| . |
Wagner Society in NSW Inc
The day did not auger well for your intrepid Committee Member, Dennis Mather and Webmaster, John Studdert. A blocked drain in one of the Australia's national airline's Boeing 747s meant a long delay in leaving Sydney, missed connections in Singapore, a re-routing through Frankfurt and an arrival time in London just a couple of hours before the 4 pm start of the BBC Proms concert production of Gotterdammerung at the Royal Albert Hall. To add insult to injury the London skies threatened to ruin the planned picnic in the first interval. Somewhat shattered, we managed to arrive on time and we took our seats in the bursting to capacity colosseum that is the Royal Albert Hall. During the first interval, as we sipped a rather pleasant German Riesling and nibbled on a rather splendid side of smoked Scottish salmon in the beautiful surrounds of the Hyde Park Tennis Club (where one of our London Hosts, Brad had just lost at Tennis though he did provide a spectacular picnic - thanks Brad) during the first interval (under now cloudless skies) we all felt that the first Act under the competent control of conductor, Donald Runnicles had been just a tad disappointing. Our disappointment was to change during the ensuing acts. As I reached for a second glass of wine during that first interval my thoughts returned to the 1998 Royal Opera semi-staged production under the baton of Maestro Haitink. In that production Das Rheingold was also tentative. Perhaps it is the vastness of the RAH that intimidates the performers? Or the proximity of the orchestra on stage immediately behind the singers which can so easily swamp their singing. Whatever the issue at hand it appears that the performers need a little time to become comfortable with the hall before the excitement comes to the fore. The dying chords of this Gotterdammerung found a vastly improved environment complete with ‘Mike Day' tingles down the spine. This is perhaps best illustrated by Stig Andersen who wiped two tears from his eyes as he sat down following his final words
The moment was reinforced by Christine Brewer's poignant greeting to the departed Siegfried. Brewer's moment was a triumph in sound and emotion. We left after a well deserved standing ovation for a breathtaking night – directed and staged for the concert platform by Society member Paul Curran. John Studdert (A more detailed review should be in the next Newsletter)
|
