The Ring Cycle Plays

[Bert Coules]

OK, it's not exactly a night at the opera as such, but maybe of interest...

This is happening now and until the end of the month: in an open-air amphitheatre on London's South Bank, and with a floodlit Tower Bridge in the background, a four-part "family-friendly" drama based on The Ring with each section around fifty minutes long, fairly freely adapted and translated from Wagner's text. It starts at 6pm and admission is free.

http://tinyurl.com/kke3y2e

I found it fascinating but not entirely successful (but then what Ring is?) but it's staged with huge energy, ingenuity and enthusiasm by a small cast with lots of doubling and tripling and written with some clever narrative touches. Some of the changes grated a little: when Wotan's ravens can be beautifully evoked by puppets, why is there no Woodbird? The ghost of Sieglinde popped up instead, to inform her son about Brünnhilde. To refer throughout to the dwarfs as "Trolls" (to avoid giving offence, according to the programme) seems unduly sensitive. And one major and important plot point was simply ignored altogether. But a splendid evening overall and I'm glad I went.

[bluestateprommer]

Standard thread hijacking by bsp (which hopefully Bert C. doesn't mind), but have been watching Dutch National Opera's 2014 videos of the Pierre Audi production of the Ring, available through June 7 via DNO's dedicated streaming page:

https://www.operaballet.nl/online/opera/streaming

A concert-going acquaintance back in the day once told me that the ideal way to experience the Ring is over 4 consecutive days. I haven't been able to do that, where it's been more like one act per day, especially after Rheingold. But even at that stretched-out pace, having heard the first 3 operas of the cycle so far, I take his point, about the recurrence of the leitmotifs throughout, and even various plot devices that only became clearer on a relatively concentrated viewing experience (e.g. drugged drinks in each of the 3 "days"). Some other modest points of the production so far:

* In Walkure and Siegfried, real fire is quite present, almost scarily so, although clearly the building is set up to code to keep things under control. How things stayed under control especially with the forging scene in Siegfried, I have no idea.
* For the Woodbird in Siegfried, something I've never heard of or about before: a boy soprano was cast in the role, specifically Juls Serger (from Dortmund).
* A few moments of scatology from Mime (Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke) in the staging of Siegfried
* In Rheingold, Loge (Stefan Margita) rather looked like Derek Jacobi's Claudius, and overall, stole the show, as definitely the smartest guy in the room.
* In Walkure, between the two Catherines (Naglestad = Sieglinde, Foster = Brunnhilde), Naglestad made the stronger impression on me. But then admittedly, Naglestad has to sing but in one of the operas, while Foster has to work in 3 of them.
* The placement of the orchestra varies between the operas, with something like a passarelle (I think that's the word) in Rheingold, to what looks more like placing the orchestra on-stage during Siegfried. BTW, in Walkure and Siegfried, you get 6 (count 'em) harps, bunched into a corner. They actually get to watch some of the singers very up-close when not playing.

While probably somewhat distorted by the recording balances (by default, a video is never the same as actually being in the house, and the engineers can adjust sound balances for the audio), I got the sense quite often of a chamber-music like approach from Hartmut Haenchen, to try not to overwhelm the singers. His approach to pacing seemed rather "chill", if that makes sense, in the way of not trying to force the music along or push too hard for the singers' comfort. But I'm far from a Ring aficionado, so others can judge better.

It'll be interesting to see how Audi staged the conflagration, for one, in the final opera. Apparently, also of historical interest, per the short video by Pierre Audi, this DNO production was the first complete Ring staged in the Netherlands, at the time of its original staging in the late 1990s.

[Bert Coules]

Does it count as hijacking, after six years of no posts? And does it count as a thread if there's only hitherto been just one message in it? Whatever the answers to these vital questions, thanks very much for that: this production is new to me. I took a quick look at act one of Siegfried to get an idea of the flavour, loved the staging and the layout, really didn't care for Mime's extraordinary appearance, fervently wished that they'd found a better way to do the bear, and worried slightly about the Siegfried's vocal stamina. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

[LHC]

Standard thread hijacking by bsp (which hopefully Bert C. doesn't mind), but have been watching Dutch National Opera's 2014 videos of the Pierre Audi production of the Ring, available through June 7 via DNO's dedicated streaming page:

https://www.operaballet.nl/online/opera/streaming

A concert-going acquaintance back in the day once told me that the ideal way to experience the Ring is over 4 consecutive days. I haven't been able to do that, where it's been more like one act per day, especially after Rheingold. But even at that stretched-out pace, having heard the first 3 operas of the cycle so far, I take his point, about the recurrence of the leitmotifs throughout, and even various plot devices that only became clearer on a relatively concentrated viewing experience (e.g. drugged drinks in each of the 3 "days"). Some other modest points of the production so far:

* In Walkure and Siegfried, real fire is quite present, almost scarily so, although clearly the building is set up to code to keep things under control. How things stayed under control especially with the forging scene in Siegfried, I have no idea.
* For the Woodbird in Siegfried, something I've never heard of or about before: a boy soprano was cast in the role, specifically Juls Serger (from Dortmund).
* A few moments of scatology from Mime (Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke) in the staging of Siegfried
* In Rheingold, Loge (Stefan Margita) rather looked like Derek Jacobi's Claudius, and overall, stole the show, as definitely the smartest guy in the room.
* In Walkure, between the two Catherines (Naglestad = Sieglinde, Foster = Brunnhilde), Naglestad made the stronger impression on me. But then admittedly, Naglestad has to sing but in one of the operas, while Foster has to work in 3 of them.
* The placement of the orchestra varies between the operas, with something like a passarelle (I think that's the word) in Rheingold, to what looks more like placing the orchestra on-stage during Siegfried. BTW, in Walkure and Siegfried, you get 6 (count 'em) harps, bunched into a corner. They actually get to watch some of the singers very up-close when not playing.

While probably somewhat distorted by the recording balances (by default, a video is never the same as actually being in the house, and the engineers can adjust sound balances for the audio), I got the sense quite often of a chamber-music like approach from Hartmut Haenchen, to try not to overwhelm the singers. His approach to pacing seemed rather "chill", if that makes sense, in the way of not trying to force the music along or push too hard for the singers' comfort. But I'm far from a Ring aficionado, so others can judge better.

It'll be interesting to see how Audi staged the conflagration, for one, in the final opera. Apparently, also of historical interest, per the short video by Pierre Audi, this DNO production was the first complete Ring staged in the Netherlands, at the time of its original staging in the late 1990s.

Your comments on Haenchen's approach are interesting. He was one of the first people to make use of the New Wagner Edition of the Ring, which includes a number of revisions made by Wagner, and generally cleans up the textures and provides for a leaner sound overall.

[Bert Coules]

Strange: my Firefox browser has a nifty add-on which downloads YouTube videos: handy for watching on a better screen than my desktop monitor. It handled three out of the four Ring operas flawlessly but Walküre refuses to co-operate. I wonder why? Has anybody else tried saving the videos?

[bluestateprommer]

I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

What did you think of it? Just finished with Götterdämmerung today. For me, starting on the debit side, my one disappointment was with the Gibichung chorus, where Audi made them anonymous in their facial gear, which also may have ever so slightly muffled the chorus members' sounds. The stylized choral stage movements were also "meh", IMHO. The disappointment is double in that the final part of that choral number ("Gross Glück und Heil / lacht nun dem Rhein"), where the Gibichung men rib Hagen, is actually my very favorite moment in the whole cycle. It was my favorite moment when I saw the Chereau/Boulez Ring on TV decades ago in grade school, and I guess that some things haven't changed since then. There was also the gratuitous action that Audi staged for Hagen in Act III, even if it fits Hagen's character completely. Catherine Foster seemed a bit too often to do a "park and bark" acting job, where the other Catherine (Naglestad) from Walkure still sits in my memory as the better singing actress of the two.

On the positive side, some nice surprises included:
* The treatment at the end of Act I of how the Tarnhelm "turned" Stig Andersen (Siegfried) "into" Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester (Gunther), i.e. no "transformation" as such
* Where actual fire showed up in this final opera of the production, and it was not where I expected it. In fact, Audi completely avoided fire on stage at the very point in the opera where one would expect it, and it actually kind of worked.
* During the Funeral Music, how Audi directed Foster's actions at the two loudest (IMHO) moments of the music (yes, the production puts Brünnhilde on stage then, mild spoiler alert)
* At the end of the abridged footage of the curtain call, seeing the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra on stage, during a speech by Pierre Audi in salute to Hartmut Haenchen

Getting back to my earlier question in #2 of how Audi would stage the final conflagration with the destruction of the Gibichung Hall and of Valhalla, it was not at all "standard" or conventional, but if nothing else, it was much better than the recent Met "Machine" (a.k.a. "Lepage aux folles", in the words of the late critic Martin Bernheimer) presentation of the final scene. Overall, 15 & 1/2 hours spread out over two weeks pretty well spent.

[Bert Coules]

I'm afraid I haven't had a chance yet to do more than just dip into it, and it wouldn't be fair to judge the whole thing purely on the evidence of isolate moments. But your descriptions certainly sound intriguing and I must make the time to do it justice. Thanks for the prod.

[Bert Coules]

I'm now halfway through Rheingold. What is it about The Ring that causes directors to set aside simple common sense? I'm not talking about grand overall thematic approaches, daft though they can be, but about rather smaller-scale idiocies. The Alberich-Rhinemaidens scene is peppered with dialogue references to where people are in relation to each other: up here, down there, come closer, now I'm far away. What's the point of directly contradicting the text with staging that bears no resemblance to what the characters are saying? Similarly, if your Loge tells Donner that he's dropping his hammer, wouldn't it be a good idea to have him actually holding it first? Why bring on Donner and Froh early? All they can do is stand around like lemons waiting until they can burst into life to match their dramatic entrance music. And these were only the most glaring examples.

But perhaps it gets better...
.

[Bert Coules]

Annoyingly, these videos seem no longer to be available. And since Die Walküre resisted all my attempts to download it I've missed my chance with that one. I've only just finished Das Rheingold, the staging of which didn't really get any better, for me at least: I'm begining to wonder if it might not actually be a point of honour with some directors to contradict the text, completely nullify key moments, and in general leech the sense out of what they're directing. Just to take three examples, Fasolt's death, Erda's entrance, and the appearance of the rainbow bridge would have disgraced the most inept village hall or end-of-the-pier theatre company: I'm not necessarily asking for literal naturalism, but even a token nod to dramatic truth would have been very welcome.

[bluestateprommer]

Thread hijack by bsp, Part Deux, for the start of another video Ring cycle, namely San Francisco Opera's production from 2018, with Das Rheingold for only this weekend, through 11:59 PM Pacific time tomorrow (which translates to 7:59 AM UK time, if my time-zone math is correct):

https://sfopera.com/opera-is-on/streaming/

San Francisco Opera offers streams of their videos for only a 38-hour (OK, 37 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds) period each weekend, and you have to sign over your e-mail for access to the streams. Other than that, it is free. (They'll take donations, of course. Like with Wigmore Hall, I plan to make a fresh donation to San Francisco Opera via my workplace matching program, and to watch the next Ring opera for the next 3 weekends.) The main point, of course, is that if you want to watch this production, you pretty much have to watch it now, i.e. sometime on Sunday.

I remember reading that this production was dubbed "the American Ring", because of director Francesca Zambello's wish to incorporate American iconography into the production. And it makes sense, if only just on one point, when you start to think about setting the Ring in 19th century California with the history of the Gold Rush in mind. The costuming is updated, but have no fear, i.e. no hydroelectric dam for the "California River Rhine". Seeing this video today bodes well, hopefully, for the remaining 3. Plus, your side of the pond is well represented with "good Donald" on the podium. San Francisco Opera has taken advantage of recent honours to title him appropriately "Sir Donald Runnicles" now.

Just to mention one vocal highlight quickly, Stefan Margita is Loge here also (besides Dutch National Opera mentioned earlier in this thread), and just like in the earlier production, steals the show, and is once again the smartest guy in the room. (Kind of droll for him at one point to try to light a cigarette, him being the god, or demi-god, of fire.) One interesting bit of staging to note is how Freia acts when Fasolt and Fafner bring her back to the gods, and it's not the usual staging. I'll leave you all to watch the video and note what happens :) .