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Wagner Society in NSW Inc
In an article titled “A bold move, Wagner-style” in the 27 April 2007 St Petersburg Times (that's St Petersburg USA – on the Gulf side of Florida), Elena Lesley reports a fully staged production in Tampa, Florida, of Das Rheingold with a full cast of singers and one grand piano played for all 2½ hours by Constantine Grame “a longtime devotee of Richard Wagner” who “saw his first Met production of Das Rheingold via a PBS simulcast when he was 8.” According to Lesley: “Now 24, Grame is an accomplished vocalist, pianist and director. And he is the driving force behind the ambitious scene on City Hall's stage. For more than a year he has worked toward this night, handpicking singers who could master the German composer's challenging score, who weren't intimidated by Grame's unorthodox and some might say misguided "community Wagner" scheme.” In case you think that this is just a misguided high school style end of year stunt, “legendary baritone” Sherill Milnes didn't think so and said, after he attended the dress rehearsal: “'Given the budget limitations and pool of talent, it's quite amazing, really,' Milnes remarked during a break in the action. ‘It's a noble endeavor.'” Lesley also reports Milnes as saying: “You need more swirling mist and some true Wagner buffs may take issue with Das Rheingold on piano. But audience members ‘can still get the meat of Wagner,' Milnes said.” You can read the full article at http://www.sptimes.com:80/2007/04/27/Northpinellas/A_bold_move__Wagner_s.shtml . In a similar vein, on 26 March 2007, James Mcquillen wrote an article for The Oregonian entitled “A dark take on 'The Flying Dutchman': Portland Opera's interpretation of the Wagner work revisits the Third Reich” in which he notes: “ Opera composer Richard Wagner and opera director Christopher Alden are, in many respects, kindred spirits -- provocative, divisive and dismissive of tradition. Portland Opera's current production, which opened Saturday night at Keller Auditorium, features Alden's direction of Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman," and depending on your allegiances, it's either a meeting of minds or an egregious incidence of iconoclasm. It also happens to be a powerful, arresting production from a company not normally associated with Wagner.” Portland (a city somewhat bigger than Tampa ) borrowed the 1996 Canadian Opera production of the opera – something that smaller Australian opera companies are less able to do. Certainly, they have small likelihood of borrowing a Wagner production from Opera Australia as it has so few Wagner operas in its repertoire – borrowing from Adelaide would be more productive. To give you a taste of the interpretation, McQuillen writes: “In Alden's vision, however, the opera (and opera in general) is a window onto humanity's dark recesses, which include -- not to put too fine a point on it -- the Holocaust. See, the legend on which Wagner based his story resembles that of the Wandering Jew, the similarly damned figure from medieval Christian folklore. Given that Wagner was a notorious anti-Semite and darling of Hitler, why not include a mini-Auschwitz below decks and have the Dutchman take off his cloak to reveal the striped, ragged garb of the camp's prisoners?” McQuillen is more complimentary about the staging and set of the Canadian company's production: “Allen Moyer's austere set is striking: a tilted, weathered blue-gray box, it plays with oppositions of interior and exterior, none so striking as in the first-act storm, when the sail rises stage left and blows in toward the sailors.” McQuillen is also very positive about the music: “Conductor David Parry led an uncommonly unified orchestra, and the chorus was excellent both vocally and choreographically; its members pushed the performing envelope as a group, almost to the point of coming unglued from the orchestra in the third act”. It may have helped Portland stage this production that the city also hosts the Flying Dutchman Winery! You can read the full article at http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1174866926143730.xml&coll=7 . As an introduction to Wagner, it may be worth encouraging such a “noble endeavour” as Grame achieved in Tampa . From the article, it would appear that a number of singers responded well to the challenge, the local community reacted with enthusiasm to the performance and Grame might well have set the stage for further Wagner performances. He is on record as intending to mount similar productions of the rest of the Ring Cycle – I just hope that he finds a group of similarly talented and committed pianists to tag-team play, especially for the 5 hours of Gotterdammerung !! Is there a local pianist/producer who would be game to tackle such a project? If not, can we encourage the opera companies in Australian capitals other than Sydney to follow the example of Portland and borrow productions from one another so that we can build on the Wagner productions in Adelaide and, previously, Melbourne to build an Australian tradition of Wagner performance as other countries do as part of their serious approach to opera. [Editor June 2007]
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