Four consecutive nights for The Ring on R3

[Belgrove]

I attended the first night of each instalment of the Jones Ring, witnessed the boo’s and jeering when the production team took a bow. It even made the BBC news the morning after the premier of Götterdämmerung. It remains the best sung, best conducted, most exciting and most intelligent Ring I’ve seen (which is a fair few). Exciting news that Jones is back on the case. Thanks for the link LHC.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, I believe the first cycle in 1976 provoked a near riot with its few supporters coming to blows with those in the audience who were shocked by its modernity, and its industrial setting. By the time of its final performances in 1980, however, it had been recognized as a great production, with the final performance of Gotterdammerung receiving a 45 minute standing ovation.

Thanks as well for the information about syncing the TV and radio broadcasts. This was before NICAM when TV sound was very poor, and so the only way to improve the sound for concerts and operas was to listen to the radio and watch on TV.

I was at University at the time and in the shared house I lived in we agreed to buy a portable TV just so we could watch the Ring (we didn’t have TV in the house before that), setting the TV up between the stereo speakers so we could listen to the radio 3 broadcast at the same time.

You must have been a highly cultured student household! Fellow students always seemed bemused when I went to Covent Garden midterm. Though my son and his flat mates enlivened the early days of lockdown by projecting the Levine Ring onto the wall of their living room one act per night. They reckon the Levine Met Ring the best they’ve ever seen - partly because it’s so Trad! Youngsters today eh?

[duncan]

Great news about Richard Jones directing a new Ring Cycle. I imagine his production will be a lot cheaper (and considerably more imaginative) than Robert Lepage’s “multimillion-dollar white elephant” which may have had an influence at the Met. Jones’ 90s ROH ring was before my time but his WNO Meistersingers was one of the more life-affirming opera productions I’ve seen in the last 20 years. The ROH cycle just broadcast is the last outing of the (unlamented by me) Warner production so I was playing ‘current artists fantasy Ring casting’ with a friend and we both had Jones as director. Unfortunately it’s unrealistic to expect his return to Covent Garden. Brabbins has done Die Walkure before but none of the others to my knowledge and I’ve not heard him in action in this kind of repertoire (our fantasy casting cheated somewhat with Haitink coming out of retirement!).

[LHC]

You must have been a highly cultured student household! Fellow students always seemed bemused when I went to Covent Garden midterm. Though my son and his flat mates enlivened the early days of lockdown by projecting the Levine Ring onto the wall of their living room one act per night. They reckon the Levine Met Ring the best they’ve ever seen - partly because it’s so Trad! Youngsters today eh?

The previous year we had a Ring day, playing the whole of the Solti Ring in one day! There were only a few of us who lasted the course, but several friends dropped by during the day ( I think in part to see what their mad friends were up to) and a good time, and plenty of alcohol, was had by all.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The previous year we had a Ring day, playing the whole of the Solti Ring in one day! There were only a few of us who lasted the course, but several friends dropped by during the day ( I think in part to see what their mad friends were up to) and a good time, and plenty of alcohol, was had by all.

That usually ends with me joining in with
1. Siegfried - Notung etc Act 1 Walküre
2. Wotan’s Leb Wohl at the end of Walkure
2. Siegfried’s Sie ist mir immer etc from Act 3 Siegfried
4. The act one love duet Gotterdamerung
and if you can time it right
5 Zuruck dem Ring - the final sung words ...

[DracoM]

All with Solti, oh yes, yes.
BUT
with a Brunnhilde sung by Nina Stemme - count me out.

[oddoneout]

Four-consecutive-nights-for-The-Ring-on-R3

And lest we forget, this week is Tom Service adverts reminding us.

[gradus]

That usually ends with me joining in with
1. Siegfried - Notung etc Act 1 Walküre
2. Wotan’s Leb Wohl at the end of Walkure
2. Siegfried’s Sie ist mir immer etc from Act 3 Siegfried
4. The act one love duet Gotterdamerung
and if you can time it right
5 Zuruck dem Ring - the final sung words ...

Plus:
'Meineid racht ich!' suitably growled.

[duncan]

All with Solti, oh yes, yes.
BUT
with a Brunnhilde sung by Nina Stemme - count me out.

Who would you prefer from currently castable Helden-sopranos?

[Petrushka]

5 Zuruck [vom] Ring - the final sung words.

One of my (many) guilty secrets is that I always provide this myself when listening to a Brünnhilde only Immolation Scene recording.

[Ein Heldenleben]

One of my (many) guilty secrets is that I always provide this myself when listening to a Brünnhilde only Immolation Scene recording.

Me too!

[Ein Heldenleben]

From The Guardian re the ENO ring


“Jones, who will rehearse the cast in Covid-secure bubbles, said the Ring felt “extraordinarily of the 21st century yet mythological at the same time”.

I would not want to be in a bubble with the Gibichungs and , if forced , I’m drinking nothing....

[LHC]

Me too!

Me three!

[DracoM]

Who would you prefer from currently castable Helden-sopranos?

Seriously, not sure who the Brunnhildes are these days. Is it because no-one much is trying the role?

[kernelbogey]

One of my (many) guilty secrets is that I always provide this myself when listening to a Brünnhilde only Immolation Scene recording.

Mine - earlier on - is Das ist kein Mann!