The Valkyrie - ENO

[LHC]

Sherratt is more of a traditional bass than John Tom, who also sang Figaro and the Dutchman. My guess would be that Wotan is a step too far for him. He has a beautiful voice and he seems like someone who picks his roles with care. He's friends with JT so I'm sure he has discussed it. I hope we hear his Gurnemanz soon, that seems a role made for him.

According to his biography in the Valkyrie programme, Sherratt will be singing Gurnemanz for Opera North soon.

[Darkbloom]

Excellent news. I see him as a lyrical bass of the Kurt Moll type. I don't want to hear him as Hagen because I don't think he has the metal to his voice that you need for that role. He's a a Pimen or Dosifey rather than a Boris. A Grand Inquisitor rather than a Philip II.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Sherratt is more of a traditional bass than John Tom, who also sang Figaro and the Dutchman. My guess would be that Wotan is a step too far for him. He has a beautiful voice and he seems like someone who picks his roles with care. He's friends with JT so I'm sure he has discussed it. I hope we hear his Gurnemanz soon, that seems a role made for him.

He performs a good variety of roles, in addition to the concert and song repertoire. Although it would no doubt fill the diary for some years ahead, isn't there a received opinion that having done justice to Wotan, it tends to be more or less the last destination in a career. I could see steering clear might be an attractive option, depending on the plan, if any, he has for retirement........

(When I say received opinion, I'm happy to be corrected by those with better insight.....).

[underthecountertenor]

Off thread so apologies - Have you been to Macbeth? I hear Simon K and the entire production is stunning.

Sorry for the late (and off-topic) reply. I haven't booked as I've seen the production a few times, but everything I've heard (including LHC supra) is pushing me to snap up a ticket for the last night.

[underthecountertenor]

Agreed, and it'll make a change after a recent run of impressively realised thugs (Claggart, Fafner, Hunding):

https://www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-o...-creative-team (Leeds/Gateshead/Manchester/Nottingham/London Summer 2022)

I enjoyed the ENO Walkure yesterday more than I expected to, despite a strangely... low rent... feel to the whole thing. I'm inclined to cut the production some slack on the basis that ENO is presumably even more near-bankrupt than pre-Covid. Maybe the entire budget was allocated to the now-prohibited magic fire... What the Met will make of it, if they go ahead, is anyone's guess. Though what Jones did with Meistersinger for WNO, later reused by ENO (the best production of any Wagner I've ever seen, though other opinions are of course available) also on a likely budget of £3.99 and some left over curtains is a counterargument.

It was the fact that it's supposed to be a co-production with the Met that made me think that ENO might have a reasonable budget for this. However it looks as if the Met have contributed very few, if any, dollars to the production, which now causes me to question their commitment to it.

I'd be interested to know what you enjoyed about it, Simon. I went with a completely open mind (I'm a Richard Jones fan, and even enjoyed his ROH Ring once I got into it), but with the exception of some of the singing and some occasional interesting detail in the orchestral playing (the result of insight or misjudged balance on the part of Brabbins? I couldn't decide), the whole thing left me pretty underwhelmed and cold.

[Simon B]

I'd be interested to know what you enjoyed about it, Simon. I went with a completely open mind (I'm a Richard Jones fan, and even enjoyed his ROH Ring once I got into it), but with the exception of some of the singing and some occasional interesting detail in the orchestral playing (the result of insight or misjudged balance on the part of Brabbins? I couldn't decide), the whole thing left me pretty underwhelmed and cold.

The trite and not intentionally facetious answer is - (some of) the music... There are some bits (mainly but not exclusively the well known purple passages) that are of such quality that if even vaguely competently performed it'll hit the spot to some degree for a simple soul like me.

That said, Act I in particular left me cold but it seemed things tightened up a bit after that. Possibly of note is that I was out of the building by 22:05 suggesting Brabbins may have got a bit of a shift on compared with what I gathered about the dress and first night. The singing was uneven but Nicky Spence was a pleasure to listen to and until he tired towards the end personally I enjoyed the more lyrical than usual Wotan of Matthew Rose. To my surprise, it being sung in English was a plus point as it meant I picked up much more than usual of what everyone is actually going on (and on) about in the lengthier monologues. The production was so minimal that in these moments it essentially ceased to exist which can be a plus.

Overall though, merely pleasant enough on the whole, which is damning with faint praise. It made me retrospectively appreciate the recent ROH production more, much though there was wrong with that. Coups de theatre like essentially filling the entire stage with flames such that you could feel the blast of heat hitting you may be cheap thrills, but for simple souls like me etc...

I'm off to Macbeth this evening which will hopefully live up to what has been said about it here and elsewhere.

[underthecountertenor]

The trite and not intentionally facetious answer is - (some of) the music... There are some bits (mainly but not exclusively the well known purple passages) that are of such quality that if even vaguely competently performed it'll hit the spot to some degree for a simple soul like me.

That said, Act I in particular left me cold but it seemed things tightened up a bit after that. Possibly of note is that I was out of the building by 22:05 suggesting Brabbins may have got a bit of a shift on compared with what I gathered about the dress and first night. The singing was uneven but Nicky Spence was a pleasure to listen to and until he tired towards the end personally I enjoyed the more lyrical than usual Wotan of Matthew Rose. To my surprise, it being sung in English was a plus point as it meant I picked up much more than usual of what everyone is actually going on (and on) about in the lengthier monologues. The production was so minimal that in these moments it essentially ceased to exist which can be a plus.

Overall though, merely pleasant enough on the whole, which is damning with faint praise. It made me retrospectively appreciate the recent ROH production more, much though there was wrong with that. Coups de theatre like essentially filling the entire stage with flames such that you could feel the blast of heat hitting you may be cheap thrills, but for simple souls like me etc...

I'm off to Macbeth this evening which will hopefully live up to what has been said about it here and elsewhere.

Thanks very much for that, and I agree with most of what you say (including the 'cheap thrills...for simple souls like me' bit re the ROH production - in fact the more often I saw that production, the more I appreciated its plus points, and I think some of the minus points were removed). Matthew Rose really didn't do it for me, I'm afraid - I couldn't find the lyricism you noted and thought he sounded overtaxed, but there we are.

As to pacing, I thought Act 1 lacked impetus and seemed longer than usual. The later scenes of Act 3, by contrast, seemed too quick (though I wonder whether that was partly to do with not wanting to put even more strain on Rose).

I can't decide whether I would dislike any sung translation of the Ring, or whether I just disliked Deathridge's. I thought it was clumsy, with some really clunking filler words (such as the use of 'Just' at the beginning of a line, seemingly just as syllabic ballast.

I've just booked a ticket to Macbeth next week.

[Belgrove]

The God’s are not smiling on this production. Colds affected the first night, Westminster Council put a dampener on the fire effects, and on Sunday’s performance, Matthew Rose was unable to sing, neither was his understudy, so a substitute from Munich was flown in to sing (in German) the role from the side while Rose acted. Unfortunately I failed to register who the singer was, a shame since he provided the best singing of the evening. There are plenty of images around for how this production looks, so it’s better to try and discern what it means, which is difficult through starting with the second work in the cycle.

It would seem we are already in a post-apocalyptic world, ash falls from the sky, as though Götterdämmerung has already happened. Hunding is assisted by a bunch of back-woodsmen, who resemble the feral marauders in McCarthy’s The Road, or the swamp dwellers in Deliverance. So the world is out of kilter. Surprisingly, Jones starts the drama in the same way as his ROH Walkure, with Sieglinde conjuring Siegmund from the hearth, the man of her dreams to whisk her way from Hunding’s brutish attentions (Brindley Sherratt’s dark chocolate voice the epitome of malevolence), but nothing obtains from this notion. There was no frisson between Siegmund and Sieglinde, and Siegmund’s careering around the stage at the end of act 1 was embarrassing. Wotan’s long narration with Brunhilde is accompanied by a back-projection of Alberich, who vanishes each time Wotan turns to face the apparition. This works well and highlights Wotan’s preoccupation, even as if the whole Ring is a psycho-drama being played out in Wotan’s mind, but perhaps that is a speculation too far (could be interesting though?) An earthen trench crosses the stage during the third scene in act 2, to no discernible purpose, could it be a visual motif that may reoccur? I have no idea what the tap-dancing pixy was about during the Ride of the Valkyries… . The Valkyrie horses are a bunch of pantomime dobbins, who look rather embarrassed in shuffling from side to side. The translation by John Deathridge is clunky, too often providing a mixture of utterances as if by Yoda or Finbarr Saunders from Viz (‘Fafner lurks in the forest where he sits on Alberich’s Ring’). So the production is muddled and fails to cohere. Not even lighting effects were used to substitute for the lack of flames in the climax of the work after more than a week since opening. That’s just shoddy.

Sadly the orchestra failed to ignite too. The furious opening sounded more like a buzzing fly than a tempest and simply lacked volume (chatting with an orchestra member in the pub afterwards revealed that social distancing in the pit has depleted the string section - a portent for the future?) Or maybe it was the cloth drapes at the back and sides of the stage that simply absorbed the sound. Brabbin’s conducting was uninspiring, no sense of excitement or of the architecture that creates those huge musical spans (with a notable exception of the encounter between Brunhilde and Siegmund, whose slow acceleration was skilfully paced). This may be through having to accommodate for the stand-in Wotan of course.

So all in all, a disappointment. This is meant to be a co-production with the Met. They may well reconsider on this showing. If it does transfer, I can envision the NYC cops in Lincoln Plaza instructing patrons to ‘Move along … nothing to see here’. There certainly won’t be much scenery for them to applaud.

[ostuni]

I was there on Sunday, also, and while sharing several of your misgivings about the production, I think I enjoyed the musical aspects more than you did!

Yes, the stand-in Wotan was indeed excellent: Tomasz Konieczny, one of the very best Wotans of our era.

[underthecountertenor]

The God’s are not smiling on this production. Colds affected the first night, Westminster Council put a dampener on the fire effects, and on Sunday’s performance, Matthew Rose was unable to sing, neither was his understudy, so a substitute from Munich was flown in to sing (in German) the role from the side while Rose acted. Unfortunately I failed to register who the singer was, a shame since he provided the best singing of the evening. There are plenty of images around for how this production looks, so it’s better to try and discern what it means, which is difficult through starting with the second work in the cycle.

It would seem we are already in a post-apocalyptic world, ash falls from the sky, as though Götterdämmerung has already happened. Hunding is assisted by a bunch of back-woodsmen, who resemble the feral marauders in McCarthy’s The Road, or the swamp dwellers in Deliverance. So the world is out of kilter. Surprisingly, Jones starts the drama in the same way as his ROH Walkure, with Sieglinde conjuring Siegmund from the hearth, the man of her dreams to whisk her way from Hunding’s brutish attentions (Brindley Sherratt’s dark chocolate voice the epitome of malevolence), but nothing obtains from this notion. There was no frisson between Siegmund and Sieglinde, and Siegmund’s careering around the stage at the end of act 1 was embarrassing. Wotan’s long narration with Brunhilde is accompanied by a back-projection of Alberich, who vanishes each time Wotan turns to face the apparition. This works well and highlights Wotan’s preoccupation, even as if the whole Ring is a psycho-drama being played out in Wotan’s mind, but perhaps that is a speculation too far (could be interesting though?) An earthen trench crosses the stage during the third scene in act 2, to no discernible purpose, could it be a visual motif that may reoccur? I have no idea what the tap-dancing pixy was about during the Ride of the Valkyries… . The Valkyrie horses are a bunch of pantomime dobbins, who look rather embarrassed in shuffling from side to side. The translation by John Deathridge is clunky, too often providing a mixture of utterances as if by Yoda or Finbarr Saunders from Viz (‘Fafner lurks in the forest where he sits on Alberich’s Ring’). So the production is muddled and fails to cohere. Not even lighting effects were used to substitute for the lack of flames in the climax of the work after more than a week since opening. That’s just shoddy.

Sadly the orchestra failed to ignite too. The furious opening sounded more like a buzzing fly than a tempest and simply lacked volume (chatting with an orchestra member in the pub afterwards revealed that social distancing in the pit has depleted the string section - a portent for the future?) Or maybe it was the cloth drapes at the back and sides of the stage that simply absorbed the sound. Brabbin’s conducting was uninspiring, no sense of excitement or of the architecture that creates those huge musical spans (with a notable exception of the encounter between Brunhilde and Siegmund, whose slow acceleration was skilfully paced). This may be through having to accommodate for the stand-in Wotan of course.

So all in all, a disappointment. This is meant to be a co-production with the Met. They may well reconsider on this showing. If it does transfer, I can envision the NYC cops in Lincoln Plaza instructing patrons to ‘Move along … nothing to see here’. There certainly won’t be much scenery for them to applaud.

I’m relieved that your reaction was almost exactly the same as mine (especially as you enjoyed Jones’s ROH Ring as I did).
I just wish I’d had the compensatory pleasure of Konieczny’s Wotan as you did.
PS the ROH Macbeth was terrific tonight.

[Belgrove]

I’m relieved that your reaction was almost exactly the same as mine (especially as you enjoyed Jones’s ROH Ring as I did).
I just wish I’d had the compensatory pleasure of Konieczny’s Wotan as you did.
PS the ROH Macbeth was terrific tonight.

Yes, Konieczny was excellent, very much the highlight of the evening, and thanks to ostuni for identifying him.
Glad you enjoyed Macbeth.

[Bella Kemp]

It is in many ways a fine production, pleasing to older audiences, but perhaps it missed excitement. When the curtain rose at the start of Act 3 - following that tremendous Ride of The Valkyrie build up - to corpses hanging on strings and a fey Pixie doing an Irish dance, I couldn't help but think of the disappointment experienced by those teenagers who'd been given free seats at the dress rehearsal. And for heaven's sake, when Westminster council banned the fire at the end, could not the production team at least have laid on a bit of a light show? Holograms would not have added much to the expense.

[Maclintick]

It is in many ways a fine production, pleasing to older audiences, but perhaps it missed excitement. When the curtain rose at the start of Act 3 - following that tremendous Ride of The Valkyrie build up - to corpses hanging on strings and a fey Pixie doing an Irish dance, I couldn't help but think of the disappointment experienced by those teenagers who'd been given free seats at the dress rehearsal. And for heaven's sake, when Westminster council banned the fire at the end, could not the production team at least have laid on a bit of a light show? Holograms would not have added much to the expense.

I went on Wed & enjoyed it far more than some others, principally for its musical values, while sharing reservations over some aspects of the production/direction -- Riverdancing pixie, lumbering pantomime horses & the ultimate disappointment of the final conflagration, or lack thereof. Dimmed stage-lighting & rudimentary video projection of flickering flames might have rescued the conclusion. I had no problem with the emotional nullity of these lovers in such a (fashionably ?) dystopian setting, amplified by Richard Jones in this production. Sieglinde as a traumatised & abused wife, ready to accept rescue from the atrocious Hunding by any passing thug, made absolute sense.

Martyn Brabbins pacing & the orchestral playing were excellent. Of the principals, Sue Bickley was the stand-out as a laser-voiced ball-breaking Fricka, but then she doesn't have to save herself for a whole evening. Nicky Spence & Rachel Nicholls were as good as I've heard live, & Emma Bell powerfully affecting if occasionally squally. Matthew Rose coped manfully with Act 2, but the sadistic Richard W, whose increasingly tortured chromaticism in Act 3 reflects Wotan's horrible dichotomy, got the better of him. Great octet of Valkyries.

[underthecountertenor]

Matthew Rose coped manfully with the first 2 acts, but the sadistical Richard W, whose increasingly tortured chromaticism in Act 3 reflects Wotan's horrible dichotomy, got the better of him. Great octet of Valkyries.

I think even I could cope manfully with the first act in the unlikely event that I was ever cast as Wotan.

[Maclintick]

I think even I could cope manfully with the first act in the unlikely event that I was ever cast as Wotan.

Quite -- post duly amended...