The Valkyrie - ENO

[duncan]

You used to be able to get a seat in the balcony for £2.50 (early 2000s). I would go and see all sorts of rep I normally wouldn't bother with (Manon, La Vestale, War and Peace, Il Trittico) and there was something homely and accessible about the old Coli. After the refurbishment they immediately jacked up the prices, so I went down the road instead as they offered better performances for a similar price.

There used to be Secret Seats which were often pretty good for under £30 - that in the last decade or so. Not sure if they're still doing those.

Also, one had to be quick to get them. Usually - but not always - order on the day booking opened. Sometimes the opportunity would come a short while later.

Similar story here, formerly frequent visitor to the Coli but got out of the habit when the pricing became over-ambitious (followed by the inevitable papering the house when they didn't sell). The ROH was often cheaper and frequently better value. I never got my head around the Secret Seats business which didn't lure me back and they seem to have quietly dropped it. It seems to me that the process of buying tickets should be as frictionless as possible but what do I know?

Well, his WNO production of Meistersinger - which I saw when translated to ENO and therefore in English - was the BEST Wagner production I have ever experienced.

I really enjoyed the WNO Meistersinger (which I saw in Cardiff), so have high hopes for this Ring.

[Dave2002]

I am surprised that the ROH was cheaper - though there were some splendid offers over the last decade or more. I think we paid £10 (maybe £15) to see Wozzeck in the stalls. I don't consider a cheap seat up in the upper reaches of the ROH as being comparable to the stalls or dress circle at ENO. In earlier times there was a very significant difference between the quality of performance and production at the ROH, which was much better when compared with ENO, and there were some crazy and memorable "clangers" at ENO - but over time I felt that quality had improved significantly so that enjoyable evenings could be spent at the Coliseum.

If ticket prices are now high at ENO then eventually people will stop going, though I hadn't noticed this to be an issue when I paid a high price for a ticket to Akhnaten only a few years ago.

[Prommer]

Is it still possible to get ENO tickets on the day from the Half Price ticket booth in Leicester Square...?

[LHC]

I am surprised that the ROH was cheaper - though there were some splendid offers over the last decade or more. I think we paid £10 (maybe £15) to see Wozzeck in the stalls. I don't consider a cheap seat up in the upper reaches of the ROH as being comparable to the stalls or dress circle at ENO. In earlier times there was a very significant difference between the quality of performance and production at the ROH, which was much better when compared with ENO, and there were some crazy and memorable "clangers" at ENO - but over time I felt that quality had improved significantly so that enjoyable evenings could be spent at the Coliseum.

If ticket prices are now high at ENO then eventually people will stop going, though I hadn't noticed this to be an issue when I paid a high price for a ticket to Akhnaten only a few years ago.

I think the ROH are more sensitive to adapting their pricing than ENO. The prices for 19C operas with big name casts can be very high, but if it’s a modern or more ‘difficult’ opera, then prices are much lower. When ENO put their prices up, they seemed to charge the same for everything regardless. I can still remember when both houses put on Wozzeck at the same time. At the ROH, with a cast including Simon Keenlyside and Karita Matilla, the top price in the stalls was £50, while ENO were still charging over £100.

Getting back to the Valkyrie, I have decided to go, and have a ticket for 22 of this month.

[LHC]

I’ve not seen the most recent Met Ring (Robert Wilson?) but it apparently wasn’t a straightforward one, and wasn’t much loved by the Met audience.

Robert Lepage. The set was unconventional, being a giant machine made up of a series of large of planks controlled by hydraulics, upon which various video settings were projected. However, take the technology away and the costumes and direction were utterly conventional and as devoid of interest as the previous production which it replaced.

At least Jones is likely to have some interesting things to say about the characters and how they interract.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I'm getting tempted by a trial visit to the Coli - it seems a vast space, I wonder if the actual ventilation defrays the Covid risk. I could avoid the tube by a short taxi ride (if one can be got) to the station or a tube journey by opening doors on the surface bit of the circle line along the Embankment.

So far as I recall, my last visit was to the Porgy & Bess, and before that, Sir John in Love. Before that, I thought their (3rd world?) recycling tip setting of Carmen was the last straw, but the Vaughan Williams was so rare I had to go. And Mrs CS got the P & Bess tickets as a fait accomplis.

I've rembered - Intermezzo was the blogger (long disappeared into the cloud/ether) who chronicled the decline of ENO. I missed her postings. Seems its taken a significant number of years for ENO to look like an opera company in a Capital city again with a season and ambitions, with a MD able to stay to sustain a meaningful season. I'm willing to be corrected on this, because like you LHC, I switched my allegiance to the ROH round the corner from St Martin's Lane as at the time it seemed ENO was set into a sad and terminal decline. I wonder what the chorus set up is - permanent or recruited from a pool per production? I'll make enquiries on that one.

I don't know, I swither on this (the Walkure).

[Ein Heldenleben]

I'm getting tempted by a trial visit to the Coli - it seems a vast space, I wonder if the actual ventilation defrays the Covid risk. I could avoid the tube by a short taxi ride (if one can be got) to the station or a tube journey by opening doors on the surface bit of the circle line along the Embankment.

So far as I recall, my last visit was to the Porgy & Bess, and before that, Sir John in Love. Before that, I thought their (3rd world?) recycling tip setting of Carmen was the last straw, but the Vaughan Williams was so rare I had to go. And Mrs CS got the P & Bess tickets as a fait accomplis.

I've rembered - Intermezzo was the blogger (long disappeared into the cloud/ether) who chronicled the decline of ENO. I missed her postings. Seems its taken a significant number of years for ENO to look like an opera company in a Capital city again with a season and ambitions, with a MD able to stay to sustain a meaningful season. I'm willing to be corrected on this, because like you LHC, I switched my allegiance to the ROH round the corner from St Martin's Lane as at the time it seemed ENO was set into a sad and terminal decline. I wonder what the chorus set up is - permanent or recruited from a pool per production? I'll make enquiries on that one.

I don't know, I swither on this (the Walkure).

I had a look at the ENO season last night - looks pretty good. HMS Pinafore has had some excellent reviews. I think the Valkyrie is going to be excellent. Part of me is aching to go back to the opera again but the cost and effort involved ( 300 mile rail trip , hotel , meals out ) is a a bit off -putting . Watched the ROH’s quite magnificent (musically) Jenufa last night and I think I am going to have to take the plunge. You can get stalls seats for the Wagner for £90 which strikes me as eminently reasonable .

[Ein Heldenleben]

Robert Lepage. The set was unconventional, being a giant machine made up of a series of large of planks controlled by hydraulics, upon which various video settings were projected. However, take the technology away and the costumes and direction were utterly conventional and as devoid of interest as the previous production which it replaced.

At least Jones is likely to have some interesting things to say about the characters and how they interract.

Watched this on the Met subscription service . Musically very fine …

[alywin]

As she regularly revealed they capitulated on ticket prices in those years by offering them at knock down prices as the date for an empty auditorium approached. I'm sure those days are over, as it seems to be under competent management these days - although I haven't followed the detail of events in St Martin's Lane.

Whereas I'm getting the distinct impression that something similar may be happening at the ROH at the moment :( - ballets and operas which used to be guaranteed big sellers don't necessarily seem to be at the moment.

[Keraulophone]

Robert Lepage. The set was unconventional, being a giant machine made up of a series of large of planks controlled by hydraulics, upon which various video settings were projected. However, take the technology away and the costumes and direction were utterly conventional and as devoid of interest as the previous production which it replaced.

The giant machine didn’t work well in the first run of this production, but by the time I went to the Met in May 2019 it was behaving well; quite a marvel in itself, able to transform into many guises. If I slightly preferred the ROH/Keith Warner production of seven months earlier, the musical experience was equally thrilling in both, though with the Met orchestra sounding more refulgent in its much more spacious house. Perhaps I’m too easily satisfied when any complete live Ring cycle, but this wasn’t ‘devoid of interest’ for me. I’d have thought the previous Met production was far more conventional, though I wasn’t in situ for that.

[Prommer]

I'm getting tempted by a trial visit to the Coli - it seems a vast space, I wonder if the actual ventilation defrays the Covid risk. I could avoid the tube by a short taxi ride (if one can be got) to the station or a tube journey by opening doors on the surface bit of the circle line along the Embankment.

So far as I recall, my last visit was to the Porgy & Bess, and before that, Sir John in Love. Before that, I thought their (3rd world?) recycling tip setting of Carmen was the last straw, but the Vaughan Williams was so rare I had to go. And Mrs CS got the P & Bess tickets as a fait accomplis.

I've rembered - Intermezzo was the blogger (long disappeared into the cloud/ether) who chronicled the decline of ENO. I missed her postings. Seems its taken a significant number of years for ENO to look like an opera company in a Capital city again with a season and ambitions, with a MD able to stay to sustain a meaningful season. I'm willing to be corrected on this, because like you LHC, I switched my allegiance to the ROH round the corner from St Martin's Lane as at the time it seemed ENO was set into a sad and terminal decline. I wonder what the chorus set up is - permanent or recruited from a pool per production? I'll make enquiries on that one.

I don't know, I swither on this (the Walkure).

Maybe give 7th Dec a go? Anthony Negus conducting that performance too... I am also catching (part of) the dress rehearsal next week - so I have nothing against Mr Brabbins!

I too miss Intermezzo - she was great. Unlike many who migrated from blogs to eg Twitter, 'cos its easier, she just disappeared completely.

[Prommer]

I think the casting looks fabulous. And, as I said earlier, having missed Jones's Ring in the 90s at the ROH, but found his Meistersinger superb, I cannot wait to see and hear this.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I too miss Intermezzo - she was great. Unlike many who migrated from blogs to eg Twitter, 'cos its easier, she just disappeared completely.

Perhaps she needed to cut out the workload - its a lot of work accurately commenting on any sector where very high sums of money are at stake, high profile individuals, sensitivities. I can sympathise she may have just felt she'd done her stint, at some cost in terms of time and energy. But - if you are out there, Intermezzo - thanks for what you managed to provide.......

Maybe give 7th Dec a go? Anthony Negus conducting that performance too... I am also catching (part of) the dress rehearsal next week - so I have nothing against Mr Brabbins!

I think the casting looks fabulous. And, as I said earlier, having missed Jones's Ring in the 90s at the ROH, but found his Meistersinger superb, I cannot wait to see and hear this.

Thanks for the encouragement. (Just, it doesn't make the issue of what to do any easier!).

[Belgrove]

Jumping in at the second instalment robs us of knowing which Wotan we will get, Wotan the omniscient, Wotan the shyster …, and the Wotan of Das Rheingold does set the tone for the entire cycle.

In the ROH Jones cycle, Wotan (John Tomlinson in his considerable pomp) was clothed in a long white coat, a scientist/engineer/doctor, the point of his spear was the arrow of a one-way traffic sign. He would dab at his weeping eye when things were not going well for him, which is most of the second act. Bloodstained, he increasingly resembled a butcher, which of course, he is. He was highly dynamic, dashing across the stage, animating and directing events - very much hands-on and desperate to ‘arrest the turning wheel’ of his and the world’s fate.

The opera started with a startling image with Sieglinde, a shamanistic witch, conjuring wildly from a writhing tree forming the centre of Hunding’s house the object that will engineer her escape from a loveless marriage, namely Siegmund. Fricka turned up in a car in Act 2 but that’s no more daft than arriving in a chariot pulled by rams… Act 3 began with a field kitchen located centre stage, into which bloody body parts were added, stirred, and out of which popped a reconstituted warrior to begin his duties protecting Valhalla. Some booed loudly when Jones and the production team took a bow at the premier. Jones tinkered with Die Walkure between the first and final outings of the complete cycles, and stated that he found it the most difficult to get right. I don’t think he ever did, it certainly had a lot of ideas which did not entirely gel into a coherent whole and did not obviously feed into what came later. Let’s hope the intervening years have corrected that deficiency.

[Darkbloom]

The Jones Ring might have been more fondly remembered if they'd revived it a couple of times and given audiences a chance to get used to it. The ROH got cold feet and promptly binned it. If you're going to go for something controversial you might as well commit to it and expect the brickbats. There were some dud ideas but I would rather have that than a stale trad production with nothing to say.