Opera North: Ring

[Bert Coules]

I was particularly impressed by Lee Bisset; her handling of the text was quite superb. She returns on Sunday as the third Norn. Her website is worth a visit.

Has anyone yet said that the production has been filmed? Details are here.

Bert

[DracoM]

We're in the middle of a really impressive Ring, uncluttered by troublesome 'design' concepts.

[Bert Coules]

Alas, poor Siegfried seems to have vanished from the airways. Oh - just as I type this, he's back. "A few technical problems" were to blame, apparently. Perhaps he got a touch too enthusiastic with Nothung and sliced through a cable.

I've only been able to catch odd moments but it seems to be going well.

[DracoM]

Well, Bert, AFAICT, he lasted a lot better than the 'should be fresh' Brunnhilde.
At one point, I seriously thought she was completely lost and somehow making it up as she went along. The vibrato bewildered.

Stars of the show so far - the band!

[Nick Armstrong]

Would Forumites who attended the various performances 'in the flesh' who also listened to the radio broadcasts care to comment on how it all came across the airwaves compared with being there?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Would Forumites who attended the various performances 'in the flesh' who also listened to the radio broadcasts care to comment on how it all came across the airwaves compared with being there?

The mics seem to give the voices rather more prominence that I heard in the Town Hall - picking up breath sounds and vibrato that weren't as - ?intrusive? as I've heard this week. Or perhaps the singers are having to work harder in Sage? Or maybe they're just more tired so many performances later?

But then, on my radios, the overwhelming sound that thrilled through your toes, tummies and heads isn't coming over, either (the painful, piercing sounds of the anvils, for example, was much more of a pleasing pinging over the airwaves). I suspect, from the audience reactions - identical to those in Leeds - that what audiences are hearing in Gateshead is different from how the microphones are transmitting the sounds to us.

Makes me wonder how much of my criticisms of the singing in Enescu's Oedipus a couple of weeks ago does not reflect what was actually heard by audiences in the hall.

[Nick Armstrong]

The mics seem to give the voices rather more prominence that I heard in the Town Hall - picking up breath sounds and vibrato that weren't as - ?intrusive? as I've heard this week. Or perhaps the singers are having to work harder in Sage? Or maybe they're just more tired so many performances later?

But then, on my radios, the overwhelming sound that thrilled through your toes, tummies and heads is coming over, either (the painful, piercing sounds of the anvils, for example, was much more of a pleasing pinging over the airwaves). I suspect, from the audience reactions - identical to those in Leeds - that what audiences are hearing in Gateshead is different from how the microphones are transmitting the sounds to us.

Makes me wonder how much of my criticisms of the singing in Enescu's Oedipus a couple of weeks ago does not reflect what was actually heard by audiences in the hall.

Thank ferns. I suspect that's an 'isn't' in para 2 sentence 1, rather than an 'is' ...

What you describe doesn't surprise me... Mind you, the orchestral passages I heard in the various sections I listened to this week were absolutely tremendous

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I suspect that's an 'isn't' in para 2 sentence 1, rather than an 'is' ...

[ARBurton]

I was particularly impressed by Lee Bisset; her handling of the text was quite superb. She returns on Sunday as the third Norn. Her website is worth a visit.

Has anyone yet said that the production has been filmed? Details are here.

Bert

I saw Lee Bisset as Sieglinde in the Longborough Ring where she was rather good, and again as Isolde in their 2013 production of T+I = again, good. I`ve not yet caught up with these broadcasts but will do so afore long.

[Belgrove]

The strings sound underpowered on the radio. I have no experience of the acoustic at The Sage, perhaps it's difficult to manage, but in Nottingham the strings (especially the violas) had that gorgeous Wagnerian space-filling saturation.

The orchestral detail and colouring that Farnes draws from the brass and woodwinds is coming over well (how coarse Solti sounds in comparison). As Michael Tanner has pointed out, Farnes' conducting is as potent as Furtwangler's.

Kelly Cae Hogan sounded in trouble last night. Perhaps six Rings is taking its toll. Her most severe test is yet to come. I hope she makes it for I found her Brunhilde enormously sympathetic, feminine and affecting.

I've enjoyed Martin Pickard's fascinating insights on the text and music during the intervals. But could do without the Met inspired Pinky & Perky renditions of the synopsis.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The strings sound underpowered on the radio. I have no experience of the acoustic at The Sage, perhaps it's difficult to manage, but in Nottingham the strings (especially the violas) had that gorgeous Wagnerian space-filling saturation.

The orchestral detail and colouring that Farnes draws from the brass and woodwinds is coming over well (how coarse Solti sounds in comparison). As Michael Tanner has pointed out, Farnes' conducting is as potent as Furtwangler's.

I agree totally, Belgrove - and even with Michael Tanner (which, I think, is a first) too!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Alas, poor Siegfried seems to have vanished from the airways. Oh - just as I type this, he's back. "A few technical problems" were to blame, apparently.

Ryddu annoying, those "technical problems" were, too. Anyone know if they were remediable for the i-Player version, or are we stuck with Chopin?

Perhaps he got a touch too enthusiastic with Nothung and sliced through a cable.

- you might well have put your finger on the real reason why they didn't use props in the production!

[Flosshilde]

Ryddu annoying, those "technical problems" were, too. Anyone know if they were remediable for the i-Player version, or are we stuck with Chopin?

The Chopin ws OK, but I thought the Mozart inappropriate. Wagner as re-imagined by Liszt would have been better.

[Bert Coules]

- you might well have put your finger on the real reason why they didn't use props in the production!

It's impossible to judge the real effect without seeing it of course but it does seem a strange decision, and reports suggest that this is a puzzling and at times frustrating aspect of the staging: there's a picture on the website of Siegfried triumphantly holding aloft his completely non-existent sword with a video caption behind him telling us how magnificent it is. And curiously, the R3 chat yesterday included an enthusiastic description of Mime meticulously cooking up his poisoned drink without actually telling us that it was all, er, mimed (assuming that it was).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Chopin ws OK, but I thought the Mozart inappropriate. Wagner as re-imagined by Liszt would have been better.

Tricky to know what to do in such circumstances (personally, I'd prefer nothing at all except the announcer telling us they're trying to fix it every so often) but it did seem as if my main course had been snatched from me as I raised my fork to my mouth, replaced with first with a lemon soufflé then with a vegetable curry. (Wagner/List would have been replacing the meal with a black&white photo of what had been snatched away!)