Guy Cassier’s “Ring of the present moment” does not belie its concept. Those who have seen it in Milan have now discovered an updated version in Berlin. If Cassier has reacted to some of the criticism of his La Scala première, then he deserves double praises for polishing his staging. Act 1 set looks less empty, the projections reflect changes of mood more sharply… and, most of all, there seems to be stage direction for his singers now. Siegmund and Sieglinde react to each other, Brünnhilde has a tactile issue (as in the expression of affection by touching the person one loves) with her too formidable father later to be transferred to a passionate Siegmund and finally dealt with in the opera’s closing scene – it is still all too elementary, but it already makes all the difference in the world. In the end, if this production is too basic and overreliant in empty aesthetics, it definitely does not stand in the way when musicians are willing to add some emotion into the proceedings. And they certainly have.
As this is the last performance in the run, I have the impression that Daniel Barenboim has decided to give free rein to his impulses, sometimes to the surprise of his singers, what added an urgency and vividness of expression rarely caught so uniformly in a cast as this evening. Barenboim opted for very rich sonorities, with revelatory highlighting of woodwind, impressive sense of theatre and protean orchestral sound. Although he had a very good cast this evening, the orchestra stood in the very core of the events, a paragon of flexibility itself – in terms of tempo, tone coloring, accent – carrying drama forward by magnifying the expressive power of soloists or challenging them in expression. At moments, I almost jumped from my seat with the impact of what the Staatskapelle Berlin was doing. The occasional white-heat approach tested these musicians at times: a hectic closing scene to act I, a hard-edged magic fire music and a somewhat rushed, almost Mozartian Winterstürme. It would be difficult to describe the many interesting features of this evening’s performance – sometimes a performance just catches fire and this one certainly has.
Anja Kampe’s rich soprano is focused and young-sounding and yet aptly expands to warm, powerful climaxes when this is required. She achieves a perfect balance between vulnerability and earthiness, what makes her an ideal Sieglinde. Her ecstatic singing of the “redemption through love” was one of the highlights of the evening. Although Ekaterina Gubanova’s Fricka was even more powerful in Milan, her performance this evening still had power, class and engagement to spare. Mikhail Petrenko, unfortunately, had his hooty and/or throaty moments as Hunding, but his characteristically Russian bass fits the part. Simon O’Neill (Siegmund) is capable of some impressively loud notes, but the voice is distressingly nasal and his attempts at animation often sounded Mime-esque. He did sang solidly, but in a cast such as this evening’s, he sounded basically uninteresting.
This is my first experience with Irene Theorin’s Brünnhilde. Hers is not a phonogenic voice: it is very metallic, a little bit tremulous in the middle and a bit short in the bottom. But if there is one high dramatic soprano in activity these days, she is it. Her endless supply of effortless blasting acuti is something to marvel. For a change, a singer who tosses her ho-jo-to-ho’s as if she were having fun with it. And at the same time Theorin finds no problem in scaling down to mezza voce, even in some very tricky passages. Her Todverkündung and act III had many breathtaking moments when she just floated pianissimi in a touchingly intimate manner. But there is more than this in this invaluable Swedish soprano. I couldn’t help noticing how alert an actress she is, responding to events on stage in an immediate and convincing manner – and her facial expression in her long scene with Wotan in act III was exceptionally moving. That scene brought the audience to tears – and the partnership with René Pape’s Wotan has a great share of responsibility.
I know I myself had become skeptical about Pape as Wotan since his Milanese Rheingold, but this evening he made an important stab at it. At this point in his career, nobody doubts his ability to portray nobility and authority. It is an exceptionally rich, warm, dark and beautiful voice – the question being how he would survive the test of singing in the Heldenbariton tessitura. The answer is difficult. When the phrase is congenial, he produces some impressively round and forceful high notes. When it is not, the voice sounds a bit straight and devoid of color, but never ugly, one must say. This is the last show in the run and I cannot say how wisely he dealt with the role before, but today his long act II narrative seemed to tire him. After that, he had to manage his resources to get to the end, which he did with a little help from Barenboim’s fast tempi in the most testing passages. All that said, he can soften the tone adeptly and takes advantage of that to produce the sort of sensitively varied singing one expects from a Lieder singer. Der Augen leuchtendes Paar, for example, was so touchingly sung that one felt ready to forgive the German bass everything. My 11 or 12 readers (I see that I have a few more these days…) might be asking themselves if Pape is bound to be the great Wotan of his generation. As I was telling a friend at the theatre today, there are two kinds of Wotan: those who fight with low notes and those who fight with high notes (and there used to be James Morris…). Not long ago, John Tomlinson too had to find a way through the high-lying passages in the role, as many others before him. Pape has the advantage of an excellent technique that allows him to scale down instead of up when he needs some variety and the voice is naturally big, what exonerates him from forcing. Judging from this evening’s really moving performance, I would say that it is definitely worth the effort!
I HEAR VOICES 
Sounds like a much better performance than the one you witnessed at the Met. And on Friday, RML will be in Vilnius for the Lithuanian Opera’s Walkure?
11 or 12 readers? Getting rather pretentious aren’t you RML?
You mention Theorin’s strength in the Todverkundung and Act III which were particular weak spots for Voigt. And you talk about orchestral flexibility in tempo, tone coloring accents – all wonderful qualities that I’m afraid were in rather short supply at the Met.
I’m glad to read about Pape. Its hard to assume so massive a role perfectly on the first try but he should get more comfortable over time I think there is a lot of reason for enthusiasm here.
Loki,
I thought you were joking! I’m afraid I have a dentist appointment on the same date! 🙂
Cavalier,
As you see, if I’m not stopped, the next thing is my Met debut as Siegfried…!
I thought you would like the news about Pape. I’m curious to see how he develops in the role. In any case, as it is, it is already praiseworthy – it is rare to find a Wotan who can keep a line as beautifully as he does.
My biggest problem with Pape (on the first night) was that he seemed not to have learned the role properly. Many of the words were mangled – and I am told that this was worse still during the final rehearsal. Had he sorted that out by the 25th? I thought his vocal type sounded less ‘wrong’ than it had done as Don Giovanni a few years ago, where he simply seemed miscast.
Hello, Mark!
As far as I can tell, there were no major problems with the text, but there was a very much “present” souffleuse there just in case. Maybe he too suffered from nerves. At any rate, he seemed well “aware” of the text and his singing was sensitive to its nuances. As for his being well cast or not, it is clear that the high notes tax him and, when he gets to the final scene, he has very little leeway. As I have written above, with many singers with beautiful voices, one tends to overlook lots of things because the sound is never intrinsically ugly. I tend to think that, as the role requires an unfailing breath support from him, he will probably be variable in it: in a good day, it will be great; in a bad day, things might get hazardous.
I was fortunate to be at this final performance of Die Walkure at Staatsoper Berlin. There is something powerfully moving about DW and this performance had more than I had hoped for. The orchestra was superb and was the star. There were moments that were of such sublimity that I don’t think I will ever forget them. The singing ranged from tolerable to gorgeous to sensitive and touching. At almost no point did I cringe, excluding the contrast in appearance between Hunding and Siegfried, such that there was a distinct lack of believability that any woman would choose Siegfried over Hunding. Still given the Twins Effect, and Wagner’s music one could accept it.
So the most memorable of DWs musically has been paired with a truly ludicrous and distracting staging. It’s as if the directors of these peculiar productions can’t stand the actual story, or the original stage directions and feel they must do something different to keep the audience entertained, imagining that the audience feels the same way toward the work as they do. And then to use projections and computer generated graphics and fail completely to enhance or even compliment the onstage action is unfathomable.
Wouldn’t you think that when it became time to celebrate spring, that just possible we might see something indicative of spring on the screens that made up the two sides of the house? Maybe something subtle or even effusive but not a totally blank screen, a screen that had been filled prior with almost meaningless chatter.
The poles made for an interesting and exciting forest scene and allowed the illusion of depth. Brunhilde’s approach to Siegfried as she moved through this forest of poles, with projections of green, with patches of dark and light was an indication that this technique has potential to give an enhanced and thoughtful expression to the staging. The fire that roared, unnecessarily in the second act would have been much more meaningful at the end and I would hope might be done for any future productions with this set and direction.
The costumes were a constant source of puzzlement, adding nothing to either the action, the emotions or the characterizations. Instead they were a disappointing distraction.
As mentioned above, Anja Kampe’s artistry and vocal richness made the role of Sieglinde powerful and tender at the same time.
Rene Pape provided a very poignant Wotan when it mattered most. In the farewell scene I couldn’t stop the tears.
I had no objection to the vocal abilities overall.
If the production in Seattle in 2000, was the one that the elderly Swiss gentleman, sitting next to me, said was the production he had been waiting his entire life to see, this was the one I had been waiting my entire life to hear.
Joyalso,
You don’t need to convince me about the problems in this staging – and I can tell you, it was FAR MORE problematic in Milan… I am glad that you too found the musical performance outstanding.
Whoops! Of course, I meant Siegmund but I couldn’t find an edit button. I hope we can blame it on jet lag!
Don’t worry – I at least read it “Siegmund” anyway! 🙂
At the April 22 performance, the orchestra was drop-dead from the opening raspy string figure through the fire music. Perhaps the best, most electrifying Walkure playing I’ve ever heard, and definitely better than the Met on May 9 (even with all the warm player — and audience — regard for a frail-looking Levine). When I told an American opera manager that there were six harps in the Schiller pit, she almost didn’t believe me. And taking the orchestra to the stage for a solo curtain call, with Barenboim among them as just one of the boys, was a nice little coup de theatre When the curtain opened, the audience went wild (the noisiest I’ve heard a German audience get since a Margaret Price “Dove sono” in Munich many moons ago.