Opera North: Ring

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

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).

The idea of miming would have been perfectly in keeping with the post-Brechtian staging - IF the singers had been properly trained in mime skills. Even stage actors have problems mastering these - none of the singers were very good, and some were rather "hit-and-miss"!

[Bryn]

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

If the response I got from the iPlayer team re. the nasty glitches in the 'dawn chorus' section of Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux from the Aldeburgh Festival is anything to go by, we are stuck with the loss, though just possibly not the Chopin.

[Bert Coules]

It used to be that when live relays were broadcast a recorded version of the same work was kept on standby for use if the link went down, but perhaps that only applied if the entire broadcast or a short self-contained part of it was lost: it would be tricky, perhaps to the point of impossibility, to move from a long work already underway to a recording and then back again if the link were restored. Musically and dramatically somewhat jarring, too.

As well as the lack of props, the question of costume and makeup has been mentioned elsewhere. Inevitably this affects some of the cast rather more than others and is of course a known aspect of this sort of hybrid concert-stage production, though the reviews and audience reactions clearly show that in this instance it doesn't detract from the triumph. Nonetheless when divorced from the actual performance it is slightly jarring to see images of the late-fifties bearded and balding Lars Cleveman in character as the teenage Siegfried - like watching a pre-dress rehearsal before the artifice has been applied.




picture from Opera North, photo credit Clive Barda

[DracoM]

Which is why radio is so perfect! He wasn't bald or in his late fifties in my head!!

[Bert Coules]

And I don't doubt that he also wasn't when on stage: with a fine performance the theatrical illusion is very powerful even without the aid of wigs, costumes and the like. Actually, some of the most intense and dramatic operatic experiences I've encountered have been semi-staged or less: I remember a Proms Fidelio with Anja Silja which was more convincing and involving than almost every full production I've seen, and one of the best Hamlets was a highlights version given in the middle of the shop floor in Selfridge's. Stripping away the distractions (especially the currently fashionable sort of distractions) is, of course, one of the things about this current Ring which has been so highly praised and appreciated.

[DracoM]

As usual, or almost, less is more.

[Bert Coules]

Indeed so.

[Bryn]

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

When exactly were these technical problems? I not the problem was raised here some 3 hours 14 minutes into the broadcast. However, I have yet to detect any interruption to the iPlayer Listen Again offering in the period leading up to that point. Perhaps I missed it, but hopefully it has not been carried forward to the iPlayer version.

[Bert Coules]

Towards the end of act two, as I recall. I don't know if it's standard practice these days to make a simultaneous local recording of any live OB, but if it is, perhaps that's been used to fill the gap for the iPlayer.

[Bryn]

Towards the end of act two, as I recall.

Thanks. About how long did the disruption last? I will try checking the last 15 minutes of Act II.

Well, the last 20 minutes of Act II play without interruption via the iPlayer Listen Again facility. I note that the file currently on offer has been topped and tailed to run for almost exactly 5 hours. I take it that it did indeed end 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

If they have 'repaired' the problem, why could they not do likewise with the Messiaenic Dawn Chorus.

[Bert Coules]

Bryn,

I wasn't listening continuously to the live broadcast so I can't tell you how long the loss if signal was, but I do know that normal service was resumed before the act ended.

Thanks for your message.

[Flosshilde]

It was quite a substantial break.

[ARBurton]

It was quite a substantial break.

It was about 8 minutes, starting about 57 mins through Act 2. And as others have said the Iplayer version is complete.

[jonfan]

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?

I think the BBC have done a very good job in presenting these performances in very good, balanced sound, especially between orchestra and singers. I still have the Leeds Town Hall 2013 performance of Siegfried and the sound of the singers verges on the nasty at times, so close were they miked.
Donald Macleod's rehearsal photo shows plenty of spot mics being used which explains the clarity of the wind, brass and percussion. At the start of Siegfried you can hear the tuba player taking breaths which makes you feel the tuba is the dragon! The string sections suffer with the spot approach as I would imagine overhead mics would interfere with the the screens. The First Violins sounded just as glorious at Brunhilde's awakening as they did live. I got the same excitement over the radio as I did live for the Leeds second cycle and I'm very pleased that these matchless performances have been preserved in very good sound that captures the drama and fires the imagination.
Only Das Rheingold was live, all the other operas are at least one hour delayed relay so any missing bits sent to London would still be in the OB van.
Bravo all round.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cm2Npu3W8AAyolc.jpg:large

[DracoM]

Well, so far most posters have been talking at interesting length mainly about the technicals!
What about the performance?