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

[Bert Coules]

I don't think any of the singers were done many favours by the sound quality on the voices and the overall balance. While listening I did wonder if they could be wearing radio mics, but I seem to recall that was discussed on here (or maybe the old R3 board) and the general opinion was that they weren't.

[kernelbogey]

I hope he manages to find some tenderness towards Brunnhilde at the end.

Watching this in the cinema in HD I thought Tefel's acting good, and the farewell scene was moving. Kaufmann was definitely the star of the show though the whole of Act I seemed a bit pedestrian. And we had some very gushing interviews in the intervals. No explanation of the delayed start for us either. Oh and the stage machinery was brilliant - the beginning of Act III and the final scene especially.

[Cavaradossi]

No explanation of the delayed start for us either. Oh and the stage machinery was brilliant -

You must have missed the interview with Joyce DiDonato and the Met's Technical Director before the start of ACT II who explained what had happened and why the delayed start.

http://nyti.ms/kSZsy1

[prokkyshosty]

I just came back from the HD cinema broadcast, and during the first intermission they brought the stage manager out to explain that a computer-controlled sensor on one of the planks on the set was malfunctioning and they had to test it. Perhaps there were breakaways for local content on the radio or in other cinemas, but they did mention the cause of the delay.

I doubt there were body mics involved, but the setup of the stage had a sort-of second lip to it, about 15 feet closer to the performers than the usual lip of the stage where a lot of the usual mics reside. I'm wondering if they hid some extra mics in that lip, because when Brunnhilde was doing some singing while lying on her stomach on the ground, right near to the lip, it sounded really odd to me. The recording did seem much too singer-heavy in general.

As for poor Levine. When the delay was first announced I have a feeling some of the folks in the cinema assumed we were going to get word of some sort of Levine-related sadness. But though he did show up, he looks to be in really rough shape. His back looks so bent out of proportion, and watching him hug his conducting chair and lurch himself into it was horribly painful to watch. I can't imagine 5 1/2 hour operas are doing him any favors right now.

All in all, a spectacular show, I thought, only marred by the presence of the blockbuster Thor pounding on the walls of the cinema next to ours. Their Wotan was much louder than our Wotan. :(

[Bert Coules]

Thanks for the thought about the mics. And as an aside, Thor is worth seeing for its Wagnerian-type content and general design if you can be indulgent about the usual popcorny summer blockbuster elements. Tony Hopkins would make a splendid older Wotan.

[aeolium]

Oh and the stage machinery was brilliant - the beginning of Act III and the final scene especially.

kernelbogey, I agree about the stage machinery in general, and especially the final scene. But the way it was used in the Ride of the Valkyries brought to mind seaside swingboats There was quite a bit of laughter in the cinema where I watched it.

(But I suppose there is always going to be something unintentionally absurd in any operatic production).

[Bert Coules]

The Valkyries themselves do a fair bit of laughing at the absurdity of what they're up to, so perhaps a touch of risibility in that scene isn't entirely inappropriate.

Does anyone know if the Met plans to release these relays as DVDs? Or to make them available to TV stations?

[Mr Pee]

Does anyone know if the Met plans to release these relays as DVDs? Or to make them available to TV stations?

These Met broadcasts seem to appear on Sky Arts 2 HD after a while. I'm sure this Ring will do the same.

And I'm sure the Met will also release them as DVD/Blu Ray. This production's been so expensive to stage, they'll want the maximum return!

[Flosshilde]

kernelbogey, I agree about the stage machinery in general, and especially the final scene. But the way it was used in the Ride of the Valkyries brought to mind seaside swingboats There was quite a bit of laughter in the cinema where I watched it.

(But I suppose there is always going to be something unintentionally absurd in any operatic production).

The image of the Ride on the Met website does look a little risible - & too regular, with one Valkyrie, two 'spaces', one Valkyrie etc. Originally I thought that the 'machine' could produce some exciting stage images, but having seen that (static) image of the Ride I'm wondering if it might be rather restrictive, especially compared with the flexibility of the platform in Friedrich's first Covent Garden production.

[Bert Coules]

These Met broadcasts seem to appear on Sky Arts 2 HD after a while. I'm sure this Ring will do the same.

Excellent, thanks. Annoyingly, I was all set to watch the Walküre at home - with a steerable satellite dish and the right equipment it's possible to patch into the feeds from the Met to the cinemas - but just before it all kicked off my dish suffered a technical hitch of its own, which unlike the Met's Machine's proved terminal.

[kernelbogey]

But I suppose there is always going to be something unintentionally absurd in any operatic production.

I found myself laughing, and trying not to disturb those in the neighbouring seats, at several points. I liked the way old Hagen hung his coat on the hilt of Wotan's sword - 'Oh yeah, that sword, no one can pull it out so I just hang me coat on it' - while Siegmund didn't spot it until Frau Hagen gave him the nod.

I couldn't quite get the image of the stage machinery as piano keys out of my mind. The Valkyries riding the piano keys got a round from the audience, usual Met style, and I thought it an inspired use of them. At the end of Act III I assume it wasn't Deborah Voigt hanging upside down at the top of the rock, but a double who didn't mind the blood rushing to her head. But let's see what happens in Siegfried..... In the closing bars I thought the set with her at the centre looked like some huge bird (or perhaps a stealth aircraft) - another pre-echo of the bird (is it a raven?) with which Hagen distracts Siegfried in Act III of Goetterdaemmerung?

There were very human touches to the direction of the Gods - Fricka sobbing, for example, and Wotan's farewell to Bruennhilde was moving.

I think this is a fantastic new medium for opera which allows us a quite different experience of a great show such as the Met can provide.

[prokkyshosty]

Perhaps they should've arranged the Valkyries in twos and threes... after all, those big ivories on stage seemed to be missing their black key partners.

Also, it looked like a lot of fun for the ladies to slide down the ramps as they were dismounting.

[prokkyshosty]

Oh, and I had a great amount of fun watching them have Lunch in HD in Act I. I wonder if there was a bucket of KFC hidden just under the stage because Sieglinde instantly produced a platter of delicious-looking fried chicken, which, to my surprise, the boys actually ate! Or at least nibbled at. Since Hunding has less singing to do at that point, I have a feeling while Siegmund was going on and on, he probably polished off a drumstick or two.

And meanwhile Sieglinde kept filling some sort of magic wunderhorn full of water, which kept taking more and more fillings, and never spilt. Stage magic!

[kernelbogey]

I wonder if there was a bucket of KFC hidden just under the stage

Perhaps Sieglinde had planned serving Haagen-Dazs for afters.

[prokkyshosty]

Perhaps Sieglinde had planned serving Haagen-Dazs for afters.

:) And surely the name Friedmund in German means "mouth full of fried chicken"?