Opera North's Die Walküre

[subcontrabass]

Goodness me, no. Scottish Opera WAS effectively the opera company of Northern England before Opera North appeared on the scene. They toured every season to cities like Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds. They also used to venture as far south as Oxford, I think. But all that has gone, and the loss of that touring circuit, and the English Arts Council subsidies that (presumably) went with it has to be one of the reasons for their sad decline into the pale shadow of a once great company that they are now.

But Welsh National and ENO (pre-ENON) used to visit Manchester regularly.

[Stanley Stewart]

I also recall visiting the York Festival of 1976 and seeing Scottish Opera at the Theatre Royal perform "Ariadne On Naxos"/ Norman del Mar; a boisterous production of Britten's MND and watching a young Philip Langridge showing his potential playing the title role in an operatic version of "Confessions of a Justified Sinner".

I was also glad that I recorded their 2003 Ring cycle from performances at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre, on minidisc, as it wasn't subsequently released on CD; a pity as it has much merit.

[perfect wagnerite]

They also used to venture as far south as Oxford, I think.

They certainly did - I saw their Tosca (Peter Glossop as Scarpia, no less) and Pearl Fishers in that dreadful old barn, the Apollo Theatre, Oxford in the early 1980s.

[french frank]

But Welsh National and ENO (pre-ENON) used to visit Manchester regularly.

WNO still does visit Liverpool.

[amateur51]

Coming up on Wednesday this week - Opera North's Die Walkure live from Leed's Town Hall http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxtfd

Just bumping this up ...

[grandchant]

I'm sure it will be wonderful musically-speaking.
But an opera that isn't staged isn't really an opera. Has the Ring ever been staged in the north of England?
Good for Radio 3, though.

Liverpool got 3/4 of the WNO ring in the early '80s, as separate operas in consecutive seasons.

[kernelbogey]

This doesn't seem to be available on iPlayer - though it only finished 18 minutes ago so perhaps I'm being premature...

Any verdicts on Act I?

[Bert Coules]

I saw a splendid full-throttle ENO Ring in Manchester many moons ago. They used the touring version of the staging, with simplified sets, but there was nothing small-scale about the performances under Mackerras. There was a lovely moment at the start of act three of Twilight of the Gods: after a huge (and well deserved) ovation for the orchestra, the horn soloist messed up his horribly exposed opening phrase - and got a big, good-natured laugh. Even Mackerras smiled.

I'm only half-listening to tonight's relay, but it sounds pretty good. I wish the balance favoured the singers a bit more, though, especially if the production places them well downstage.

Bert

[RobertLeDiable]

Didn't hear Act 1, but Act 2 is sounding good. The Brunnhilde is impressive, and the Wotan is getting into his stride. Farnes is pacing it well. Orchestrally it sounds fine, though the strings (especially the violins) sound a bit puny at times. But then it's probably impossible to get a full complement of strings on that very cramped Leeds Town Hall stage so they may just be lacking numbers.

[Pianorak]

No expert, but I liked both Siegmund and Sieglinde in Act I - both sounding young and convincing. Farnes seems to have the measure of the score. Fricka mostly fine. Not sure about Bruennhilde, but early days yet. Wotan seems to swallow a fair number of words - thank god for the libretto.

[Bert Coules]

Lovely energy at the end of act two, but that second "Geh!" was a bit Demon King, wasn't it? I have nothing but admiration for anyone who can manage Wotan, but Bela Perencz does seem to alternate rather between too little emotion and too much.

And really, no Radio 3 announcer should be saying "Die Valkyrie" as Adam Tomlinson so confidently did just now.

Bert

[gurnemanz]

And really, no Radio 3 announcer should be saying "Die Valkyrie" as Adam Tomlinson so confidently did just now.

Bert

I was also mildly shocked at the lack of any attempt to approximate an even vaguely authentic pronunciation of "Walküre". If you can't do a German "kü" sound, pronouncing it "key" is closer, because it is a front vowel.

[RobertLeDiable]

I don't think the BBC Pronunciation Unit exists any more, but it's always shocking how many people on radio and especially TV now seem to have so little familiarity with foreign languages. A measure of their decline in British schools I suppose. But it's pretty poor when even a presenter on Radio 3, where titles and names are so often in German, French or Italian, can't be bothered to ask someone about pronunciation if they're not already au fait with the language in question. It's actually an indictment of the producer, who ought to have made sure such things were sorted out in advance. Though I suppose there's not much they can do if the presenter just goes ahead and says it wrong live on air.

[Black Swan]

I enjoyed Acts I & II, I have tickets to here them at the Lowry in July so am now really looking forward to the performance.

John

[Bert Coules]

I was only able to catch a snippet or two of act three but what I heard sounded very good. Overall, was it just my gear or was the entire opera transmitted at an unusually low level? The interview features sounded much higher, and changing over to R4 at one point nearly blasted my speakers inside out.

Bert