Royal Opera's Ring Cycles

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

& a reduction in opportunities to tweet our thoughts about what Wotan should do - keep the ring? let Alberich keep it? Give it to the giants, or the Rhinemaidens?

[Bert Coules]

More seasonally, how about the Ring as panto? We could all shout "Look behind you!" to Fasolt, hiss the villains, cheer the heroes, clap along with the forging song, gasp at the magic and get bored at the slushy bits. Fricka as the dame, Siegfried as thigh-slapping principal boy, Brünnhilde as winsome heroine and Loge and Alberich as the comedy double act who do their famous chase-the-toad routine in Nibelheim.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think you're onto something, Bert. Casting a woman as Siegfried and a bloke as Brunnhilde would solve a great many of the vocal problems that seem to have arisen in Wagner productions since around 1980!

And the sword is called "Ohnohe'snothung", isn't it?

[kernelbogey]

Wotan trying a helmet on all the Valkyrie... but it only fits Bruennhilde... Gibichung chorus as audience song... Brunnhilde in the ashes at the end... oops no we need a happy ending.... she runs away with Alberich and the ring and they all live happily ever after...?

[Mandryka]

Despite Bryn Terfel's underwhelming performance as Wotan, I would still recommend all those who could not be there to listen to these broadcasts.

[amateur51]

Despite Bryn Terfel's underwhelming performance as Wotan, I would still recommend all those who could not be there to listen to these broadcasts.

No-one can be surprised that Bryn comes from North Wales

If there's one thing worse than a man with an opinion, it's one who's prepared to share it

[Vile Consort]

Perhaps we could just tweet what we were doing at crucial moments. Something like this ...

"I was trying to scrape some chewing gum off the bottom of my left shoe during the Ride of the Valkyries" ...

"During Wotan's farewell I was cleaning Erica's teeth. Erica is our lovely three year old Irish Setter." ...

"I almost missed the entry into Valhalla because I was in the shed stripping a tallboy." ...

[Flosshilde]

"I almost missed the entry into Valhalla because I was in the shed stripping a tallboy." ...

I do hope you both enjoyed it.

[Flosshilde]

I didn't notice it so much before, but I don't much like Siegmund's voice - rather thin. I would think it was more suited to Mime, with a whiney, wheedling character to it.

[VodkaDilc]

I didn't notice it so much before, but I don't much like Siegmund's voice - rather thin. I would think it was more suited to Mime, with a whiney, wheedling character to it.

I felt the same about his voice. At times it seemed to be submerged by the orchestra. Impressive FM sound, as I remarked yesterday in connection with the King's broadcast.

I am pleased with myself for managing to find time for the first two broadcasts. From my point of view, 4.30 is a good time.

[DracoM]

Well. I still think Susan Bullock is hard to listen to, and in Siegfried, pretty unconvincing.
The trouble with doing something like Siegfried in bleeding chunks is that you get no sense of the sheer magnitude of the piece, nor do you realise why it is that the Siegfried tenor sounds so absolutely knackered by the time he wakes Brunnhilde, let alone by the time he's bashed his way through to the end of Act 3. It's a mammoth sing.

[Flosshilde]

At the start of the act today I thought he sounded weak, so I had fears for later. Fortunately he seemed to gain strength, I thought. Susan Bullock wasn't the usual strong (butch? ) sounding Brunhilde, but more fragile. I wasn't sure about it, but I think that it was quite suited to Act III Brunhilde.

[Zucchini]

...and R3 will be broadasting The Ring again when Barenboim brings his Staatsoper to the Proms. A terrific coup for Roger Wright with 6,000 tickets a night on offer at low(ish) prices. IGI may know more but I'm sure Barenboim will try to bring his preferred casts: the magnificent Rene Pape, the great Waltraud Meier (although in the twilight of her career), Simon O'Neill and maybe Ian Storey? Who might sing Brunnhilde?

[Prommer]

Depends whether he brings the Berlin cast from March or the June one from La Scala, or a hybrid of the two:


La Scala

Dates:

17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 29 June 2013 (Two cycles)

Cast:

Wotan:Michael Volle / René Pape
Brünnhilde :Iréne Theorin
Siegfried :Lance Ryan / Ian Storey
Siegmund :Simon O'Neill
Sieglinde :Waltraud Meier
Alberich :Johannes Martin Kränzle
Mime :Peter Bronder
Erda :Anna Larsson
Fricka:Ekaterina Gubanova
Fasolt :Iain Paterson
Fafner :Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Gunther :Gerd Grochowski
Gutrune :Marina Poplavskaya
Hagen :Mikhail Petrenko
Hunding :Mikhail Petrenko
Loge :Stephan Rügamer
Waltraute :Waltraud Meier / Marina Prudenskaya
Freia :Anna Samuil
Donner:Jan Buchwald
Froh :Marius Vlad
Der Wanderer:Juha Uusitalo

Conductor: Daniel Barenboim
Director: Guy Cassiers
Set Designs: Enrico Bagnoli
Costumes: Tim Van Steenbergen
Lighting: Enrico Bagnoli


Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Dates:
23, 24, 27, 31 March, 4, 5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 18, 21 April 2013 (Three full cycles)

Cast:

Wotan:René Pape
Brünnhilde:Iréne Theorin
Siegfried :Lance Ryan / Ian Storey
Siegmund :Peter Seiffert / Christopher Ventris
Sieglinde :Waltraud Meier
Alberich :Johannes Martin Kränzle
Mime :Peter Bronder
Erda :Anna Larsson
Fricka:Ekaterina Gubanova
Fafner :Mikhail Petrenko
Gunther:Gerd Grochkowski
Gutrune :Marina Poplavskaya / Anna Samuil
Hagen :Mikhail Petrenko
Hunding:Mikhail Petrenko
Loge :Stephan Rügamer
Waltraute:Marina Prudenskaja / Waltraud Meier
Freia :Anna Samuil
Donner:Jan Buchwald
Froh :Marius Vlad
Der Wanderer:Juha Uusitalo

Conductor: Daniel Barenboim
Director: Guy Cassiers
Set Designs: Guy Cassiers / Enrico Bagnoli
Costumes: Tim Van Steenbergen
Lighting: Enrico Bagnoli

[Prommer]

Actually, it will be a hybrid of some sort since Simon O'Neill will be the Proms Siegmund even though the orchestra will be the Staatsoper - and O'Neill is not performing in Berlin but in Milan!

Cannot tell from Pape's website if he is booked for this. It looks like he is singing Wotan in Rheingold and Walkure in Berlin, but not in Rheingold in Milan. He is not to be the Wanderer.

Ryan will sing the Siegfried Siegfried and Storey the Götterdämmerung.