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Colleen and Michael Chesterman
From 12th to 17th September 2006, we attended the first cycle of The Ring of the Nibelung, presented in Toronto by the Canadian Opera Company in their new Opera House. The production, the first by the company and in Canada, was welcomed enthusiastically as a bold, but highly successful choice by the general director and conductor Richard Bradshaw. The acoustics of the house are excellent and the 104-person orchestra in a magnificent pit overall performed with great skill and passion, though there was a tendency both to overplay and rein back too much at some times, presumably in a search for the right balance with the singers. The production faced a major obstacle with the last minute withdrawal of British bass-baritone Pavlo Hunka from the role of Wotan. The splendid Judith Nemeth as Fricka also had to withdraw from Valkyrie after dental surgery. That the company performed so well was a major tribute to the commitment of all concerned.
England's Susan Bullock (who [performed] as Isolde in Perth in November) was a magnificent Brunnhilde, acting with great passion and conviction. If there is any criticism to be made, it is that in some of her top notes her voice was a bit thin and strained. The Sieglinde of Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka was exceptional, with a rich voice and dramatic power; she was well matched by American tenor Clifton Fortis as Siegmund. As Siegfried, German tenor, Christian Franz, was capable, but without the thrilling power of true heldentenor. Sadly, Latvian Peteris Eglitis, as Wotan in Valkyrie and Siegfried, a role he had sung in the COC 2004 and 2005 productions of these, did not have sufficient vocal power to carry the roles through to the last acts. Canadians John Fanning and Joni Henson were excellent as Gunther and Gutrune, with Fanning also singing well as Rhinegold's replacement Wotan. Mats Algren's dark-voiced Hagen was very powerful. Also singing extremely well were Richard Paul Fink as Alberich, Richard Berkeley Steel as Loge, Julie Makerov as Fricka and Mary Phillips as Waltraute, Phillips Ens as Fafner and Hunding and Robert Kunzli as Mime, while the Rhinemaidens, Valkyries, Norns were all excellent and Mette Ejsing as Erda and a Norn had great power.
Each of the operas in the Ring had a different director. Rhinegold was the only premiere in the cycle and was directed by the designer of the whole cycle, Michael Levine. He represented the Rhine with sweeping white curtains, in front of which the Rhinemaidens cavorted in white Victorian nighties. More controversially, Alberich skulked centre stage behind a prone suit-clad man, eventually revealed as Wotan; this showed the shared motives of these two, but caused puzzlement rather than revelation. The second act revealed the gods as a Victorian industrial family, with all women in bustled black frocks. Valhalla was represented by a large architectural model of a city, going around three sides of the stage, with splendid domed buildings reminiscent of Speer's plans for Hitler. The most thrilling effect was achieved by representing the giants as shabbily dressed labourers supported on the shoulders of other builders; when their demands for payment were not met, they shattered the model into fragments. The gods were represented as already weakened. Alberich's seduction by the gold was represented by showing Fink in a full gold suit, rather like a tacky rock star. Sadly Erda's great entry was marred when she appeared from back stage resembling every other female in her high-necked black Victorian frock.
Valkyrie was having its second showing (the first in 2004) under the direction of film's Atom Egoyan. It was therefore inexcusable that Hunding's hut was in such darkness that both Wotan and Sieglinde fell on the uneven earth surface, but Egoyan had apparently been insistent on this. Nonetheless, he established an intense drama between the three singers, exposing their emotional relations in filmic close-up. Sadly, the wonderful coming of spring was scarcely bright enough to be noticeable. The Valkyries, also in black Victorian gowns, were introduced wrapping the heroes in white winding sheets. The set with mounds of these bodies in front of tumbled-down scaffolding and occasional lumps of Valhalla masonry, called to mind World War I battlefields. The interactions between the Valkyries and their distress at Brunnhilde's punishment were very powerful.
Siegfried had premiered in 2005, under the direction of film-maker Francois Girouard. As a stage director he has forged links with a mime company, whose leader appeared in Act 1 as an ever-present bear. Siegfried, wearing white pyjamas, appeared as the curtain rose seated on the stump used in Hunding's hut. Above him an abstract tangle of branches filled the whole proscenium, with lumps of Valhalla, other detritus and white pyjama-clad bodies in the branches. It was extraordinarily beautiful, apparently meant to represent Siegfried's mental universe, with the figures occasionally moving and tumbling in response to the arias. As a result, Mime's hut was a bare stage and scenes such as the forging of Nothung took place over a red spot lit hole with arms reaching upwards to represent flames – not very satisfactory. The most powerful use of the supernumerary mimers was to depict Fafner as a stage high human pyramid and his death by the collapse of their bodies. The least satisfactory used the mimers as the fire surrounding the rock, with red spotlights on their white pyjamas, but their slow departure one by one drained attention from the thrilling last duet.
In Gotterdammerung we entered a modern sterile company headquarters, with electric cords lashing across the ceiling, dropping down to be wound by the Norns. Its director, Tim Albery, is a Ring veteran and his interpretation was crisp and cool – with all the major scenes powerfully presented, strong directing of the singers and effective use of a burning red in a largely monochrome office setting. Given this, the use of a metal bed as the rock, Siegfried's bier and the funeral pyre seemed somewhat skimpy and the great climax was a rather subdued collapse of a couple of lighting rigs. But by that time the audience was so swept away by the playing, the wonderful singing of Bullock in the finale and their emotion at the huge achievement of the company, celebrating possession of its own purpose-built house after a 20 year wait, and a Ring that had been first planned 40 years before, that the applause and celebration carried on for over an hour in the glittering foyers. Truly an impressive achievement.
The COC's new home, the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre, takes up a block in Toronto's centre, bordering the banking district and with major hotel chains as its neighbours. Its square construction and the fact that it was not used to revitalize Toronto's declining harbour foreshore received architectural and press criticism. But its position, facing a major cross city road, with a five storey glass wall showing the foyers with flooding lights, linked by transparent stairs with the audience circulating, presents an exciting glow to passers-by. The house holds 2000, half on the ground floor, where there is not enough rake for perfect sightlines from the back. Almost 500 are on the top (5th) level, where views are reportedly a little vertiginous and some subscribers criticised the side seats on the other levels, as they curve round close to the stage with views of the stage and surtitles hampered.
The three cycles were marked by some stimulating conferences. The North American music critics' conference took place during Cycle 1; the company organised presentations by visiting experts - we heard the great critic and translator Andrew Porter and Dorothea Glatt, Wolfgang Wagner's long-time associate and the Toronto Wagner Society organised lunches with celebrity speakers and after show drinks and discussion at the Hilton. Most impressively, the Society also organised three seminars on the Saturdays in conjunction with Music and Arts faculties of the University of Toronto. We attended the first of these Opera Exchanges, along with over 200 others, for an impressive set of papers on Putting the Ring on Stage. A stand-out speaker was London's Barry Millington. He is the co-editor with Stewart Spencer of a forthcoming Wagner Journal, which he is keen to promote to international Wagner societies (www.thewagnerjournal.co.uk). The Canadian Broadcasting Commission played the first cycle live on its classic station adding to the sense of the national significance of the production.
Toronto itself is a great city in which to spend a week. The Toronto International Film Festival was on during the first cycle and glimpses of stars were possible. There are some marvellous galleries and museums, though the major two resemble Valhalla in destruction with Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind adding huge extensions to their 19th century splendour. Nearby Niagara Falls and the Stratford Theatre Festival are attractions and there are great restaurants for before and after show meals. The production will be played in another 4 or 5 years and is a great addition to the international spectacles.
Colleen and Michael Chesterman
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06-Jan-2007
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