Corrispondenza da New York per un Rheingold + WalkĂĽre, evidentemente non troppo riusciti, con i complessi in trasferta del Mariinsky diretti da Valery Gergiev.
Overall – competent – no more.
I hesitated for a long time before buying tickets. I am familiar enough with Gergiev’s work, so I did not expect something special. I finally decided to get tickets because I have not been to a Ring cycle since 1998.
The orchestra – good. Not a rich, dark sound. The Met orchestra does it much, much better. Gergeiv – got through it OK. No special shaping of the music, not much inner drama or excitement.
Vocalists. The Loge-outstanding. Wotan-again, competent. No special vocal presence or projection. Same with BrĂĽnnhilde – her top notes on Hojotoho were whoops up to a pitchless shriek. I wanted to laugh out loud. It reminded me of Florence Foster Jenkins. Otherwise, she was not bad, neither was she particularly good. Sieglinde has no lower range so her narrative “Der Maenner Sippe…” was inaudible. The upper range was loud, in tune and ugly. The Siegmund’s voice, poor thing, barely lasted through the first act. Winterstuerme had absolutely no line or lyricism – but he moved his hands in a most expressive way. The last scene of act one, one of the highlights of the Ring, was simply vocal disaster.
As for the sets, I have given up trying to make sense of modern Wagnerian stagings. It was no better or worse than things I have seen at Bayreuth. I thought it ridiculous that the Times critic spent so much time on the construction of the sets. So it’s a touring production, so they had a low budget, so what? Most of it made no sense, but I’d rather see a staged production than a concert performance. At least there is movement and some sense of drama imparted. If the singers had been special it would have mattered less.
But the music – it always gives me Gänsehaut. It is indestructible and irresistible – but you already know that and feel the same way.
I must say, that I was not at all disappointed, because I expected no more, although, of course, one always hopes for some special, unpredictable spark. In this case the music alone provided that.
On to Siegfried and Goetterdaemmerung.
Well, the last half was quite a
different animal from the first.
During the intervening week the Kirov company had played
though a complete cycle, and picked up on the acoustics of the full house, and
learned how to project into the space.
They were also over the opening
night jitters, and probably had some rehearsals as well. As soon as
Siegfried began, the sound had a fullness and balance that were not
present at the beginning.
The Siegfried, Victor Lutsuk, was one of the
best I have heard. He sang the role right up to the end, as opposed to
barking and straining. The Brunhilde, Olga Sergeeva, still has her
shortcomings, but she became better and better, reaching her peak in the scene
with Waltraute, but still having enough for a creditable job in the Immolation
scene. I now wish I had gotten tickets for both Ring cycles. Next time
such an opportunity occurs, I will not be burdened with the necessity of going
to work!!
I should also mention that the lighting was
superb throughout, and was very effective in heightening the
drama.
Thank you very much, Marc!
PS. La scena sopra ricorda tremendamente quella (terribile) del finale del secondo atto della recente messa in scena della Fura dels Baus, soltanto vagamente più sobria.
