MIME Gerhard Siegel
SIEGFRIED John Treleaven
WANDERER (Wotan) John Tomlinson
ALBERICH Peter Sidhom
FAFNER Philip Ens
WOODBIRD Sarah Fox
ERDA Jane Henschel
BRUNNHILDE Lisa Gasteen
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Condutor ANTONIO PAPPANO
Director KEITH WARNER
Set designs STEFANOS LAZARIDIS
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I have to start with something like a hymn of praise to Antonio Pappano,
who must surely be one of the best Wagner conductors of this generation.
He is so sensitive to every nuance of Wagner's "symphonisches Gewebe"; the
tempo at the beginning of the first act was perhaps slightly on the slow
side, not to the extent of Goodall or Knappertsbusch but certainly enough
to give due emphasis to the gloomy, brooding atmosphere the beginning of
Act I conveys. The Act starts with a flashback; before Mime starts to
sing, he relives his experience of Siegfried's childhood, first of all
handing a sword to a baby in a pram - which the baby breaks - later
getting so exasperated with the boy and his propensity for breaking swords
that he actually spanks him. The presence of the crashed plane round which
Mime appears to have constructed his forge and living-space is actually
quite effective, and funny - who should clamber out of the cockpit but the
Wanderer! So perhaps it's not necessary to ask too many questions as to
the likelihood of its having got there in the first place...
I liked Gerhard Siegel's characterisation of Mime - the petty nastiness,
rather than the tragic grandeur of his brother Alberich (Peter Sidholm),
but sometimes I found myself having to strain to hear the words; I thought
perhaps it might be part of the characterisation, but even so it's not
very satisfactory. I also found that John Treleavan didn't have quite the
burnished tones he should have had for the Forging Scene (I preferred the
ENO SIEGFRIED, in which Richard Berkeley-Steele did a testosterone-fuelled
dance during the Forging Scene) but the orchestra compensated for this
with Pappano's expert handling of the brass.
In fact Treleavan did more
than just stay the course, and was especially impressive in the final
scene with Brunnhilde - just when you might expect the tenor to start
showing signs of strain! So one could perhaps conclude that he was pacing
himself so as to shine in the finale.
John Tomlinson as the Wanderer fulfilled all our expectations - impressive
stage presence, intelligent characterisation, showing a Wotan finally
achieving serenity, acceptance of the end, and with this acceptance
gaining humour....in contrast to Alberich, and their scene together
conveyed this very convincingly , Peter Sidholm expressing in every word
and gesture Alberich's inability to give up, renounce and move on....his arm is still cut and bleeding, although the ring was torn from his finger -years? decades? centuries ago. Before this, of course, there is the opening of Act II, and Pappano's
handling of the orchestra in this scene made us realise that Wagner really
shows us Alberich's soul here, and in a way almost enters into
Alberich's feelings with sympathy, or at least empathy...
The Forest Murmurs music was played exceptionally beautifully, especially
in the woodwind section - there was almost a forest menagerie, with deer
being wheeled on by forest creatures - Siegfried sits on one of the deer
while he tries to imitate the Woodbird. And during the scene in which Mime
reveals his evil intentions towards Siegfried, he metamporphoses into a
rat...this was very wittily done.
I wasn't so impressed with the staging of Act III, at least with the
Awakening, because there - er - wasn't one. That is to say, we don't see
Brunnhilde lying asleep, and we don't see Siegfried first of all picking
up the weapons, and then taking off her helmet so that her hair falls
loose, which is a pity, because people must have wondered what it was that
he found so beautiful...there is a wall across the stage, with a doorway
into which Siegfried goes and returns, once he has (we suppose) kissed
Brunnhilde awake - but she only appears in the doorway when fully awake.
Still, again the music made up for the deficiencies of the staging - and
so did the singing! I loved Lisa Gasteen's thoughtful depiction of
Brunnhilde - when she first sees Siegfried, she runs towards him and
almost embraces him, then stops, confused....it was clear that this was a
frightening experience for her, awakening to a new world and feelings she
didn't know existed - the voice is warm and mellifluous, rather than
bright and steely, perhaps apt for the woman that Brunnhilde has become.
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Dr. Jane Susanna ENNIS
http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/leonora/ring1.html
