Wagner Marathon Brings the World to Berlin
BERLIN, March 27 - Bernard Holland, in the New York Times,
provides an overview of the first three performances in the Marathon.
"The great man's [Wagner's] 10 principal operas, produced piecemeal
here over the last decade, have been gathered into a spring festival.
Daniel Barenboim, who runs the musical end of the Staatsoper, conducts
them all, already this week Der Fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser
and Lohengrin on consecutive evenings.
"We ask Wagner's singers to endure and his stagers to offer
us modest credibility. These operas live, however, in the orchestra
pit. The Staatsoper players are more heart than polish, but the cellos
sing Wagner's endless melody like a national anthem. The Barenboim
style is swift, graceful and exquisitely timed, this against Mr. Thielemann's
pursuit of weight, order and permanence: power that feels as if it
presses downward on the ear.
"Mr. Barenboim's casts have been abetted by the coziness
of a 1,400-seat house. René Pape (King Henry), Sergei Leiferkus (Telramund)
and Falk Struckmann (the Dutchman) are known values to American listeners.
Waltraud Meier brings her familiar white heat (and grating top notes)
to Ortrud. Wagner's lineup of redeeming women - Anne Schwanewilms
(Senta), Emily Magee (Elsa) and Angela Denoke (both Venus and Elisabeth)
- work hard and honorably. Not even the Staatsoper's intimacy, however,
could rescue the frailty of the stand-in Lohengrin, Stuart Skelton.
"In the midst of two "Ring" cycles and 12 other
performances, one wonders who will collapse first: Mr. Barenboim or
his audience. The lobbies reverberate with American English, French
and Spanish, and here perhaps are the true spokesmen for the wider
world's claim to German music. Wagner, after all, was the ultimate
migrant worker, seeking employment in whatever European capital would
have him. His operas travel well."
Back to Society Home Page
Back to About Us and Previous President's
Reports
This Page was last updated on:
20-Oct-2004
© Wagner Society in NSW Inc 2004 |