The Valkyrie - ENO

[Prommer]

I hope those people who tried to return their tickets when his removal from this performance was announced were either unsuccessful, or are now able to get their tickets returned!

Ha! Yes... they were not going to offer refunds anyway, or not without a fight...

He will get a rousing reception when he enters the pit on 7th, that's for sure!

[Prommer]

"ENO is delighted to confirm that Anthony Negus will, as previously advertised, be conducting the performance of the Valkyrie on the 7th December after the resolution of unforeseen complications that arose last week. Everyone at the ENO looks forward to welcoming him to the London Coliseum pit."

Unforeseen complications!

[Ein Heldenleben]

It sounds from normally reliable opera tweeters that last night’s first night was a musical triumph - the production less so. Almost seems like for the first time in decades there’s an entire generation of young British Wagnerian talent around with years of performance ahead. I wonder if anyone could have predicted that ? And just how important country house opera has been in building that - with reduced size auditoria for example?

[Darkbloom]

That's a good point. Promising young singers get a chance to learn their craft without having to blow out their voices in huge barns over massive orchestras. Country house opera must be our equivalent of those little opera houses dotted all over Germany where singers and conductors can cut their teeth and make mistakes without ruining their careers right at the start.

[Katzelmacher]

As it looks like I’m going to be busy in the run up to Christmas, I don’t think I’ll be able to see this production. The reviews (all good) suggest that the production is nothing that will upset people who go to the Met. This rather worries me, as it sounds like Jones has been leaned on. I think he’s at his best when at his least restrained: his Covent Garden Boheme came very close to disappointing me in that regard.

[Keraulophone]

https://slippedisc.com/2021/11/first-review-of-the-mets-next-ring-much-is-missing/

[Prommer]

As it looks like I’m going to be busy in the run up to Christmas, I don’t think I’ll be able to see this production. The reviews (all good) suggest that the production is nothing that will upset people who go to the Met. This rather worries me, as it sounds like Jones has been leaned on. I think he’s at his best when at his least restrained: his Covent Garden Boheme came very close to disappointing me in that regard.

Well, he appears to have re-used part of that set for Act 1...

Reviews are mixed, I'd say. I am a fan of Jones, generally speaking. If you do go, you are going to get plenty of cords, trainers, lumberjack shirts, anoraks, eating from tins, and ironic usage of breastplates etc - i.e. not much nobility or trad stuff - but some emotional truth at least.

[Darkbloom]

I'm not going to take the reviews too seriously at this stage. The singers deserve a chance to grow into their roles, especially when it's a big house and it's a new English translation. It's a pity we never heard John Tom as Wotan in English at the Coli, as he was excellent at singing in his own language.

[LHC]

I'm not going to take the reviews too seriously at this stage. The singers deserve a chance to grow into their roles, especially when it's a big house and it's a new English translation. It's a pity we never heard John Tom as Wotan in English at the Coli, as he was excellent at singing in his own language.

Most reviews I have seen have tried to be positive, but also acknowledge some disappointment with both singing and production.

It was clearly a difficult night for ENO. Following on from the unnecessary contretemps with Anthony Negus, they also had to cope with the last minute ban on the planned stage effects, and two of the main singers (Spence and Bickly) suffering from heavy colds. Indeed, Bickley was unable to sing, and had to mime to Claire Barnett-Jones singing from one of the boxes. Hardly ideal circumstances to judge a new production with many of the cast making their role debuts. Hopefully it will settle down, and they can address some of these problems in later performances.

[gurnemanz]

We might have gone for this if we hadn't seen the ROH cycle a couple of years ago. It being in English might also have put me off. For me you lose too much of what RW actually wrote in any translated performance and two of the reviews I read described the current one as "clunky".

I doubt if I'll see another complete Ring but happy to have bookended my adult life with two. The recent ROH in the company of our daughter and the early 70s Joachim Herz staging in the composer's (and my wife's) home town, Leipzig - a decade before our daughter was born. (I see all 13 operas are being done there in a Wagnerfest next summer.)

[Katzelmacher]

We might have gone for this if we hadn't seen the ROH cycle a couple of years ago. It being in English might also have put me off. For me you lose too much of what RW actually wrote in any translated performance and two of the reviews I read described the current one as "clunky".

I doubt if I'll see another complete Ring but happy to have bookended my adult life with two. The recent ROH in the company of our daughter and the early 70s Joachim Herz staging in the composer's (and my wife's) home town, Leipzig - a decade before our daughter was born. (I see all 13 operas are being done there in a Wagnerfest next summer.)

I don’t think Wagner will ever sound good in english, though it will never sound (quite) as bad as Verdi in english.

Emma Bell seems to be have been taken to task by all the reviewers over the state of her diction. I’d say it’s probably a mercy not to be able to make out ‘Du bist der Lenz’ in a (modern) english translation. When Solti tried to persuade Kirk te Kanawa to sing the role at Bayreuth, she rejected the idea because ‘it was all just a lot of screaming.’

That Wagnerfest sounds like it’s worth saving up for.

[Katzelmacher]

Well, he appears to have re-used part of that set for Act 1...

Reviews are mixed, I'd say. I am a fan of Jones, generally speaking. If you do go, you are going to get plenty of cords, trainers, lumberjack shirts, anoraks, eating from tins, and ironic usage of breastplates etc - i.e. not much nobility or trad stuff - but some emotional truth at least.

I think if the stage pictures (however unlikely they look in photos) complement the score and that the performers give ‘emotional truth’ then the director has done his work well. People have developed a habit of judging Jones’ production purely on how they look in the photo releases, which don’t even begin to tell the story.

[Prommer]

I don’t think Wagner will ever sound good in english, though it will never sound (quite) as bad as Verdi in english.

Emma Bell seems to be have been taken to task by all the reviewers over the state of her diction. I’d say it’s probably a mercy not to be able to make out ‘Du bist der Lenz’ in a (modern) english translation. When Solti tried to persuade Kirk te Kanawa to sing the role at Bayreuth, she rejected the idea because ‘it was all just a lot of screaming.’

That Wagnerfest sounds like it’s worth saving up for.

Spence's diction was notably good. Some Wagner works very well in a (decent) translation - Meistersinger especially.

But I cannot stand Italian opera in English.

[bluestateprommer]

A compilation of reviews that I can collate so far (no one else seems to have done yet?), including one from a reporter based on this side of the pond:

1. Tim Ashley, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-rose-nicholls
2. Zachary Woolfe, NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/21/a...r-walkure.html
3. David Nice, The Arts Desk: https://theartsdesk.com/opera/valkyr...ckering-flames
4. Marc Bridle, Opera Today: https://operatoday.com/2021/11/enos-...ss-ring-cycle/
5. Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine: https://limelightmagazine.com.au/rev...ational-opera/

[Ein Heldenleben]

Spence's diction was notably good. Some Wagner works very well in a (decent) translation - Meistersinger especially.

But I cannot stand Italian opera in English.

I dunno . “Wayward as thistle down , tossed on the summers breeze” strikes me as Quite clever in its one way ..