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Wagner Society in NSW Inc
Terry Clarke I attach some reviews of performances we attended in England …. They were all good fun unlike much of what you see here [in Bayreuth ]. However there are so many lovely people [in Bayreuth ] and it is all such fun there is nowhere in the world quite like it. Das Rheingold - Saturday – 23 June 2007The Old Rectory at Longborough stands on a slight rise in the English Cotswolds and affords a clear view over twenty miles of rolling countryside. As far as the eye can see the green fields are dotted by church spires giving a view that has probably not changed for three hundred years. A life size terracotta statue of Richard Wagner stands facing the house with his back to this fabulous prospect. It is here that the vision of Martin and Lizzie Graham to build a country opera house on the Glyndebourne model has taken shape. They have converted a large chicken shed into a stage and auditorium and furnished it with seating from the old Covent Garden . Like so many, they were brought to Wagner by the televising of the Boulez / Chereau Ring and their dream has been to stage a complete Ring in their own home. Both Sir Georg Solti and Sir George Christie told them it was impossible but they have persisted in the endeavour. We attended the opening night of their first complete production of Das Rheingold on June 23rd and were treated to a performance of unexpectedly high professionalism. The production was straightforward, no deep political meaning or social comment. A sloping disc and two large gates across the front of the stage was the scenic furniture. Three dancers, dressed in black, skilfully manipulated the scenery and were also responsible for the effects of the dragon, the toad and the rainbow bridge. The problem of representation of the gold was neatly solved by the use of a long golden silk sheet that fell from the sky into the Rhine in the first scene. It was easy to transport to and from Nibelheim and was used to wrap and thus conceal Freia from the Giants. The orchestra of 44 players was obviously somewhat under strength in this small venue and lacking in some of the major climaxes, however they did manage plenty of anvils. The conductor was Anthony Negus, long associated with this festival, who held them tightly together and inspired a constant flow of beautiful sound. We saw the Wotan of Philip Joll twenty years ago and he has sung it many times since. He was a commanding presence on stage and sang robustly if not always tunefully. The Alberich was Nicholas Folwell who took the part with great menace and fine voice and strangely took the final curtain call. The Loge was Peter Bronder who impishly climbed all over the scenery and played the part of the cunning schemer very well. Other standout performances were Kate Radmilovic as Freia and John Milne as Fasolt, both promising young singers at the start of their careers. For people like us, who favour a well sung, simply constructed Ring, with no directorial nonsense in a most elegant English setting, you can do no better than take your picnic to Longborough in the coming years. An Isolde To Die For - Glyndebourne - 10 August 2007Twelve hundred Wagner lovers experienced an evening of pure perfection when they attended the performance of Tristan und Isolde at Glyndebourne on August 10 th. Nina Stemme was the ultimate Isolde, slim and beautiful, commanding and yet tender, she sang with radiant clarity and, apparently, effortless power throughout the evening. The Liebestod, sung standing at attention at the back of the stage with all the lighting concentrating on her and then fading to black was so affecting that the audience applause at the final chord was significantly delayed. Her Tristan, the American Robert Gambill, provided a superb counterpart and the great love duet in Act 2 was beautifully balanced. The veteran Rene Pape played the heart-broken King Marke with pathos and dignity and Katarina Karneus and Bo Skovhus maintained the standard with a supportive Brangane and a tender, new age, Kurwenal. The production by Nikolaus Lehnoff showed a scene of a series of concentric curves roughly representing the frames of a huge sailing ship which changed their positions and colour in each act to represent the different locales. Special mention must be given to Robin Carter whose superb lighting framed and enhanced the action. The LPO under Jirí Belohlavek played with precision and beauty throughout the whole evening, the only jarring note being their excessively rapid departure of the orchestral players at the end leaving the cast somewhat stranded on the stage to take their curtain calls. This magnificent performance was further enhanced by the setting of Glyndebourne. A perfect summer evening, of which there have recently been few in England , allowed the audience to picnic in the intervals in the gardens of this gracious country mansion. A superb performance of this towering opera in this magical setting made this, for me, a benchmark for all time. A serendipitous pleasure prior to the performance was, on passing the high ceilinged organ room in the main house, to hear the strains of the overture to Tannhauser being played on the grand piano by Russian pianist Alexander Markovitch. He played further Wagner transcriptions with great verve and panache and this recital provided an excellent prelude to a fabulous evening. Gotterdammerung - Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 12 August 2007After the boutique performance of Rheingold at Longborough, it was a complete contrast to attend the bold, very brassy and totally magnificent concert performance of Gotterdammerung at the Royal Albert Hall. Donald Runnicles conducted a six harp BBC Symphony orchestra and his dramatic style drew wonderfully precise playing and fabulous climaxes. Perhaps the singer of note was John Tomlinson whose Hagen was a triumph of power and malevolence. A concert performance favours singers of the size of Christine Brewer who sang Brunnhilde with great verve and accuracy and paced herself very well to give the final scene everything it requires. The Siegfried of Stig Andersen was suitably heroic in looks and his resounding heldentenor rose effortlessly above the sound of the massive orchestra. Another standout performance came from the young Scottish mezzo, Karen Cargill, who made a splendid debut as Waltraute. All the minor parts were sung with vigour and commitment. The standing ovation from the huge audience, including those who stood for the whole duration in the arena and the galleries, testified to the quality of the performance and the pleasure obtained from this wonderful music in this spectacular setting. The director of the performance was Paul Curran, a member of the NSW Wagner Society, whose plans for the advertised semi-staged production had to be shelved because Brunnhilde, having not sung the part before, needed to have the score available.
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