Met Die Walkure 13th April

[Old Grumpy]

Reading this, perhaps they should have just got rid of the whole bl**dy lot and transmitted JRR at the usual time instead!!

OG

[Stanley Stewart]

I, too, abandoned the R3 broadcast and returned to the DVD set, acquired at the end of last year from hmv, at £20+ less than their competitors, prior to their own sad Gotterdammerung! The boxset also contains " Wagner's Dream" which explores the technical problems of finding the technology to cope with the 20+ structural components over two years, in Quebec, before handing over the production to The Met; even the stage area had to be strengthened to take the weight and I'm still nonplussed as to how the cast coped with the stress of concentrating on their roles on a steeply raked area as well as dealing with the distraction of a team of technicians, beneath the construction, manipulating separate or awkward parts of the structure. The documentary covers the first night presentation of each opera and even the viewer must have felt a tightening of the stomach muscles as Deborah Voight slipped as she tried to mount the rostrum to greet Wotan at the start of "Die Walkure", Act II. I trust that Sky Arts will show this fascinating feature before transmitting the Cycle. The mind boggles at the sheer cost of this "gift" to The Met but, for me, it heralds a new age of technology and the recent Met "Parsifal" seems to have followed the lead here. At its best, it has the beauty of simplicity and, for example, the entry into Valhalla in "Das Rheingold" is quite magnificent. Technical modifications have probably been adopted in the current cycle but cast-wise, the principal roles are very second eleven. Kauffmann, Voight,Westbroek and Terfel in the first cycle rose to the challenge and matched the technology with high definition performances. I gather that the documentary, "Wagner's Dream" is also available separately. A classic.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Reading this, perhaps they should have just got rid of the whole bl**dy lot and transmitted JRR at the usual time instead!!

OG

Nope - even a bad Wagner performance knocks spots off JRR. IMHO naturally And yes, I do quite often listen as I cook Mrs LMP's Saturday dinner and wait for the opera broadcast. Sorry...

[Flosshilde]

There are some breathtaking stage and video effects, particularly in the second act of Siegfried, which has a 3D animated woodbird flitting about the stage.

I didn't see any of the relays of this production last year, so I don't know what 'the machine' was like in action. However, when I looked at the (few) photographs available I couldn't help comparing it to Friedrich's platform at the ROH in the seventies, which I did see, & seems to me to have been much more integrated with the action and the cast - it was the acting area, as well as part of the set. I'd like to see the Met production to see how the machine works, but I don't feel like forking out for the DVDs, still less for a sub to Sky

[Flosshilde]

Excellent Wotan.

I switched on again for the end, & I'm afraid I was less impressed by Wotan than I had been in Act 2. I've heard a lot better.

[Old Grumpy]

Nope - even a bad Wagner performance knocks spots off JRR. IMHO naturally And yes, I do quite often listen as I cook Mrs LMP's Saturday dinner and wait for the opera broadcast. Sorry...

Quite understand, M. LeMP! Wagner (and Opera from the Met) are not exactly "Top of the Pops" on the Jazz Board, as I am sure you will understand.

OG

[Mr Pee]

I, too, abandoned the R3 broadcast and returned to the DVD set, acquired at the end of last year from hmv, at £20+ less than their competitors, prior to their own sad Gotterdammerung! The boxset also contains " Wagner's Dream" which explores the technical problems of finding the technology to cope with the 20+ structural components over two years, in Quebec, before handing over the production to The Met; even the stage area had to be strengthened to take the weight and I'm still nonplussed as to how the cast coped with the stress of concentrating on their roles on a steeply raked area as well as dealing with the distraction of a team of technicians, beneath the construction, manipulating separate or awkward parts of the structure. The documentary covers the first night presentation of each opera and even the viewer must have felt a tightening of the stomach muscles as Deborah Voight slipped as she tried to mount the rostrum to greet Wotan at the start of "Die Walkure", Act II. I trust that Sky Arts will show this fascinating feature before transmitting the Cycle. The mind boggles at the sheer cost of this "gift" to The Met but, for me, it heralds a new age of technology and the recent Met "Parsifal" seems to have followed the lead here. At its best, it has the beauty of simplicity and, for example, the entry into Valhalla in "Das Rheingold" is quite magnificent. Technical modifications have probably been adopted in the current cycle but cast-wise, the principal roles are very second eleven. Kauffmann, Voight,Westbroek and Terfel in the first cycle rose to the challenge and matched the technology with high definition performances. I gather that the documentary, "Wagner's Dream" is also available separately. A classic.

I've also watched "Wagner's Dream" and it is a very interesting insight into the production.

Stanley, if you have watched the DVD of "Siegfried", did you notice that as Jay Hunter Morris- or more likely a stunt double- traverses "The Machine" en route through the fire to Brunnhilde's rock he seems to slip? That made my stomach tighten as well!!

Another stand out moment for me in this cycle was when Siegfried and Mime are looking into the pool outside Mime's cave and you can clearly see their reflections in the- digitally created- water. I found myself wondering how on earth that was done, and although the video artist attempted to explain it on one of the DVD extras, I was none the wiser!!

When the Ring was performed at Her Majety's Theatre, London, in 1882, a critic wrote:- "Mime, a smith by trade, sets up his forge in a lonely wood, far from the busy haunts of men. The only other settler in the neighbourhood is a dragon. In such a situation Mime's chances of obtaining customers are obviously nil."

[Stanley Stewart]

Yes, indeed, Mr Pee, I noted several tense and quite unexpected moments where health & safety regulations could have been tested in a litigious society and I do hope that a scribe is at work recording the history of this Cycle from the time that Ex-Machina undertook the two year research project in 2008 until the opening production of "Das Rheingold" in 2010.Yes, of course, technology has been progressed in the UK since the late 80s. No longer did we need the closing of the traverse curtains, accompanied by the thuds and banging during set changes over several minutes before normal service is resumed! Back projection is now the norm but the technical possibilities - and I'm no techie - which seized my imagination was the fluid deployment of heavy components to create different configurations the like of which I'd never seen before. A set which is even capable of changing its axis. I did a bit of boning -up and was interested to note that at the first Bayreuth Ring in 1882, Wagner rejected the original scenery as the visuals didn't matched his music. "Next year, we'll do it differently." Of course, he didn't live to see it. In NY, 2010. the Wagner Society were expressing strong reservations, viz the documentary, about the teething technical problems. "I've seen 35 different Rings and I don't know what they are doing." The exciting factor was not only the solid components but new advances which create a 3D impression; even the circular images of the dense woods closing in on Siegmund's flight at the opening of "Die Walkure" creates its own claustrophobia. I only have a modest 32" Sony Brava but picture and sound - and the blessed subtitles, of old, are providing a new sense of experience for me - and, of course, I can opt for hi-fi connection.

American pezzazz also to the fore as we see first night audiences packing the seating area to watch the production on big screen TV at the front of the Lincoln Centre; ditto Times Square. The Big Apple of Jay Gatsby? I'm probably OTT but I sensed a change for the better indicated in the Robert Lepage production. The equivalent of the "twang" which Mme Ranevsky and Lopakin hear in the distance in Act II of "The Cherry Orchard"? Enough, no more... Its late!

[DracoM]

Ref the Wotan: my guess is that if you've had to cope with multiple Siegnunds, Voigt on less than good form sliding musically all over the shop, and negotiating the amazing technology, then by the time you get to 'Lebe Wohl' you just want to get off, have a shower and go home - uninjured.

Was there not a spat-ette between Voigt and Met authorities about her weight/girth? Was she not told to lose weight or she would not sing there again? Or similar?

[Flosshilde]

Yes, of course, technology has been progressed in the UK since the late 80s. No longer did we need the closing of the traverse curtains, accompanied by the thuds and banging during set changes over several minutes before normal service is resumed!

The cycle by Gotz Friedrich (designed by Josef Svoboda) I referred to above was done in 1973-76; I don't know if you saw it, but it involved replacing the stage with a platform on a central hydraulic pivot. The action took place on & under it, & it went up & down, tilted backwards & forwards & revolved while singers were on it. It produced many exciting stage pictures that remain in my memory now. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a single image of it on the web.

[Flosshilde]

Was there not a spat-ette between Voigt and Met authorities about her weight/girth? Was she not told to lose weight or she would not sing there again? Or similar?

There was one at Covent Garden when she was dismissed from a production of Ariadne auf Naxos, supposedlt because ehe didn't suit the look of the production. I believe she underwent surgery (stomach stapling or some such) & lost weight. It was said that her voice declined after that.

[kernelbogey]

The cycle by Gotz Friedrich (designed by Josef Svoboda) I referred to above was done in 1973-76; I don't know if you saw it, but it involved replacing the stage with a platform on a central hydraulic pivot. The action took place on & under it, & it went up & down, tilted backwards & forwards & revolved while singers were on it. It produced many exciting stage pictures that remain in my memory now. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a single image of it on the web.

Such a shame if it can't be seen on line at least in a still, of which there must be many (Clive Barda, et al). Utterly memorable, especially, for me, the completely bare stage at the end of Goetterdaemmerung.

[Mr Pee]

The cycle by Gotz Friedrich (designed by Josef Svoboda) I referred to above was done in 1973-76; I don't know if you saw it, but it involved replacing the stage with a platform on a central hydraulic pivot. The action took place on & under it, & it went up & down, tilted backwards & forwards & revolved while singers were on it. It produced many exciting stage pictures that remain in my memory now. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a single image of it on the web.

I was at a revival of that Cycle, Floss, in 1980, as a Prommer, when the ROH took out all the stalls seats and one queued up on the day to sit on the floor. It was my first Ring- indeed my first Wagner other than on record- and it did certainly produce some very memorable images- and some cramp! I remember the Wanderer/Erda scene in particular, with the platform raised to it's full height, Wanderer standing on the lip, and Erda below. I still have a program from it signed by Colin Davis, Gwyneth Jones, Alberto Remedios, and a number of other cast members.

I think this LePage Ring is probably the most succesful I've seen since then- I suppose to some extent it is the same idea, with the flexible platform, but made far more complicated and therefore versatile. Combine that with the advances in technology, video, etc and you have a very impressive achievement. The production itself, as is the Met's wont, is fairly traditional, with no traffic signs, crashed aeroplanes or other distractions, but it uses the latest technology to tell the story in a spectacular way. I think if I were to recommend a production to a newcomer to the Ring, it would now be this one. It is not groundbreaking as an interpreation in the way that the Chereau Ring was, for example, but as a production that pretty much sticks to Wagner's vision it's now top of the pile, in my view.

(I must admit that I didn't share in the wide critical acclaim for the Valencia Ring. It was very clever and the use of dancers/gymnasts was at times striking, but I had difficulties with Gods and Valkyries being wheeled around the stage on cherry-pickers.)

[Flosshilde]

I was at a revival of that Cycle, Floss, in 1980, as a Prommer, when the ROH took out all the stalls seats and one queued up on the day to sit on the floor. It was my first Ring- indeed my first Wagner other than on record- and it did certainly produce some very memorable images- and some cramp! I remember the Wanderer/Erda scene in particular, with the platform raised to it's full height, Wanderer standing on the lip, and Erda below. I still have a program from it signed by Colin Davis, Gwyneth Jones, Alberto Remedios, and a number of other cast members.

Goodness, Mr Pee - I was there too! & yes, the cramp after sitting on the floor for the prologue & act 1 of Gotterdammerung was something awful! I think that when one shifted buttocks it was an early form of Mexican Wave - we were so tightly packed that everyone had to move at the same time!

That scene is one that sticks in my mind, too - in fact it was quite nerve-wracking, as it started off with the platform tilted forward & Wanderer standing on the edge at stage level; during the prelude it gradually lifted up revealing Erda underneath & with Wanderer lying (as I remember it, but possibly standing) on the edge about 20 feet above the stage. The scene between Wotan & Brunhilde in Act 2 of Die Walkure was v. effective too - when Wotan told B. that he no longer wanted her to protect Siegmund the platform revolved 180 degrees, literally giving a different point of view & underlining the change in the relationship between W & B.

[Mr Pee]

Goodness, Mr Pee - I was there too! & yes, the cramp after sitting on the floor for the prologue & act 1 of Gotterdammerung was something awful! I think that when one shifted buttocks it was an early form of Mexican Wave - we were so tightly packed that everyone had to move at the same time!

That scene is one that sticks in my mind, too - in fact it was quite nerve-wracking, as it started off with the platform tilted forward & Wanderer standing on the edge at stage level; during the prelude it gradually lifted up revealing Erda underneath & with Wanderer lying (as I remember it, but possibly standing) on the edge about 20 feet above the stage. The scene between Wotan & Brunhilde in Act 2 of Die Walkure was v. effective too - when Wotan told B. that he no longer wanted her to protect Siegmund the platform revolved 180 degrees, literally giving a different point of view & underlining the change in the relationship between W & B.

Golly, Floss, perhaps we chatted in the queue- or even shared a few feet of floor space!! I am sure you would remember; I was the devastatingly attractive young man, not unlike a young Steve McQueen, who kept the queue entertained with pearls of wisdom about Wagner, a few magic tricks, and a spot of juggling.



Anyway, moving on, that Ring was a truly memorable experience and kindled my life-long fascination with and love of Wagner's music. I still remember walking across the Charing Cross footbridge on my way home after Gotterdammerung and feeling totally elated, and just blown away by the whole experience.