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Wagner Society in NSW Inc
Richard Mason This was the first new Covent Garden Ring cycle since Gotz Friedrich's Time Tunnel of 1976 (discounting the disastrous audience-papered Richard Jones fiasco of the mid-90s). The advance billing for the cycle promised Bryn Terfel's first complete Wotan, and Lisa Gasteen's Brunnhilde. In the event, Terfel cancelled as rehearsals started, on suspiciously flimsy grounds, so a reportedly furious management turned to the veteran Sir John Tomlinson as a replacement. Tomlinson's voice was certainly loud, if rather crude, with some musical sounds in the lower ¾ of the voice, but highly approximate pitch in the upper ¼. He ran around the stage a great deal, which at first was dramatic but eventually tiresome. His Wotan was a strange and deliberately weak interpretation, being slapped by Fricka, pushed around by Brunnhilde. Whilst there might (just) be textual justification for some of this, the musical disparity was often embarrassing. He was strongest in the riddle scene of Siegfried , weakest in the Act II Walkure monologue that was never more tedious. By Act III of Siegfried his voice had deteriorated to a shout, so it was a relief to see him leave the stage. Lisa Gasteen promised much as Brunnhilde, but fell short of high expectations. In Die Walkure she never seemed comfortable, struggling with the Annunciation of Death pronouncements. In Siegfried her exposed notes revealed an unpleasant harshness. Gotterdammerung suited her voice better, with a strong interpretation, notwithstanding some more harsh sounds. An unpleasant wobble is appearing on some of her exposed notes. Overall her interpretation was interesting, although there was no real character development between the operas. John Treleaven was carefully economical with his voice. At times he deteriorated into a parlando [recitative] style, but he had enough strong high notes for the highlighted moments. He looked generally embarrassed - a perfect fool (?) - throughout. Peter Sidhom was a dramatic Alberich with a rough edge to the voice and a tendency, like Tomlinson, to push the voice so much it bordered on shouting. The veteran Rosalind Plowright was a strident if powerful Fricka. Philip Langridge was a crafty insinuating Loge. Emily Magee sang beautifully in both her roles, perhaps the finest singing in the cycle, with strong interpretations also. (Her Gutrune, incestuously flirting with both Gunther and Hagen, so convinced one audience member that they were heard in the interval denouncing her as a damned harlot.) Peter Coleman-Wright was a slippery Gunther and a strong Donner. Philip Ens seemed a bit uncomfortable with Fafner's part in Das Rheingold , but improved in Siegfried with some fine low notes. Fran z-Josef Selig was a strong musical Fasolt. Simon O'Neill [as Siegmund] had an imperfect technique: the voice very thin and colourless on short notes, but able to open up with blazing longer notes, and the best "Walse" since Domingo in 1997/2000. Eva-Marie Westbroek was both dramatic and colourful, with a fine musical line. Stephen Milling couldn't sing and his cover, Clive Bayley from ENO, had broken his arm, so Bayley sang a powerful Hunding from the side of the stage whilst Milling acted, a reasonable compromise. Gerhard Siegel was a very strong and colourful Mime. Ailish Tynan was a sparkling acrobatic Woodbird. Jane Henschel was a colourful doom-laden Erda. The 3rd Norn Marina Poplavskaya was particularly strong and both teams of Norns and Rhinemaidens were good, the latter even managing rarely heard trills. Kurt Rydl had an extraordinarily black sound as Hagen , highly dramatic notwithstanding a strong wobble. Mihoko Fujimura [Waltraute in Gotterdammerung ] was rather harsh in higher notes but some wonderful low notes. The best part of the performances was the conducting of Antonio Pappano: dramatic, extremely colourful, crisp and exciting with a fine sweep. The orchestra played well, notwithstanding a few fluffs from the brass in Die Walkure and Gotterdammerung . The staging was extremely and often unnecessarily violent: Alberich stabs out his own eye with Wotan's spear, whilst Wotan shafts Erda as well as Siegmund. Some ideas were simply odd - Freia in love with Fasolt - whilst others were tedious - Mime putting on a goat/wolf headpiece at each lie in Act II of Siegfried . There was an irritating tendency towards excessive literalism, so when Siegfried sang of his mother's eyes looking like those of the roe deer, a white stag was clumsily wheeled around the stage (the stag was shot and eaten in Act III of Gotterdammerung ). Having both Gunther and Siegfried on stage at the end of Act I of Gotterdammerung was simply confusing. However, if one excludes Act III of Die Walkure , dominated by a spinning white wall, and Act II of Siegfried , where the literalism was simply silly, the production was reasonably effective and clear in its narrative, with consistent symbolism throughout. Thus there was a drop curtain with mathematical equations throughout; Alberich had a rowing boat in Rheingold , which became a flying boat in Act II of Gotterdammerung ; Gunther's palace was a giant Tarnhelm, etc. Overall, then, a noble effort, but significant improvements in casting and some tidying up of the production are necessary to lift it to the ranks of memorable Rings. Other singers and creative cast: Sarah Fox [Woglinde], Heather Shipp [Wellgunde], Sarah Castle [Flosshilde], Catherine Wyn-Rogers [1 st Norn], Yvonne Howard [2 nd Norn], Geraldine McGreevy [Gerhilde], Elaine McKrill [Ortlinde], Claire Powell [Waltraute], Rebecca de Pont Davies [Schwertleite], Irene Theorin [Helmwige], Sarah Castle [Siegrune] Claire Shearer [Grimgerde], Elizabeth Sikora [Rossweisse], Philip Ens [Fafner], Will Hartmann [Froh], director Keith Warner, sets Stefanos Lazaridis, costumes Marie-Jeanne Lecca.
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