Live from the Met - Wagner: Die Walkure 5.00 p.m. Saturday, 14th May

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

From the Metropolitan Opera, New York, James Levine conducts Wagner's Die Walkure.

The Met's lavish production of Wagner's epic four-opera Ring reaches its second instalment, Die Walküre.

If only Top God and serial philanderer Wotan had been able to keep his trousers on, he would have saved himself a great deal of trouble. As it is, eleven of his children stalk the stage, causing havoc in one way or another. Nine of them have chosen the career path of warrior-maidens - the Valkyries - including their leader (and Wotan's favourite) Brünnhilde. The other two are a pair of twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde. They have chosen the rather more questionable use of their time to be lovers - a relationship not only incestuous but also adulterous, since Sieglinde is already married. Wotan sends Big Sister Brünnhilde to guard the lovers, much to the chagrin of his missus, Fricka. Chagrin, because her job (ironically enough considering what her husband has put her through) is Goddess of the Sanctity of Marriage. Throw in a magic sword and the usual disobedience a father can expect from his kids and, sure as eggs is eggs, there'll be tears before bedtime.

The no-expense-spared cast includes Bryn Terfel as the prodigious bed-hopper Wotan and Stephanie Blythe as his long-suffering wife, Fricka. Deborah Voight is the disobedient daughter and protective sister Brünnhilde, and Eva Maria Westbroek and Jonas Kaufmann the incestuous twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde. James Levine conducts.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff.

Siegmund ..... Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
Sieglinde ..... Eva-Maria Westbroek (soprano)
Hunding ..... Hans-Peter König (bass)
Wotan ..... Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
Fricka ..... Stephanie Blythe (mezzo-soprano)
Brünnhilde ..... Deborah Voigt (soprano)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Conductor ..... James Levine.

[DracoM]

Worth it for Kaufmann alone.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've never quite worked out why Siegfried didn't suffer from any genetic complications.

[vinteuil]

I've never quite worked out why Siegfried didn't suffer from any genetic complications.

... and it's probably just as well he didn't have any children with his aunt Brunnhilde...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's all pretty incestious. Has anyone drawn up Wotan's family tree?

And since both Valkyries and Norns are from the same genetic source, what is the difference between them (apart from the job description).

[Bert Coules]

And since both Valkyries and Norns are from the same genetic source, what is the difference between them (apart from the job description).

Well, the Valkyries all have the same father but not necessarily the same mother, while the Norns all have the same mother but not necessarily the same father.

[JimD]

I've never quite worked out why Siegfried didn't suffer from any genetic complications.

I feel sure he did, and always feel sorry for poor Mime. No wonder he tried to kill the ungrateful twollock. Even Wotan had had enough of the latter after a brief conversation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, the Valkyries all have the same father but not necessarily the same mother, while the Norns all have the same mother but not necessarily the same father.

Oh, I must have got this one wrong. I had assumed they were all the fruit of Wotan and Erda.

[Bert Coules]

I had assumed they were all the fruit of Wotan and Erda.

The Norns were "primevally conceived" according to their mother, and Wotan knew them before he was even aware of her existence. The Valkyries are more ambiguous: they're described, by themselves and others, as sisters, but only Brünnhilde is specifically said to be the offspring of Wotan and Erda. Given his tendencies, and his special bond with her, it seems reasonable to assume that the others sprang from different dalliances, though it's true that the text never actually says so.

[Frances_iom]

anyone have any idea when the singing actually begins ?

[johnn10]

long delay

The performance started some 43 minutes late but no explanation or apology was given. Will we ever be told the reason why or would that be seen as being too negative and therefore too upsetting for the sponsors to mention?

[LHC]

I understand the delay was casued by the machine used to operate the giant wooden fence that constitutes the set for this production. It has caused similar problems on several occassions. Indeed, there was no rainbow bridge for the opening night of Rheingold because they couldn't get the set to work.

Is it just me, or does Levine's conducting lack a certain urgency?

[Flosshilde]

I thought that the prologue went at a fairly cracking pace.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I thought that the prologue went at a fairly cracking pace.

I'm really enjoying it. I have Levine's DVD too.

[DracoM]

Yes, the prologue did have pace and dramatic intensity, and then Levine started to wallow and luxuriate, and as soon as the lovers got together, the tempi slackened, the urgency tended to drain into a sort of gentle ramble, Siegmund tells her a bedtime story rather than recount an epic struggle, and it dawdled, and then Levine lashed the finale of Act 1 into such a frenzy that the Sieglinde particulalry sounded a bit taken aback. The mics are VERY close to the singers thus giving less sense of the epic and heroic, adn the orchestra is recessed.

Lot still to enjoy, though for me so far, Sieglinde is not one of them. Kaufmann is terrific after a bit of a tentative start - probably the delay spooked them all?