Oh dear!
That's all about me, that comment. Totally bizarre experience. I have been looking forward to this Ring for..how long? - tickets bought 1 November 2006. Season officially announced Spring 06. Saw Rheingold January 2005. It's been a long time.
Cycle 3 began on Friday 26th with Das Rheingold.
In the morning I played the Solti Rheingold, for maybe only the second time on the stereo I got earlier this year, volume loud. Was I excited or was I excited.
It kicked off late, which only serves to increase the tension and excitement. We had already been told that Philip Langridge was suffering from a throat infection but would sing anyway, so I wasn't expecting any cast changes. And there weren't any.
We started in total darkness - total except for the green 'Emergency Exit' signs, the yellow and red lights of the desk in the cockpit (lights? surtitles?), and one tiny ring of gold through the curtain. Sonorously, those low E flats start. Hold onto your seats, we're in for 16 hours of Der Ring des Nibelungen, a journey into the unknown.
The curtain opens on the Rhine, with the most gorgeous mise en scene. A spiders web effect fades to reveal the naked RhineMaidens, bathed in a tasteful blue/green muted light, gambolling and playing in the Rhine. Yes, in the Rhine. And then Alberich appears. I could have sworn last time he slid down a slide in his dinghy. But maybe I have false memory.
The drama unfolds. The music plays. I am bored rigid. I try listening to the music. I try reading the surtitles. I watch the action on stage. I listen to the singing. And finally, two and a half ours later, it's over.
Absolutely no explanation as to why I felt that way. No nicotine cravings. No desperate need to pee. No indigestion or thirst. Cold almost completely gone. No real discomfort despite the cramped seats. Perfect view of the stage. Acoustics excellent. Orchestra in fine form, an intelligent and sensitive reading by Tony Pappano. A superb performance by Philip Langridge as Loge (throat infection not apparent in his singing) , a masterful performance by Peter Sidhom as Alberich, a compelling dramatic portrayal of Wotan by John Tomlinson, whose vocal weaknesses (lack of top, absence of any real beauty in the voice) are easily forgiven. No real weak links - Frieia and Erda made no impression, Froh was wobbly, but those parts are insignificant. Not a dull moment in a production that I like. (Okay, I don't know why there is a model aeroplane, or lots of red rope, or a giant egg timer, but they don't interrupt or contradict the overall logic of the production).
Some amusing effects, especially down in Nibelheim, the big scary dragon grabbing Wotan with one hand from the wings, and Loge with the other, from the other wing. The toad hopping along the front of the stage. The amazing entrance of the giants, with their unforgettable music and their giantness projected onto the rear of the stage. I kept looking at my watch - when is this going to end? The music that takes us across the Rainbow Bridge into Valhalla should be making me cry. Finally, a chord that gives me goose pimples, makes the (non-existent) hairs on my arms stand up. But I didn't care about the characters, I don't really care what happens to this bunch of self-absorbed manipulative you know whats. And it troubles me that I'm putting the blame squarely at Fricka's door. She wanted the Big House, she persuaded Wotan to go into hock over it. Why should I blame her? He's a free agent, he's the one with a will. He didn't have to succumb weakly. Who's the greedy one, her with her lusts for the big castle, or him, desperate to pay the mortgage and thus greedy for the gold? And those Whinemaidens. Entrusted to guard the gold, they failed. Losers.
This post is all about me, and how a very good performance of a beautiful opera, experienced in pretty good physical and mental state, can somehow just leave one cold. Weird.
I hoped that this was not a harbinger that my enormous expectations would be sorely disappointed.
Cast:
Woglinde: Sarah Fox
Wellgunde: Heather Shipp
Flosshilde: Sarah Castle
Alberich: Peter Sidhom
Wotan: John Tomlinson
Fricka: Rosalind Plowright
Freia: Emily Magee
Fasolt: Franz-Josef Selig
Fafner: Philip Ems
Froh: Will Hartmann
Donner: Peter Coleman-Wright
Loge: Philip Langridge
Mime: Gerhard Siegel
Erda: Catherine Wyn-Rogers
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