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Wagner Society in NSW Inc
Glen Barnwell After the usual wait of many years, I was offered tickets to the first Ring Cycle of 2007 in Bayreuth . I went along armed with reviews from last year in anticipation of fine performances. This expectation was met. To quote from Jim Leigh in 2006, the music was “perfection”. It was disconcerting at first to see neither conductor nor orchestra and yet hear sublime sounds coming from under the floor. The orchestra appeared to be at one with the singers, supporting as well as leading them and telling the story in its own superb style. Each night, Christian Thielemann received a rapturous ovation, along with the orchestra on the last night. (To this neophyte, it was unusual to see the orchestra in mufti and the audience in evening dress!) The standard of singing overall was high. Linda Watson as Brunnhilde started with a lot of vibrato in her voice, but as the evenings progressed she moved from “fine to dandy to wow” to quote a review of last year by F Peter Phillips. Albert Dohmen, replacing the well-received Falk Strukman from 2006, was a fine Wotan. Unfortunately in Rheingold he was hampered by an awkward costume and the constant carriage of a very long spear which restricted his mobility. Adrianne Pieczonka was superb as Sieglinde, not matched by Erik Wottrich as Siegmund. Stephen Gould was a strong Siegfried, but his gyrations in Siegfried may have left him a little tired in Gotterdammerung . Kwangchul Youn as Fasolt and Hunding was a favourite with the audience, as was Gerhard Seigel as Mime. Much has been already been said and written about the production, the sets and the costumes. The first cycle audience, which was mainly German, made its displeasure on these aspects known in no uncertain terms. On the final night, Tankred Dorst, his assistant, and two other people who I assume were the set and the costume designer came on stage as a foursome, to be met by a tsunami of boos, which was painful to experience for someone who did not want to join in. Inexplicably, the group chose to come back for a second dose. On this occasion, Tankred looked defiant; his assistant cowered against his arm, and the other two, one of whom had a darkly flushed face, clung together as if for support. The boos were repeated and they scuttled behind the curtain. I remarked afterwards to some German colleagues that it must have been an upsetting experience for those on the stage, but they had no sympathy with that wimpish view, declaring that the people have a right to make their views known. Tankred is the chief Dramaturg in Fran kfurt . His background is in Ionesco and the Theatre of the Absurd, so it was inevitable that he would come up with a non-traditional production. There was an expectation of some changes this year because of the short time he had had for preparation before 2006. As far as I could see, (with a slightly obscured view of the left side of the stage) these changes were not great. There was less use of children eg there were no children with bicycles when Siegmund and Seiglinde were in flight, nor on the overpass in Siegfried Act 2. The two scenes which distracted me the most were the inspection of the overpass by road workers while Siegfried was singing in a scorched earth forest and the burning of the Gibichung Hall rather than Valhalla – and I saw no evidence of renewal, just two cyclists staring at the ruins. However, these were quibbles in an otherwise gripping production. In spite of having no German and in the absence of English lectures, I attended the enjoyable lectures/concerts on the day of the performances given by Stephan Mikisch. If nothing else, it was delightful to hear him play Wagner on the piano for nigh on two hours for only 10 Euros. His thesis was that all composers use similar keys to convey certain concepts. He compared Wagner and other composers by playing examples of music from each of them using the same key. Afterwards, there was informal discussion about his lectures during the second cycle that were to be on the topic of Wagner through the Cosmos, based on the metaphysical idea that music is part of the cosmos. (There is an interesting relationship between this thesis and Professor Heath Lees' recent lecture on poetry and/as music). Anecdotes about behind the scenes matters abound, but I had some inside ones from a seatmate who is a Belgian soprano. She and her family had received tickets because of her friendship with one of the Valkyries. They had planned to see the final dress rehearsal in 2006, but this was closed because of the conflicts going on behind the scenes. I asked why Falk Strukman was not singing Wotan again and was told it was because he found Tankred Dorst difficult to work with. When asked for instructions, Tankred was apt to say, “Do whatever you like”. Rumour had it that Christian Thielemann did not get on with Tankred Dorst and he had decided that he and the orchestra would “do their own thing”. I had a lighthearted discussion about desirable changes to the staging of Siegfried with a person who turned out to be Richard Schacht, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois and the Executive Director of the American Nietzsche Society. He has written a book about the Ring and in case anyone is interested it is Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring , with Philip Kitcher (Oxford University Press, 2004). But he and his wife still had to wait 10 years for their tickets, so it pays to know a Valkyrie!
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