Opera North: Ring

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Anvilists? Come on, I bet they're merely percussionists

Well, they said they were "Anvilists" - must have been a forgery.



(Aye thangyew!)

[Beef Oven!]

Well, they said they were "Anvilists" - must have been a forgery.



(Aye thangyew!)

[jonfan]

What a write up. Can't wait to experience it for myself.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What a write up. Can't wait to experience it for myself.

I'd originally hoped to have gone to the mid-week consecutive days (almost) performances in order to get the experience Wagner had in mind. As it is, some of the friends I went with are still wage slaves, so couldn't manage getting to the afternoon starts.

Now, I'm grateful - the Music is still buzzing around; the adrenaline still pumping. I don't think I could cope with loading Walkure on top of all that so soon!

[Stanley Stewart]

Of course, ferney, the passing parade of life comes to a standstill during the Ring cycles. I recall the Reggie Goodall performances at the ENO during the early 70s; no matinees but early evening starts for Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung - a whole cycle in the gods,fourth row centre, for £15! A sense of timelessness during the week, although some attributed this to Reggie's stately pace. And no top- heavy Kobbe to troll to St Martin's Lane as Andrew Porter's paperback translation and German text became available at the time.

[Beef Oven!]

Of course, ferney, the passing parade of life comes to a standstill during the Ring cycles. I recall the Reggie Goodall performances at the ENO during the early 70s; no matinees but early evening starts for Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung - a whole cycle in the gods,fourth row centre, for £15! A sense of timelessness during the week, although some attributed this to Reggie's stately pace. And no top- heavy Kobbe to troll to St Martin's Lane as Andrew Porter's paperback translation and German text became available at the time.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Die Walküre

If anything, even better than last week's astonishing Rheingold: I cannot imagine a better performance than this. I saw the original production of this staging four years ago, where things were spoilt by a rather painful-sounding (to me) Brühnhilde - and I had been disappointed that Alwynn Mellor had been unable to take part in this cycle; but Kelly Cae Hogan was terrific: a powerful and flexible voice, hitting notes with immaculate precision - and a superb actress as well. But the whole cast was tremendous, from Schwertlette to Wotan (Robert Hayward); not a weak voice in the production, and all giving total commitment to the Music and to the production (Lee Bisset, excellent as Sieglinde in Act One, got a little "shrieky" in Acts Two and Three, but that's Wagner's fault - the strong, resourceful woman of the first act becomes something of a drip once she leaves Hunding's house!)

Michael Weinius as Siegmund was particularly good: his "Winterstürm" sung at a delicate, caressing pianissimo - exactly as Wagner requires: and I think that that is the real leitmotif of this whole production: read what the composer wrote and present that as closely as possible. This dip in dynamic is magical, but most recordings get down to mp at best. Here we were given what Wagner wrote, and the whole audience (like last week, a packed Leeds Town Hall) was spellbound.

Especial praise, too, for Susan Bickley as Fricka - one of the most thankless roles in Opera; usually presented as a stereotypical nagging wife, Bickley instead sung it "straight", bringing out the dignity of the character, and the justice of what she demands from her husband. (Impressive intonation, too!)

And perhaps best of all, Robert Hayward's portrayal of Wotan: the demands (acting as well as singing) on this performer are formidable, but Hayward communicated all the facets of the role (the naive optimism, the smug self-assurance, the self-pity and self-loathing, the affection, the despair ... and the rage and fury) impeccably. As with everybody on stage, it made me rejoice to watch and hear him.

The orchestra and conductor are "on stage" in this production, and again they surpassed even my highest expectations of them: it is a superb band - with special praise for the solo 'cello (and the 'cello quartet), bass Clarinet and Oboe. But watching even the back desks of violins giving the Music their total commitment (and coming back to my seat after the interval before Act Three and hearing the piccolo doing a last-minute warm-up of the Magic Fire Music!) - hearing Music of this calibre played at this level is such a fantastic experience: this is what it's all about, isn't it! Roars of approval for Richard Farnes and the orchestra at the end of each act, and a twenty-minute cheer-fest for everybody at the very end.

"Everybody" including the stage designer Peter Mumford; the staging of the show as imaginative and atmospheric as last week's Rheingold: snow on the branches of the winter forest at the very opening; the firelight catching the Sutton Hoo-like designs on the hilt of Nothung; the river Rhine flowing red with Siegmund's blood after Hunding runs him through; the flames of the Magic Fire enveloping the stage at the very end. Flaws? Well, the abstract flying shapes representing the Valkyries' horses did look just a leetle too much like crows - and I wasn't impressed with the "Valkyrie Salute" which made them look occasionally as if they were in a Line Dance class.

But picky, picky, picky! This was another startling performance - the sort that gladdens the heart and thrills the mind: as Stanley Stewart rightly says "the passing parade of life comes to a standstill during Ring Cycles" - the five-and-a-bit hours floated by gloriously (yes - tears of joy several times again this evening). And again, at half-past one in the morning, I'm far too "high" for sleep yet. But when I return to the passing parade, it'll be considerably better for the experience.

[Beef Oven!]

Wow! You make it sound almost as wonderful as it must have been!!

Love the piccolo anecdote for the beginning of act 3.

[Nick Armstrong]

Ferney your dispatches from Leeds Town Hall are currently the highlights of the Forum, for me!

(Making my finger twitch to seek returns to one or more of the future performances....)

Thanks for such vivid reviews!

[ostuni]

Ferney your dispatches from Leeds Town Hall are currently the highlights of the Forum, for me!
Thanks for such vivid reviews!

Me too! (Feeling very glad that I booked for next month's Salford cycle, some months ago)

[jonfan]

Ferney your dispatches from Leeds Town Hall are currently the highlights of the Forum, for me!

(Making my finger twitch to seek returns to one or more of the future performances....)

Thanks for such vivid reviews!

Perhaps they could all be put together in Opera North publicity if the remaining operas come anywhere near the first two. Glad I've got tickets for Cycle 2.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(Making my finger twitch to seek returns to one or more of the future performances....)

I hadn't realized, but Opera North goes South with this production at the end of June:

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/festivals-series/opera-north-ring-cycle-201516

[Nick Armstrong]

I hadn't realized, but Opera North goes South with this production at the end of June:

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/wha...g-cycle-201516

I know... Rubbernecker sometime of this parish and Lady Rubbernecker have been boasting of their prime seats, booked long ago. I copied your two reviews to them by which they were distinctly gruntled!

Only from some of the names mentioned with honour in your reports, the cast isn't the same in London, I seem to recall from when I looked.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Siegfried

A week off to let Siegfried be born and reach adulthood, and to let Brunnhilde get her kip - and to take stock of the two operas so far; can the experience really have been that good? I'd had to miss ON's Siegfried in 2013, so last night was the first time I'd seen the production (I had heard the broadcast), so I was determined to watch and listen with my most rigorous critical/analytical attitude, and not let my emotional involvement get the better of me. Well ... that lasted all of about two minutes. The orchestra of ON is just so good: under Richard Farnes' superlative direction, they respond so phenomenally well to what Wagner gives them to play. The opening bars of the orchestral introduction - weird, creepily insinuating bassoons in drooping thirds, and a Tuba that rested a dragon's claw gently (for now) on your belly - and the rest of the "real" world just backed off to let Wagner's take possession of your attention.

The singing, too, in Act One was impeccable. Mime is often "characterized" in recordings, with sometimes a greater regard for presenting facial contortions with the voice than the notes Wagner wrote. Richard Roberts demonstrated that, if the performer sings those notes as well as "giving" them "character", Mime's wheedling, self-pitying personality is communicated to the audience far more effectively. And Roberts is a great actor, too - presenting the character in his soliloquies, but also fully responsive to what the other characters say to him. (When challenged by Wanderer to name the sword, he raised his hand, like a kid in school, eager to let teacher see he knows the answer - and the baffled horror on his face when he sees that Siegfried knows what he's thinking in Act Two; of all the performers we've seen so far in this production, Roberts' acting has been the most effective and convincing.)

Lars Cleveman's acting as Siegfried was almost equally fine; but that was as nothing compared to his astonishing singing. Powerful without ever "barking"; using the melodic lines of the score as the bedrock of his characterization (rather than letting preconceived ideas of how the character should appear give him "licence" to adjust the notes to accommodate this) his voice rang out thrillingly throughout - surfing the largest orchestral waves of sound with seemingly effortless lyricism. Whereas Siegfried's behaviour frequently makes me feel sympathy for Mime, Cleveman (and Roberts) made the situation much more authentically sympathetic towards Siegfried's situation - the snarls of disgust directed at Mime were tempered with a couple of moments where the vocal line took on a gentler, more consolidatory tone - never approaching "affection", but creating the sense that Siegfried really wants to feel affection for somebody. (And that's all there in Wagner's score, with its finely graded dynamics.) Cleveman's careful use of of his remarkable vocal resources meant, too, that he maintained the lyricism and power throughout the evening: the final duet was sung radiantly; the orchestra could let rip and give us those wonderful Wagnerian sonorities, but still the voice soared clearly through the texture.

Bela Perencz (the third Wotan of the Cycle) matched this standard in the first two acts - the physical experience of hearing a strong, resonant and totally Musical voice glowing through the shifting brass harmonies when he first appeared was so thrilling - I keep coming back to how physical Wagner's sound is in this production; how the Music becomes something that caresses the hairs on your arms, something felt in the soles of your feet as the sound vibrates in the floor of the Town Hall. It really is something that makes the (what should be bleedin' obvious, but which I have a tendency to overlook) point that Music - of this calibre, and in performances as committed as this - is much more than an auditory experience, that sound itself is not just something that affects the ears. It makes clear that the human senses are connected, working together to create our experiences, and reminding us that the everyday workings of the human body is a fantastic thing. Perencz's physical acting wasn't quite up to the standard of his colleagues, but the variety and accuracy of vocal tone more than made up for this. By Act Three, he did show signs of tiredness - a couple of moments of shouty-barking when he confronted Siegfried - but these were really only noticeable in comparison with the glories he'd amply demonstrated earlier in the evening.

So, Act One was as perfect a performance - vocally and dramatically - as humans can expect at least matching anything this formidable production has already given so far, and the standard was maintained in the Second Act; Jo Pohlheim's terrifying malevolent (and Musically accurate - the intonation of his snarling contempt was absolutely precise) Alberich froze the attention as he did in Rheingold: whenever he appeared, the audience's attention was riveted on him. Mats Almgren was equally enthralling (onstage and off-) as Fafner, revealing profound insight into the role - not just a sleepy monster, this was a character weighed down by the ennui of the "unlimited power and wealth" that the ring has brought him. "Another chancer coming along? I'll deal with him like all the others when he gets here - just leave me alone, and let me sleep." And a sense in Almgren's singing of relief that the fate he knew was foretold for him has at last come to be - releasing him from the prison of guilt and greed into which the ring has snared him.

And then there was the Woodbird. Beautifully sung by the solo clarinet, and acted with touching humour by Jeni Bern, flitting from branch to branch above the 'celli, head cocked watching and listening to everything around her. Sadly, her singing didn't match this "preparation" - the register was just too high for her on this evening at least, and there were several sharp and sour bad tunings (in the interval, I heard somebody mention a "Reed Warbler") that were quite painful to hear. Better things from Erda in Act Three - Ceri Williams (as in Rheingold): quite a wide vibrato, and yet I found it quite "warm" and "maternal" for the Earth Mother (I'm normally deeply allergic to this sort of thing, but somehow it was appealing in this context).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A great sense of anticipation, then, for Brunnhilde's awakening: the bar had been set so high by the other main characters (and the memories of the wonderful Kelly Cae Hogan from Valkyrie a fortnight ago) that a feeling of anxiety and hope was inevitable - would Katherine Broderick manage to maintain the expectations? So; a huge sense of relief with her first notes greeting the sunshine; beautifully toned, surfing over the orchestral mass with the same effortless power and beauty that Siegfried and Wotan had established as the norm. Phew! And, for about 80% of the rest of her performance, this beauty and power was maintained - marred by an unpleasant habit of "forcing" notes when the going got tough (so that sustained notes were given a crescendo that led to ends that were accented and a quartertone sharp) and by shouted quick higher notes that really assaulted the ear. A great, great shame, as so much was lovely - and she had a truly radiant smile that really had a sunshine of its own, drawing the audience into the drama (this the only time in the Ring - and only the second time in the whole of Wagner's mature work - that things end on a high sense of exhilaration and optimism). Broderick so very nearly brought to a superlative production a final element of magnificenceness (oh, go on - let me use it just this once) that would have taken it beyond reasonable expectations of perfection: "so very nearly", but sadly, not quite. (Still - Hogan is back next week to bring the world to an end.) Nonetheless - this was a LOT better than some recordings I've listened to recently - the ageing Kollo and Behrens in the Sawallisch set were easily and by far outranked in every respect by what Cleveman and Broderick gave us last night.


And the whole production really gave further evidence of Wagner's impeccable Dramatical and Musical skills. It is a comedy, in all senses of the word, sometimes very dark, even cruel (as is Meistersinger - or, for that matter, Twelfth Night), sometimes slapstick. The production emphasized this - if the forging of Nothung seemed (to me) to be a little faster than Wagner's "not too fast" marking, this was to emphasize the comic (as in "Comic Book" - Superman, too) effortless ease with which Siegfried gets things done - and, with this established, the slaughter of Fafner didn't come across as the anticlimax it can often seem. Some conductors make the audience feel cheated of a more dramatic struggle between dragon and hero - but this was more like Indiana Jones just shooting the scimitar-spinning opponent: throwaway humour. And the timing of Siegfried's removing Brunnhilde's breastplate, gazing at her chest and exclaiming "This ain't a man!" was more knowing in this production, not the bathos it usually is, but a moment of genuine comedy; not without an element of pathos.

And that orchestra! That orchestration!!!! I hadn't realized that there are four harps used in the First Act - I'd never heard them before (I will from now on) - they're used at the point where Siegfried adds charcoal to the forge and sings of the sparks that fly from them: the harps provide the "sparks"! And cheers at the end for the Horn soloist* - to think that what was a specialist part in Wagner's time (requiring the individual skills of Franz Strauss) can now be played with such breathtaking agility and accuracy in an orchestra in a city in Northern England: but sadly (unless I missed it) not for the equally splendid solo Cor Anglais, resolutely unmagnificent immediately before. Impeccable playing and dedication once again from the orchestra - none finer in the UK when they're inspired to such performances by a Musician of Farnes' insight and imagination.

And is it just me - or do others also get the feeling after a truly terrific gig like this, that all the senses are sharpened by the experience? As a result of last night's Siegfried, the sunlight this morning is clearer, the colours brighter, the scents from the garden sharper. Experiences like this really show the true and full value of what the Arts can do for us - not (merely) as a distraction, taking us "out of ourselves"; but (also) as a means of finding ourselves, giving us a fuller sense of the value of being alive; reconciling us with a life that the "practical" self-denials that everyday living alienates us from.

* - Robert Ashdown; apologies for not mentioning.