Brisbane Ring thoughts...

 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.

First of all, if you have not seen this trailer, it is worth watching. You get a sense of how, for all the modern visuals, it is still in many ways, a very traditional Ring. We are telling the story as intended by Wagner, we are not adding someone else's interpretation or new story over the top, we are allowing it to be told, and in ways that 21st century eyes can understand. There are references to Scifi and fantasy, to Asian imagery, as well as Norse mythology. It was designed to be a feast of modern visual references, even as it told an old story.

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.

It also should be said that, no one on stage was a bad singer, the cast was uniformly impressive. The fact that there were only 4 non Australians in the full cast was an impressive achievement. Even more so, when you realise that they very much held their own against the star power of our imported Brunhilde and Siegfried. Also, from what I could tell, the German was very clear. Obviously, I do not speak German, (I have sung some in the past) but I was hearing random words that I recognised, scattered amongst the German sounds. Others have commented that the German was quite impressive for non-German singers (Our Erda was also credited as German language coach) 

Creatives:

Artists

CONDUCTOR

Philippe Auguin

DIRECTOR & PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Chen Shi-Zheng

ASSOCIATE SET DESIGNER

Maruti Evans

DIGITAL CONTENT DESIGNER

Leigh Sachwitz

flora&faunavisions

DIGITAL CONTENT DESIGNER ASSOCIATES

Sebastian Grebing

Milena Mayer

Antonia Böhme

/ flora&faunavisions

COSTUME DESIGNER

Anita Yavich

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Matthew Marshall

ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER

Lucy Birkinshaw

CHOREOGRAPHER

Akasia Ruth Inchaustegui

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Matthew Barclay

Miranda Summers

DAS RHEINGOLD

WOTAN / WANDERER

Daniel Sumegi

DONNER

Andrew Moran (the night I saw, he replaced the scheduled performer due to illness) 

FROH

Dean Bassett

LOGE

Hubert Francis

FRICKA

Deborah Humble

FREIA

Mariana Hong

ERDA

Liane Keegan

WOGLINDE

Lorina Gore

WELLGUNDE

Jane Ede

FLOSSHILDE

Dominica Matthews

ALBERICH

Warwick Fyfe

MIME

Andreas Conrad

FASOLT

David Parkin

FAFNER

Andrea Silvestrelli

 Gosh these Rheinmaidens are good, excellent ensemble work, and each a good clear voice in their own right.

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 multiple act one duets were all suitably impassioned, either excited, impassioned or confused. Sending Siegfried off made sense, even if he almost left without Nothung. Waltraute’s desperation for the ring to be returned to the Rheinmaidens, to stop the end of the gods and the old order was tangible, as was Brunhilde’s willful refusal to, because of its connection to Siegfried.

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.

So...

Over all? Quite frankly, it was hard to imagine a better sung production. No one stood out as singing a role that was wrong for them. All high notes were secure and sung out gloriously, none sounded a struggle, every note felt secure (which when you are singing for several hours at a time is an achievement) Every singer was carrying well over the orchestra for me in the balcony. There was one that some people felt was underpowered, to which my response would have been "I have experienced singers much worse on stage" It is possible her voice did not carry as well downstairs, but I certainly heard her clearly, unlike some singers I can think of I have heard regularly in other Opera Australia productions.

Staging? Apart from a couple of minor quibbles about a few things, the staging was fantastic. The digital screens were used in ways that enhanced the telling, rather than distracted. At other times, they were not afraid to just fade them out to dark or to a general mood colour, rather than representations of a physical place or thing. Some made the comment that at times they took on the abstract look of a Wieland Wagner production, having faded out to plain colours, rather than the constant busywork of some other productions. 

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 

Gambler's ruin

Well, Queen of Spades is certainly a great ride. Especially when you have a cast like this. I mean, Ghermann in the hands of Stuart Skelton? Andrei Bondarenko as Yeletsky? Dina Kurznetsova as Lisa, Deborah Humble as Pauline (and Milovszor) and Jose Carbó as Tomsky (and Zlatogor). Not to mention Irina Tchistjakova as the Countess.

All of these singers were truly outstanding in their roles. Big voices taking on big roles, and relishing being on stage with the full Sydney Symphony Orchestra in full flight under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs fabulously providing the chorus (and a handful of minor roles) If you love lush romantic opera, then this was a night to remember.

And yet, it was, in some ways, not as fulfilling as if it had been staged. Granted, being able to see who is singing what when, makes it much easier to follow the story and understand what is going on, compared to listening on CD or the radio, but nothing matches the emotional impact of seeing something like this, with this sort of cast, fully staged. And I can't see that happening in a long time, which is a big pity. The emotional devastation of the triple deaths of this opera did not come remotely close to the shock/horror/awe/amazement/numbness that I felt at the end of Lucia this year. Yes I was exhilarated, but not "bludgeoned into insensibility" as I would expect I would have been, if I saw this in the theatre. There is only so much emotional response you can get from singers standing in evening dress and singing from book (or not, in the case of our Russian cast) 

But, why was it so good, regardless? Well, quite frankly the cast, and the conductor. Ashkenazy may not be the most precise conductor, but he knows how to wring out emotion and atmosphere, and colour from an orchestra. Yes, there were places where the ensemble was a bit ragged (mostly, it must be said, from the orchestra) but they were working clearly to bring out the effects wanted. And they were restricted to only a couple of places (that I noticed). What was more problematic for me was that our seats seemed to be in direct firing line of the trombones (despite being well back in the hall) so that when they fired up, we heard them then we heard everything else underneath them.

And the cast. Stuart Skelton in the role of Ghermann, bringing his Wagnerian stamina to a role that needs a similar voice to the big Wagner tenor roles. Its long (almost 3 hours) and he sings in every scene, most as the dominant figure. His is a big, bright, pingy sound, the sort that you long to hear sing Walter von Stolzing, rather than Siegfried. Here, he cut through the heavy orchestration (excepting the occasional trombone problem mentioned earlier) with ease. Perhaps not sounding as ease as he has when I have heard him in German or English, but this was (I believe) his first outing as Ghermann. As such, this was truly impressive. I look forward to hearing him growing into this role more in the future.

Andrei Bondarenko, who last year shot to fame in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, winning the Song Prize, was an impressive Yeletsky, Lisa's fiancé at the start of the opera. Here he showed that his prize was no once off, this is a baritone with a huge voice (it seemed the biggest where I sat) of great beauty. His singing was probably my personal highlight in a very impressive night, but I could be showing my baritone prejudices too. He sang without score, and left me wanting to hear him sing more. I suspect all the big Russian baritone roles lie ahead, as well as the great Verdi baritone roles, which he will sing with ease.

Also truly impressive was Deborah Humble, who I heard earlier in the year in Die Tote Stadt, and thought this is a voice to watch. Well, judging by this performance, I want to hear her sing a lot of Russian music, her voice seemed to revel in it. Where as the German of Korngold's music was more an impressive display of pleasing sound, this was an outpouring of emotion, wrapped up in an aural rich melted chocolate, rich, thick and very enjoyable. It almost made me wish that her role as Pauline was bigger, but, she did get great music to sing as Pauline and in the "pastoral" in the second act.

Dina Kuznetsova as Lisa? Well, I loved her voice, but at times I wished her top notes were freer, sounding a little tight at times. Not badly, but enough that I wished for say, Dame Kiri's top notes, sitting on the top of her beautiful rich midrange. Make no mistake, this is a big beautiful voice, with enormous power, but a couple of times I was wishing for secure floated high notes as needed, but they came out tight. Having said that, Lisa is a huge role, and this was a performance of many strengths, and emotional depth, mostly sung from memory, and with a clear sense of the character she was playing.

Our Countess, to be honest was not really old enough. Would anyone want to hear an 80 year old singing this role though? Regardless off looking far too young, Irina Tchistjakova was a convincing older woman vocally. She portrayed someone no longer wanting to live and yet hanging on, making life for others miserable successfully. Again, we had the Russian singer off book (well, she has sung it before, no doubt many times) And yes, again, a singer with the voice to carry off this role, not just an older performer with the acting skills to pull it off. (although she was probably the oldest lead)

As Tomsky, Jose Carbó once again proves himself far more versatile than people expect. As Tomsky, the Countess's grandson* and Ghermann's friend, he tells the tale that sets off the obsession to find the secret, in a voice that, while sounding a little underwhelmed beside that of our Yeletsky's, was certainly not small. His scene in the pastoral, and his aria in the final scene were proof we should be hearing much more of him in Russian. Onyegin perhaps Opera Australia?

Of the other minor roles, none stood out as bad, or particularly miscast. My biggest gripe with the minor roles was simply that all of them would have benefited from having someone work with them to bring out more characterisation on stage. They sounded fine, but watching four performers who sing of interactions with each other, while standing behind music stands is a bit, well, odd. That most of them were younger singers with less experience meant that some coaching would have made a big difference.

Having said that, if a lack of action on stage in a classical concert is the worst thing you can say about someone, I think you can say they did well.. In fact it is safe to say everyone on stage was pretty damn amazing. And for that, I thank them, and the Sydney Symphony for setting up the concert.

By the way, here is Bondarenko singing Prince Yeletsky's big aria. (After singing Don Giovanni's champagne aria) Its the best thing I could find of him, but does not begin to capture the sheer volume of luscious sound he produces.

(This performance can be heard on Sunday 9/12/12  at 7pm on ABC Classic fm, via their website (here) - that is Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time, if you are overseas)







*Pushkin refers to Tomsky as the Countess's grandson, its not mentioned in the opera. Where as Lisa is her grand daughter in the opera, and an orphaned ward in the story.