Boy, is my face green!
POSTED at
11:28 AM
09 January 2008
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22 Comments:
The opening "silkily ponderous" - what version were they playing?.
I know the relationships are very incestuous and convoluted but since when has Erda been Mrs Wotan ? Did he make an honest woman of her after begetting all those Valkyie daughters?
Pieczonka is Canadian and was a triumph at Bayreuth last summer, and is a little more than promising.
I heard Die Walkure on Sirius. The quality of the vocal sound was amazing with natural chamber-music quality and no suggestionn of miking. The mikes must have been placed stratigically throughout the stage. The singing was unformly good but Blythe's reigned with her dramatic mezzo of unfogiven size and color. The orchestra under Maazel produced caressing lyric lines of hypnotic power. Maazel- while livng in Cleveland, I attended almost all his concert- is a genious but not the critics' favorite, being cited for "exaggerations" and "tampering" with tempi. On this Die W. Maazel's leedership was outstanding, and the Met orchestra responded with pricision and virtuosity. If it weren't for Gelb, Maazel wouldn't have never come back to conduct at the Met, especially Wagner. During Levine's tenure- with all the good things he has done at the Met- conductors, Wagnerian or not- of renown seldom were seen at the Met. Levine may see himself as the owner of Wagner at the Met, but on the other hand Maazel was the first non German- I think- to conduct a full run of the Ring at Bayreuth. There have been jalousies among opera singers. Can the same happen among opera conductors?
I am pondering this fascinating bit of information. Maybe Mr. Barnes tried to tell us that Erda and Fricka are really one and the same - Fricka restricted and disciplined by her role and responsibility, Erda the quintessential ur-woman. Kinda like Hillary pre/post New Hampshire?
No, I'm sure it's just that Mr. Barnes can't tell the difference between Erda and Fricka and neither can any of his copyeditors (of course, it is the Post, after all).
As for the opening, Maazel did make it -- and wrongly, I'd say -- "silkily ponderous," slowing it down to a whisper, which doesn't really read as a thunderstorm in my world (not that everything has to be literal, but still).
I think the difference between Levine and Maazel is that Levine showcases the singers, whereas Maazel -- no surprise -- showcases the music, which at times can be dramatically distracting. Stephanie and JM seemed to just roll over him (in a good way) and give momentum to the whole piece, whereas the final dress (in which JM cancelled) lurched ahead like a wounded animal. (If anyone's curious, I reviewed -- to the best of my limited capacity -- both performances on my blog).
As for The Post, I'm sure its right-wing editors prevented Barnes from using the true description of Erda, which is basically "lover" or some variant and so resorted to the safer "Mrs Wotan." I wonder what Fricka would say to that (but as long as Stephanie's singing, I'd love to hear!)
I agree that Pieczonka is beyond the "promising" stage. She has sung Sieglinde at Bayreuth for the last two years (and considered by some as the vocal highlight of the entire Ring). She also sang the role in Toronto and has appeared to great acclaim more than once at the LA Opera.
Clifton Forbis was also Toronto's Siegmund and I saw him several times in the role. He is a terrfic Siegmund. However, I have no idea what Barnes means by "bright as a sword". What is he describing? Certainly not the voice, which is a dark, warm, big instrument with a baritonal colour.
The "Mrs. Wotan" designation is correct and I doubt that right-wing sensibilities prevent the world "lover" from being printed. He just called her Erda by mistake.
Speaking of Walkure, i wonder why those sets have repeatedly been called ugly on that blog. To me it's still a nice production. way better than what was donne with the acclaimed Wilson's Tristan the ridicule russian ring.
On a different subject, an other set that needs to be changed is the Romeo's. I saw it live 2 years ago and in the theater broadcast recently. They are particularly cheap and dull like a school production. And how come that the MET can make impressive set changes in seconds and take what seemed to be at least 10 minutes for each changes in Romeo to barely move a podium?
sorry for my cheap english...
This post has been removed by the author.
I love the Met's Ring sets. The problem with that production is the almost non-existent directing. Singers are left to fend for themselves. When those singers are Behrens and Jerusalem, who really know how to hold the stage, the results were dramatically good (if not particularly insightful). But I don't know if the Met has ever had a really probing director have a go at its Ring and it's a shame. Next season, this production will have one more go as a complete cycle, to be replaced by the much-anticipated (including by me) Robert Lepage production. There should be plenty of exciting directing from Mr. Lepage but, for me, the shame is that the Met had this glorious production on its stages for 20 years and never fully realised its potential with a great director.
I should say that I've only seen the production on DVD (with the Behrens/Jerusalem/Morris cast) and a single Walküre a few years ago (with Eaglen/Morris/Domingo/Voigt). I haven't seen how the production has been directed in its various remountings but judging by what I've read about the Met's "tired, stodgy production", I'm guessing that they've never had a great director for it.
Great productions aren't necessarily made out of provocative concepts and riskee, post-modern interpretations. A very traditional Ring like the Met's can be great with the right kind of direction.
The sets aren't awful but what really does the production in for me visually are the costumes. Brunnhilde's rags especially. Callas used to say that in wagner one needs to have great costumes to keep the audiences attention. This is especially true in this production where brunnhilde's singing certainly won't.
Alex, your English is fine. Constantine, I have one question... what does "unforgiven size and color" mean?
I agree wholeheartedly with Kashania's comments about the problems with this production: the sets and costumes are traditionalist, but the singers are given so little direction that the whole thing can become rather dull. The great virtue of a production such of this is that in the right hands, it becomes all about the detailed ideas of character and the relationships onstage, as opposed to "Hey, look at that wacky costume/extras/Brunnhilde with a paper bag on her head" kind of staging. [I like some of the costumes in the Met's Ring, especially the Wanderer's glittery black ensemble. I would also love one of the Valkyrie costumes myself, as my dream Halloween costume.]
I saw this Walkure the last time it came around (with Domingo as Siegmund) from unusually good seats down in the front orchestra, and remember thinking that it really could have been better lit than it was, and how I was glad I wasn't up in the upper deck for it.
Still, for now, when it comes to introducing students to the Ring, despite some large patches of dramatic dullness, the Met Ring is still what I use. I think it's irresponsible to loose radical stagings on students before they can appreciate them for what they do.
sanford,
It means something beyond belief, extraordinary. It's a matter of indirectly expressing the very positive.
A friend, now departed, who knew nothing of opera, attended the first season of the current Met Ring and said, of Jeanine Altmeyer's Brunnhilde, "Barbara Mandrell would KILL for that costume." For me, this has always been the All-Country, All-the-Time production. With James Morris as the Man In Black, and Hagen as a Coal Miner's Son.
scifisci
I had never heard that Callas quote before. Is it word of mouth or is it actually in print? If it is in print I would love to find it. You see, I am a Callas freak and I wrongly somtimes think that I know eveything about her. I know it is stupid. So when someone brings up something that I have not heard it peaks my interest.
thanks
Oh, Clive Barnes....Clive Barnes Clive Barnes Clive Barnes. Wasn't he fired from the Times after falling asleep at a play and reviewing a scene that didn't exist? Was was the name of that play again?
Well, I don't get the "uniformly good singing" comment. I thought it very uneven--great work from Pieczonka, Blythe, and Morris (the role is in his bones). But Forbis was only OK, and Gasteen was scary-bad. The high notes in the battle cry were barely in the same county with the correct pitch.
constantine, did u mean unforgivING size and color?
josephine - i believe its in her interviews with lord harewood
scifisci,
You're correct. It should have been "unforgiving." An "unforgiven" slip between the brain and the keyboard!
Oh please, Clive Barnes is and always has been a joke. See Goldman's THE SEASON on him as a theater critic.
And the POST is beneath contempt.
Pieczonka IS one of the highlights of the Bayreuth Ring, but that's saying NOTHING. Most of the singing was truly dreadful, but even worse was the Meistersinger which - apart from the Beckmesser - sounded like a bad student cast
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