I finally got to see a live Ring cycle this year, having initially booked for it for 2020 (and it getting rescheduled multiple times. Thanks COVID)
I'm out of practice of writing posts about the things I have seen, but I did take some notes while I was up there, to try and ensure that I remembered what I saw, and how I felt at the time. What I present to you, is my thoughts, based on the things that I saw, updated, but essentially still in notes, rather than written up like I would normally.
It was one where the director clearly wanted to tell the story as written, using the modern technology available . When something was mentioned by a character on stage, that item was there. The ring, was indeed a ring. There was a tree with a sword in it. Brunhilde ended up on a rock, there was fire on stage surrounding her. The ring was visibly returned to the rheinmaidens at the end. The traditional parts of the story were all there, represented on stage.
These things may not have been the traditional versions as imagined, but they were all there as required. The rheinmaidens were duplicated, with singers crawling over the rocks, and aerialists swimming through the Rhine, convincing many they were the same people, it was done that well. (I had to explain this to someone amazed at how they managed as we left the theatre) The wood bird too was an aerialist, while sung from offstage.
Alberich is that sort of luxury casting in the role, is
he doubling as Wotan’s understudy? (he has sung it for other companies)
Wotan is singing the best I have heard him live, clearly German suits him.
We need to hear Loge more in Australia
Weakest voices on stage were the “spare gods” and they were not bad, just not amazing.
The rainbow bridge was a choice, but having the
full rainbow effect appear after the gods have all crossed, suggests a lack of
coordination that should have been sorted before
DIE WALKÜRE
WOTAN
Daniel Sumegi
FRICKA
Deborah Humble
SIEGMUND
Rosario La Spina
SIEGLINDE
Anna-Louise Cole (Cycle 1-2)
Olivia Cranwell (Cycle 3)
HUNDING
Andrea Silvestrelli
BRÜNNHILDE
Lise Lindstrom (Cycle 1-2)
Anna-Louise Cole (Cycle 3)
GERHILDE
Jane Ede
ORTLINDE
Jennifer Black
WALTRAUTE
Deborah Humble
SCHWERTLEITE
Dominica Matthews
HELMWIGE
Mariana Hong
SIEGRUNE
Agnes Sarkis
GRIMGERDE
Angela Hogan
ROSSWEISSE
Ruth Strutt
Siegmund and Sieglinde well matched-big secure voices. Her Brunhilde in the next cycle will be… something impressive
Hunding was suitably nasty (And well directed with it)
The sword in the tree was a bit too “we know it’s there, Siegmund must be able to see it too” the twins duet was loud and glorious with an eager Siegmund and a Sieglinde thrilled to find someone actually not treating her like dirt (we saw her mistreated by Hunding)
Fricka was presented as human and not pure harridan, and desperate at her situation, not just determined to see her ideal of morality upheld. She was affronted by what has happened and how it reflected on her own marriage
Brunhilde was suitably playful and willful at the start. She was almost the spoilt brat, but also definitely her father’s daughter. She was also plenty loud.
The fight needed to be more in semidarkness. We need to believe that Siegmund and Hunding are fierce warriors, not peacocks more concerned with showing off… A dark stage where you can not see clearly would help to cover up for people who are not natural fighters and the mismatch of weapons (Hunding had a spear thing with a long blade on the end, Siegmund had a big broadsword type Nothung)
The Valkyries sounded great. However, while all arriving on the one phoenix, looked spectacular, but it messes up the scene, calling offstage to characters who have clearly arrived with you is…. Odd. Also for those of us on the balcony we could hear them before we could see them, which did sort of spoil the effect a bit.
The desperation of Brunhilde in act 3 was clearly evident.
The relationship with Wotan was clear. Loved but also
feared. The effort to convince him to ensure not just anyone can claim her was
definitely felt and presented well. The dragon as the ring of fire, was both a
clever solution to the problem of the fire requirement, and a distraction. It
seemed somehow to distract from the mood when it was brought in.. how you
handle the fire is always a challenge. It looked good, but the displays of fire
on the screens needed to match the flame colours from the dragon rather than
the more red colours in their flames on the screens. I’m tempted to say maybe
if the dragon had started with flames from its mouth first, it might have
worked better… or maybe if the dragon was brought in when Wotan called for Loge
to bring the fire, rather than earlier, when there was a break in the singing. It was a clever touch, but something about it misfired somehow. That said, the scene was convincing, and did leave many in the audience feeling genuinely sad.
SIEGFRIED
SIEGFRIED
Stefan Vinke
BRÜNNHILDE
Lise Lindstrom (Cycle 1-2)
Anna-Louise Cole (Cycle 3)
ERDA
Liane Keegan
MIME
Andreas Conrad
WANDERER
Daniel Sumegi
ALBERICH
Warwick Fyfe
FAFNER
Andrea Silvestrelli
WOODBIRD
Celeste Lazarenko
Siegfried impressive teenager from a not young singer, he is convincing as the playful rebellious kid… forging scene worked well… indeed the whole act worked well… Mime every bit as aggravating as needed. Wanderer showing why a beautiful fresh sounding voice is not desirable, as a somewhat weathered voice, carries the sense of the weariness for everything to be over in a way that is intensely real.
I was expecting more of a real dragon, possibly with fight off screen, instead dragon was all on screen… Arrival of wood bird was a welcome break to the all male voices, all the time… her flying through the trees was almost overdone, but not quite.
Erda’s return was handled well, as the desperate to return to sleep, to dream, to never wake up
Wotan and Siegfried seem to have a
different idea of where love on the rocks is when they have their discussion/altercation. (the spear did break)
Brunhilde and Siegfried duet … loud, yet never not musical. Brunhilde convincing as someone waking
up from a long sleep… There was also the inevitable giggle in the audience at THAT line from Siegfried.
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
SIEGFRIED
Stefan Vinke
GUNTHER
Luke Gabbedy
ALBERICH
Warwick Fyfe
HAGEN
Andrea Silvestrelli
BRÜNNHILDE
Lise Lindstrom (Cycle 1-2)
Anna-Louise Cole (Cycle 3)
GUTRUNE
Maija Kovalevska
WALTRAUTE
Deborah Humble
WOGLINDE
Lorina Gore
WELLGUNDE
Jane Ede
FLOSSHILDE
Dominica Matthews
1ST NORN
Celeste Haworth
2ND NORN
Angela Hogan
3RD NORN
Olivia Cranwell
The Norns with costumes that clearly connected them to
Erda, also arose from under the stage like Erda, and sang their retelling
clearly, their costumes becoming the rope they kept referring to, but only
demonstrated towards the end. Their horror as the rope became entangled then
broke was well established.
The Gibichung scenes had suggestions of Superman’s castle of solitude, seemingly made of huge chunks of ice. But also with suggestions of Star Wars. If you have seen it, you understand, but do not ask me to explain it, just accept it was referenced. It was clearly not summer by the Rhine in the Gibichung lands.
Then add in the Gibichungs , with Luke Gabeddy an almost too good Gunther (isn’t he normally cast a bit less heroic?) and Mr Villain returning as Hagen. The potion of forgetting was present and used
The switcheroo to claim Brunhilde for Gunther was almost believable, the differing outfits were convincing from a distance, which was all that was needed as this was not recorded sadly
Then of course the chorus finally arrives and are led astray by Hagen.
The forest scene was played out straight, Hagen killed Siegfried then watched everyone begin to turn on him. I did wonder about the Rheinmaidens. Was Seigfried in the water with them? It did appear that way, rather than on the edge of the river. A rare moment when clarity was lost.
The orchestra sounded amazing with the funeral music.
Brunhilde sang her immolation scene with feeling and
power aplenty. She set everything afire and returned the ring to the
rheinmaidens then disappeared from sight as the orchestra swelled up and the
Rhine returned.
Big disappointments? Why was this not recorded, or videoed? This was an astonishingly successful production, with great performances. It should have been recorded, for posterity as well as to be made available for others. I can only hope they plan to rerun this production a few years into the future, and record it then