Prom 20 - 28.07.13: Wagner – Götterdämmerung

[Flosshilde]

A huge drawback to proms performances is the consistent roar the very moment the last note has (supposedly) ended. Last night at Tristan, the transition to the roar then applause was seamless. It so destroys culmination of a great work, it makes me wonder if it is worth the expense and trouble of going to Proms performances. However Barenboim managed to maintain an appropriate silence, I do wish other conductors could achieve the same.

The pause seemed to stretch forever (perhaps a little too long, but it might have felt right in the hall); then a single 'bravo' broke the dam & huge burst of applause followed - not a crescendo, but a massive roar. I've never heard anything like it, on the radio or live.

(The Met audiences could learn a lesson )

[LHC]

With the disparaging comment above about the chorus, it was nice to hear this from a renowned professional, and choral expert, in the upper circle - "Chorus were terrific - piano text crystal clear and very exciting at full-throttle."

I was in the hall and I thought the chorus were terrific as well. I do find though that the acoustic in the RAH is so variable that how audible individual singers (or in this case the chorus) are can be very dependent on both your location in the hall and the location on stage of the performers.

The Opera Britannia reviewer (not me I hasten to add) was also impressed by the power generated by the chorus:

"Speaking of choristers, we had tonight, much to my surprise, the ladies and even more gentlemen of our very own ROH, plumped up to nigh-on 80-strong, who made the most stupendous racket imaginable as the Gibichung hordes in Act II, effectively alas burying poor Mikhail Petrenko’s efforts to dominate them in the process. They even preserved immaculate ensemble throughout the great rolling paragraphs of Wagner’s glorious choral writing."

[Zucchini]

There is (or was) a Youtube clip of Barenboim directing the closing pages of Tristan, I think at La Scala. After the final chord the audience immediately breaks in to applause, DB reacts as if punched in the back and screws his face up in pain and total fury.

I really cannot understand B Coules criticising as "manipulative", his enforcement of silence for just as long as he wants after the epic musical and emotional journey presented by his magnificent orchestra, soloists and his own genius..

[Simon Biazeck]

I was in the hall and I thought the chorus were terrific as well. I do find though that the acoustic in the RAH is so variable that how audible individual singers (or in this case the chorus) are can be very dependent on both your location in the hall and the location on stage of the performers.

The Opera Britannia reviewer (not me I hasten to add) was also impressed by the power generated by the chorus:

"Speaking of choristers, we had tonight, much to my surprise, the ladies and even more gentlemen of our very own ROH, plumped up to nigh-on 80-strong, who made the most stupendous racket imaginable as the Gibichung hordes in Act II, effectively alas burying poor Mikhail Petrenko’s efforts to dominate them in the process. They even preserved immaculate ensemble throughout the great rolling paragraphs of Wagner’s glorious choral writing."

Thank you! That's very heartening! I'm sure my colleagues will be delighted to see it. It was a very exciting first time with Barenboim for many of us and we were not disappointed.

[Petrushka]

One of the most incredible evenings I've ever spent in the RAH. Schager was Siegfried to the life. He looks about 19 but would guess mid 30s. Chorus were superb coming across very strongly to my seat in O stalls.

Applause like I've never heard before and lasting half an hour. Unforgettable.

[amac4165]

I'll have to catch up with Acts 1 and 2 in iPlayer, I'm afraid. At the last run at RoH the chorus were thrilling (as it was in a previous run of the Flying Dutchman) - was there also the extra chorus (giving the "critical mass") last night?

Ashamedly I have to say during Act II i was thinking to myself - " how nice it was to have a proper German chorus" - only to find out from DB later it was our own ROH

[secondfiddle]

One of the most incredible evenings I've ever spent in the RAH. Schager was Siegfried to the life. He looks about 19 but would guess mid 30s. Chorus were superb coming across very strongly to my seat in O stalls.

Applause like I've never heard before and lasting half an hour. Unforgettable.

I think great credit is also due to the Radio 3/Proms team. I must admit that when I saw The Ring down for the Proms together with other Wagner operas, I had my doubts as to whether so much would overbalance the Prom schedule. Although I only joined it with Siegfried as I was away the previous week, I thought the performances were excellent and the overall presentation very good (and I rarely find myself saying this of Radio 3 presentation today!) I actually avoided Tristan for fear of overdosing the pill, but I found Götterdämmerung overwhelming, as only Götterdämmerung can be when well presented.
It was good to hear the enthusiasm for Wagner from those who were coming new to it. I loved the comments made by two members of a rock band saying, in so many words, that the music they make is just to entertain a public that want to dance, etc., but Wagner is the real thing! The interval discussions were generally interesting – none of the usual dumbing down here! Even Tom Service’s commentary - at times almost breathless with excitement – caught the atmosphere, and he did well having to fill moments waiting for the performers to appear and the acts to begin. It was very pleasing to hear what the performers felt about playing at the Proms – and their high regard for the Proms audience!
When serious music is so often pushed aside these days, it is refreshing that many listeners were making an exciting discovery through these performances. Nothing, of course, beats live music and for those in the hall it must have been an unforgettable experience. A pity, perhaps, that the broadcast finished so soon after the end of the opera so that the listening audience could not savour the atmosphere for two or three minutes longer. One doesn’t want to be brought back to earth too soon after such an experience. But congratulations to Radio 3.

[Bert Coules]

I really cannot understand B Coules criticising as "manipulative", his enforcement of silence for just as long as he wants...

That's not exactly what I wrote:

My initial reaction was that if it did happen it was maybe a touch too manipulative, but on reflection perhaps it's no bad thing to bring the entire audience to its own concerted climax after such a marathon of uninterrupted listening.

Having said that though, I do tend to believe that in general no performer has the right to tell his audience how - and when - to respond to his work.

It was good to hear the enthusiasm for Wagner from those who were coming new to it... The interval discussions were generally interesting – none of the usual dumbing down here! Even Tom Service’s commentary - at times almost breathless with excitement – caught the atmosphere...
When serious music is so often pushed aside these days, it is refreshing that many listeners were making an exciting discovery through these performances... Congratulations to Radio 3.

Whatever my criticisms of the performances, I agree completely with that. Well said.

[ARBurton]

I finally found time to listen to this. Listening critically, did anyone notice a sudden and very unsubtle increase in the sound level towards the end of the Funeral March, as though some hapless engineer had accidentally pushed a slider? It`s definitely there...

[Zucchini]

For those of us who only heard it on R3, here's an interesting and enjoyable 30 min German regional TV programme of the Staatskapelle/Barenboim visit to the Proms. The last comment (Alexander Hall) is absolutely spot on IMO.

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/08/new-video-siegfried-in-kensington.html

[bluestateprommer]

Schager was Siegfried to the life. He looks about 19 but would guess mid 30s. Chorus were superb coming across very strongly to my seat in O stalls.

Applause like I've never heard before and lasting half an hour. Unforgettable.

Agree that Andreas Schager was excellent as Siegfried. Among the others, it did indeed come off as a bit unusual for Hagen to be sung by a lighter voice like Mikhail Petrenko's, admittedly, but on its own terms, it was fine. One can argue that it makes the malevolence less obvious vocally, in a melodramatic sense. I'll also admit that a bit more "stage business" from the chorus would have been nice, in their response to Hagen's initial call. I guess that I'm just used to memories of the Boulez Gotterdammerung, where the chorus provided the right degree of laughter before and after their full response to Hagen in "Gross Gluck und Heil". True, the orchestra "laughs" in its way, but adding the chorus would have added just the right human touch. It wasn't to be at this Prom, but never mind.

I can't help but wonder, however, if comparisons between Lance Ryan and Andreas Schager are a bit unfair, since the roles of Siegfried in Siegfried and Gotterdammerung are so different in their demands. Perhaps Lance Ryan might have sounded less strained had he sung Gotterdammerung, and Andreas Schager might have been a bit more stressed had he sung Siegfried. Of course, we can't go back and repeat the experiment, so we'll never know. In the end, of course, no matter, given what most would agree was an amazing achievement, including my one friend in the UK (who's not a poster on the Forum) who caught the whole cycle and was blown away. I don't know that I would have envied people enduring the RAH sauna, but I can certainly envy those who caught the experience of this summer's Proms Ring cycle, and lived to tell the tale.