle. I love the gods and monsters of Rheingold too, but I think Walküre is a better story. Siegfried is a satisfying hero-tale, but it disappoints me that the hero is such a bonehead. Götterdämmerung falls under the genre
speedlime describes as "People do stupid things and fuck up their lives for no reason." In other words, the plot is incredibly unsatisfying-- though you do get Waltraute's solo, the Rhinemaidens' gorgeous trio and the end of the world. Apparently this production's Götterdämmerung contains even more fire, which to me is reason enough to go see it. Heiaha!![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2007-10-08 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-10-08 11:12 am (UTC)You can always ring the Box Office about returns. Lady Luck may smile...
Also, ICON LOVE.