WNO's Lohengrin

[Bert Coules]

No comments on this? Is everybody Wagnered out? I heard most of it and enjoyed what I heard: a good solid performance. The stills on the R3 website show a vaguely mid-nineteenth century setting and an interesting approach to portraying the problematic swan. The excellent Donald McCloud did his usual fine job of painting the production for us.

Available on YouTube (in bits) is the current Bayreuth Lohengrin, the one where famously the chorus appear as giant rats. I watched the whole thing the other day and rather liked it. It seems to have incensed most of the Wagnerian world, and certainly those members of it who inhabit humanities.music.composers.wagner, but if you can accept the central laboratory-experiment premise then I thought it hung togther well. It was also beautifully sung.

I'm currently recording the Met Götterdämmerung from Sky Arts and couldn't resist a quick peek: Siegfried and Grane happily boating down the Rhine: a lovely stage picture.

[DracoM]

Agreed about the Welsh Lohengrin - solid, few loose ends, bit over-robust Lohengrin, but Elsa excellent. Band in good nick as well.

I fear Donald Macleod majorly blotted his hitherto unblemished copybook for me by reading out bluddy tweets in the intervals. Who the hell cares who is listening to the relay, or where they are, or what they had for dinner.

Crikey! Is not even a Wagner opera safe from the restless, frantic self-advertising trivia ON AIR now? How can we stop them?

Well, I turned off, because you just never know when he was going to sick up even more tweets in the next interval. WHY do they do it?

I'm not holding my breath for the Minister / celebrant at some not too far distant Choral Evensong prefacing the closing prayers by reading out the texts and tweets he's received about the service while it's been on air. Yeah, yeah, I know, be careful what ideas you put into the heads of the 12 yr olds who man R3 these days.

Sorry, Bert, gone off on one there.

[Bert Coules]

I was taken aback by that, yes: as you say, horribly intrusive, totally uneccessary and quite disturbing in what it might bode for the future. But I strongly suspect that it wasn't McCloud's idea: he seems to me to be almost the last remaining example of the quietly authoritative, unobtrusive, self-effacing R3 presenter/announcer of the glory days (albeit more relaxed and slightly less old-school RP) - and to them, surely, the whole idea would have been unthinkable. I would be very surprised indeed if it wasn't imposed on him from without.

[David-G]

Perhaps I should learn how to use Twitter. Then I could fire off a succession of tweets on occasions such as this, saying how profoundly I deplore the appearance of tweets on Radio 3.

[Resurrection Man]

I was taken aback by that, yes: as you say, horribly intrusive, totally uneccessary and quite disturbing in what it might bode for the future. But I strongly suspect that it wasn't McCloud's idea: he seems to me to be almost the last remaining example of the quietly authoritative, unobtrusive, self-effacing R3 presenter/announcer of the glory days (albeit more relaxed and slightly less old-school RP) - and to them, surely, the whole idea would have been unthinkable. I would be very surprised indeed if it wasn't imposed on him from without.

Re tweets...I am 100% in accord with you both....unnecessary and obtrusive. My little radio is beginning to recoil at my expletive-ridden tirades whenever I hear another exhortation to twit/facebook/txt/email. To be honest I find myself listening more to classicFM these days...at least they are open and honest about their advertising.

But back to Lohengrin....I am not familiar with this opera even though embarrassed to admit having a boxed set languishing on the shelf. So I came to this performance with new ears and have to admit to being thoroughly bowled over by the performance....

[BBMmk2]

I listened to Radio 3's broadcast in their opera matinee, last Thuirsday; I dont remember any interval?

[ARBurton]

Yee, I`ll say Wagnered` out. Yesterday was Nelsons Hollander from Amsterdam, Koenigs Lohengrin from Cardiff, Jarvi conducting Liebesverbot from Leipzig, and excerpts from a Thielemann concert in Dresden. Looking forward to the Lohengrin in B`ham, however.

[Flosshilde]

I listened to Radio 3's broadcast in their opera matinee, last Thuirsday; I dont remember any interval?

bbm - it was the Dutchman on Thursday; Lohengrin was on Sunday.

[jean]

I would be very surprised indeed if it wasn't imposed on him from without.

Not just Radio 3 - the tweets were there on screen in all their inanity in the interval of the relay of la Donna del Lago from the ROH this evening.

[Mahler's3rd]

Hi Bert,
I went to the Millennium centre Sunday afternoon, it was excellent, and your right Emma Bell (BBC New Generation Artist) was superb as Elsa, very interesting set as well, the Production was set in Wagners time, with Soldiers in Khaki, and I thought the way they did the swan was brilliant. The WNO Orchestra & Chorus we're on excellent form. Really enjoyable afternoon, looking forward to the UK Stage Premiere of Wagner Dream next week now

[Hautboiste]

I'm going to this in Cardiff on Saturday. Looking at the website the performance seems to be pretty well sold out,. Having learned from my experience going to see Tristan last year I shall be taking my flask and sandwiches for the intervals as I won't get home until around midnight.

[Simon B]

Hautboiste - it probably makes no odds, but just in case, it actually overran the nominal 4:30 running time last Saturday. It was about 22:20 (from a 17:30 start) by the time we got out. I doubt anyone cared - the duration of the applause probably contributed!

I'm no opera critic, but it seemed largely glorious all round - with Koenigs and the WNO orchestra marginally deserving the greatest credit.

[Hautboiste]

Thanks for that Simon. Tristan was much the same and by the time everyone got out it was later than expected hence my presumption that I won't be home until at least midnight. The M4 shouldn't be too busy at that time of night which is a plus :)