Four consecutive nights for The Ring on R3

[Ein Heldenleben]

Mine - earlier on - is Das ist kein Mann!

A line which often gets a laugh in the theatre ...

[Petrushka]

A line which often gets a laugh in the theatre ...

I've always thought that the humour in the Ring, especially in Das Rheingold, is too often underestimated when it's considered at all, and that's in the orchestra as well as the text.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've always thought that the humour in the Ring, especially in Das Rheingold, is too often underestimated when it's considered at all, and that's in the orchestra as well as the text.

Agreed - there’s also quite a bit in Siegfried - although a bit “Germanic” if you like - rather like that in Anglo-Saxon poetry .

[vinteuil]

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

... I briefly did some 'English as a Foreign Language' teaching at Regent's Park College for recent East Germans who were being re-programmed to be good Federal Germans - I recall one student, Hagen by name, always the most indolent of his class - the temptation to cry out „Schläfst du, Hagen, mein Sohn ?“ was not always resisted...

.

[Petrushka]

... I briefly did some 'English as a Foreign Language' teaching at Regent's Park College for recent East Germans who were being re-programmed to be good Federal Germans - I recall one student, Hagen by name, always the most indolent of his class - the temptation to cry out „Schläfst du, Hagen, mein Sohn ?“ was not always resisted...

.

[Petrushka]

Agreed - there’s also quite a bit in Siegfried - although a bit “Germanic” if you like - rather like that in Anglo-Saxon poetry .

There's one orchestral touch of humour in Scene 3 of Das Rheingold that has quietly amused me for years. At the point where Loge asks Mime 'Was Wunder wimmerst du hier?' the theatrical instruction, for Loge, reads 'bending over Mime' whereupon the oboe, I think, gives a two note bending figure precisely at the point where Loge bends over.

[duncan]

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

Fair enough! There are no Astrid Varnays, although the role is current better served than Wotan or Siegfried in my view.

[Petrushka]

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

Nottingham born Catherine Foster has sung the role just about everywhere except in her home country. Has anyone on here heard her?

http://www.catherinefostersoprano.com/biography/index.html

[LHC]

Nottingham born Catherine Foster has sung the role just about everywhere except in her home country. Has anyone on here heard her?

http://www.catherinefostersoprano.co...phy/index.html

I haven’t seen her live, but she was Brunnhilde in the Ring cycle at Bayreuth broadcast by Sky in 2016, directed by Frank Castorf and conducted by Marek Janowski (and which I still have on DVD somewhere). My recollection is that she was a good deal better than some of the previous Brunnhildes we have had at Covent Garden, but not quite at the same level as Nina Stemme.

I’d be happy to encounter her in the theatre, but I didn’t find her voice as thrilling as Rita Hunter’s, or as beautiful as Anne Evans’.

[duncan]

I’ve heard her live twice as Brünnhilde, in Weimar 12 years ago and at Bayreuth 4 years ago (and Nina Stemme twice, in Vienna and Covent Garden). LHC has it spot on in every respect. She was a very believable Wotan’s favourite no-nonsense daughter, warrior, goddess (as a no-nonsense former nurse) and would be a great fit for an ENO production. My only concern would be the size of her voice in the barn-like Colli. I felt she was a little better in Weimar than Bayreuth, possibly down to not having to push her voice so much or just being a little younger. It could also have been my relative expectations.

Parenthetically, I really enjoyed the Weimar ring: a small theatre where stalls seats could be had for €50, enthusiastic cast not straining their voices, team all familiar with each other, simple but imaginative production, set and costumes*, and the town itself of course. There is a lot to be said for good repertory theatre.

*Not everyone’s taste, an ACE cultural tour spent every interval harrumphing about something and there was some energetic booing at end of Siegfried act 1 (the set design team seemed to have spent the last of their €2.50 budget).