Review of Berlin Festtage - from the Dutchman to
Parsifal in 17 Days
This unprecedented event, all 10 mature Wagner operas, under the
same conductor, director and designer, with many performers taking
several roles, brought an extraordinarily international audience (we
had a couple from Mexico beside us, and a couple from Lisbon in front
as well as former UK cabinet ministers behind), as well as a large
contingent from The Society, to Berlin.
First prize must go to Daniel Barenboim for his superb conducting
of the cycle. He mixed a fine romantic sweep with an intensity of
detail, particularly in the woodwinds. His control over the orchestra,
playing as if it were his solo instrument, was extraordinary. Above
all, he was able to maintain the long, long Wagner lines to keep a
sense of unity and purpose within each opera, whilst simultaneously
focusing on the intricate detail of each score. He was assisted by
the rich clear acoustics of the Staatsoper, with only just over 1400
seats.
Emily Magee gave a good characterisation as Elsa, although the voice
was rather plain over a long role. She was a strong Freia, a good
3rd Norn and a lively and effective Eva. Waltraud Meier was a superb
Ortrud: a Lady Macbeth portrayal; with the ultimate sweeping power
hairdo she dominated Act 1 whilst (almost) silent. She also sang a
thrilling Sieglinde and a dramatic Waltraute. The most thrilling performance
of the whole cycle was her Kundry. Not always perfect vocally, with
the odd squally note, she nevertheless produced one of our most exciting
operatic experiences ever in the Act II scene with Parsifal: at the
close of the act she received a standing ovation. Deborah Polaski
was a frustrating Brunnhilde: compared with previously, she now colours
the voice more strongly, with the result of a more interesting lower
voice, but an alarming wobble in the upper register. Her Act 3 entrance
for Siegfried was painful, but the softer passages of the love duet
were beautiful: this experience was repeated in Götterdämmerung,
with beautiful piano passages and harsh, even painful fortes. As Isolde,
however, she was excellent, and whilst there were some wild notes
in Act 1, these could be regarded as character interpretation (the
wild Irish princess), and were more than compensated by the beautiful
rich sounds later. Rosemarie Lang made a bland Fricka and second Norn.
Carola Hohn made an acceptable Wöglinde but was out of her depth as
Gutrune. Anna Larsson had a colourful voice for Erda, although a bit
exposed on high notes, but was less impressive in Siegfried. Katharina
Kammerloher sang a reasonable Wellgunde but a rather bland Magdalena.
Singers with single roles over the cycle were Anne Schwanewilms, whose
voice was rather small for Senta, but had reasonable colour: her ballad
was a non-event, but she improved in the love duet. Angela Denoke's
voice for the double role of Venus and Elisabeth was a bit plain at
times, but was excellent in Act 3 with a fine legato, and Lioba Braun,
whose Brangäne was generally plain but she sang a good warning.
Falk Struckmann started out with a strong rich voice and a fine legato
line as Wotan in Das Rheingold, but these virtues where outbalanced
by lack of essential interpretive depth in the monologues of Die Walküre.
His Wanderer improved, with good interaction with other characters,
although overall his voice lacked the dark lower notes necessary for
the role. He was more impressive as Amfortas, giving a strongly dramatic
finely sung portrayal, confirming that he was more comfortable in
the higher baritone part. Robert Holl made a fine Daland, with a beautiful
singing line, and was a strong Landgraf, but he was out of his depth
as Hans Sachs, producing a monochrome performance with little understanding
of the text.
Ten years ago Robert Gambill was a Rossini tenor, and the good training
showed with a clean sound, no obvious strain in the difficult role
of Tannhäuser, with excellent legato and reasonable colour. He was
not quite so impressive as Siegmund, which requires a more baritonal
timbre, but excellent as Parsifal, showing good understanding of the
progress of the role through the 3 acts, and brilliant as a foil to
Meier in the climatic Act 2. Stephen Rugamer sang a number of minor
roles (Steersman, Walther in Tannhäuser, Froh, the Shepherd),
but the voice was not interesting enough to sparkle as David. Andreas
Schmidt (confusingly, Berlin has 2, the other playing very minor roles)
made a coarse, wobbly, loud Gunther and Kurwenal but was a surprisingly
good Beckmesser, with a fine interpretation. Rene Pape was a strong
and sympathetic King Heinrich, a moving Fasolt, a black menacing Hunding,
a superb and affecting King Mark, with the only slight disappointment
(for us, as we had seen him previously in the role) being Pogner.
Roman Trekel had a nice line and colour for Wolfram and sang a strong
Herald. Christian Franz had a pleasant voice for Siegfried, with a
reasonable legato, and if he did not excite nor did he pain the ears.
He started out under strain in Götterdämmerung but gradually
improved and provided a fine death scene. As Tristan he struggled
in Act 1, was good in Act 2, and managed the difficult Act 3 well
with convincing acting, without degenerating into histrionics: if
he was not the heldentenor to dream about, then, with Winbergh dead
and Heppner suffering vocal problems, he is more than acceptable as
the best there is. Reiner Goldberg, the great heldentenor hope of
the late 80s, was a weak Melot and a pitiful and acutely embarrassing
stand-in (for Araiza) as Walther: the prize song was delivered with
a vibrato wider than a full tone: Eva should have stayed at home with
father Rene Pape as the only Mastersinger around! Gunther von Kannen
sang a strong Alberich, and, whilst he overacted badly in Das Rheingold,
improved over the cycle; his Klingsor was similarly strong but coarse.
John Tomlinson made a strong and well acted Hagen: his voice, which
on past experience we expected to be loud and crude, was surprisingly
good, with only a few barked notes: as Gurnemanz he was a mixed bag
vocally, but in compensation he made the part more characterful than
the usual boring old man. Graham Clark acted well as Mime in Siegfried,
although his voice deteriorated so much that he was shouting by the
end of Act 2: as Loge his voice and acting were too much like Mime.
Siegfried Vogel could only manage Fafner when provided with a speaking
trumpet. Hanno Muller-Brachmann was a strong and attractive Biterolf
and Donner. Singers with single roles over the cycle included Franz
Grundheber, who, notwithstanding some difficulties with the low notes
of the Dutchman, gave a generally good performance substituting for
Falk Struckmann. Peter Seiffert sang Lohengrin with the remains of
a good voice, and was cruelly treated by being made invisible in a
weak production, and Sergej Leiferkus, whose voice was a bit wayward
but who gave a colourful account of Telramund.
Whilst those hoping for traditional productions as specified by Wagner
were disappointed, at least there were few directorial absurdities,
and all the productions were intelligently created, with reasonable
faithfulness to the textual and musical evidence. The Der fliegende
Holländer was quite successful, with Senta as a German Lucia,
all the action occurring in her imagination or as a projection of
her fantasies: a stronger voiced Senta could have made this an excellent
performance. Tannhäuser featured the title role as a Victorian
artist, bearing some resemblance to Franz Liszt: the Act 2 song contest
became a piano competition. Whilst the production was rather static
at times, Act 2 was particularly successful, with all the characters,
including chorus members, differentiated with un-German wit. Lohengrin
was the only utter failure of the cycle, treating the entire opera
from Elsa's entrance as her fantasy, with no character interaction,
an invisible knight on a platform with an irritating white light,
extremely dark sets and annoying gauze screens that kept drifting
across the stage for no obvious reason: a shambles.
The Ring was a qualified success: it featured the World Ash Tree,
occupying the entire stage at the start and gradually shrinking and
decaying over the cycle, whilst, conversely, the modern world slowly
intruded, and there were also hints at Ovid's ages of mankind, also
illustrating decay and corruption. Whilst there were some effective
details, the gradually emptying stage needed much stronger direction
of the principals: some of the movements were embarrassingly clumsy,
and it was foolish to allow singers with medium sized voices to wander
to the back of the stage. Irritating features included an overuse
of stage lightning in Die Walkure and a woodbird one ached to shoot.
The large spectacles of Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung
were handled competently.
Tristan und Isolde was the most successful production, featuring
an enormous fallen black statue of an angel in a cemetery, around
which the singers moved. This both served as a concrete symbol of
love and death, and, more practically, put the singers forward whilst
giving them some props to act around. The direction of the principals
was much better than in the Ring. Die Meistersinger featured a central
column/staircase which served for all 3 acts: whilst not unsuccessful,
it became rather boring, and completely missed the gradual opening
of the sets over the opera which Wagner envisaged. The Act 3 parade
featured a lot of colour and movement. Parsifal had all Kupfer's characteristic
ideas thrown together: a lot of moving mirrored walls and large stage
objects. Nevertheless, we had a real spear, swan and excellent grail
cup, and a good, if eccentric, Act 1 communion. The Flower Maidens
were only visible on TVs as soft pornography, an interesting idea
but intentionally boring after a while. Act 3 had a lot of ideas which
did not cohere.
In summary, the overall rating we assigned to each opera is as
follows:
Excellent (rarely, if ever, seen better): Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde
Very Good (have seen better occasionally): Tannhäuser, Die Walküre
Good (average performance for a major opera house) : Der fliegende
Holländer, Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Lohengrin
Poor (unacceptable for a major opera house): Die Meistersinger
[9 May 2002 Richard Mason]
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