catholiclefty

Lohengrin is one of the two Wagner operas I (relatively) don't know a great deal about (the other being Tannhäuser), and a good part of the reason for that being that this has never really managed to grab me the way Wagner's later operas can trivially do. A great deal of my immediate reaction to much of the opera is to mentally reference where Wagner managed to do much the same thing, but much much better, in his later work. While some bits are decent, the story is slight and suffers both thematically and musically particularly when compared to Parsifal. There are quite a few longeurs - an accusation often directed at parts of the Ring that I will violently disagree with! - and yet in comparison the end seems very rushed indeed with almost no opportunity for digestion of the sudden flurry of activity. I also wonder about the rampant nationalism on display and why this seems relatively uncommented upon compared to Hans Sachs' 'defence' of German Art at the end of Meistersinger, but perhaps that is a discussion for another day.

All that being said, I still grasped the opportunity to see it live at the ROH with both hands and looked forward to it, despite having already heard mixed comments, especially about the production itself.

THe singing - seemed very good overall, though my lack of familiarity with the intricacies of this opera precludes me from holding strong opinions on the fidelity of the performance. The only cast member I was familiar with was Petra Lang, who impressed me as Kundry in Parsifal, and gave a similarly good go at chewing up the scenery here as Ortrud. Edith Haller as Elsa had a strong voice and was pleasant enough to listen to, especially in the first act. Sadly I missed Falk Struckmann, who I very much liked as Amfortas in the same Parsifal as Petra Lang, and instead Telramund was played by the perfectly acceptable (but no more than that) Gerd Grochowski. As for Lohengrin - who has surprisingly few lines in this, certainly compared with a Siegfried or a Wotan - Simon O'Neill had some strong passages and some that didn't grab me much at all (though perhaps I should blame Wagner for that).

The music - again seemed very good overall, though again I can't really be much of a fair judge here. There were one or two obvious errors from the brass very early on but little else I noticed that was obviously out of place. 'Notably' some standard cuts were restored for this version, though once again my familiarity with the text prevented me from noticing this.

The production - this is a revival of a late 70s production, and I have to say it did nothing for me whatever. I have no problem with traditional productions at all - in fact, most often I prefer them - but this production was a strange amalgam of traditionalist and minimalist that failed to appeal in pretty much any way whatever. Well, to be fair, the costumes were quite decent. The sets, however, surrounded by plain walls (amazing how much of a difference a simple painted backdrop would have made) and with lots of both pseudo- (and often not-so-pseudo-) Christian and pseudo-pagan imagery, hinted at conflicts not exactly present in the text and with little bearing on the action. Not to mention that most of the first act takes place behind an irritating curtain, dulling the already rather minimal colour still further. The arrival of the swan is risible - I can't imagine anyone expecting a swan to show up to be satisfied by a projected image of a swan symbol onto a curtain. The fighting is half-hearted at best, and even in quieter moments the stage is too 'busy' with people going around administering sacraments or something. Lohengrin is not so much 'other-worldly' as someone who just refuses to engage with the rest of the action - I can see what was trying to be achieved here, but it didn't work. All in all, while I have no obvious points of comparison, I can't imagine this is a satisfactory staging and it did not help my enjoyment of what is already one of my least favourite Wagner operas one bit.

Having said all that, I still quite enjoyed the experience, though I can't imagine ever actively going away from a live Wagner performance without feeling pretty positive about things, even if some specifics have disappointed. With a snappier production I may have appreciated the whole thing somewhat more - or, alternatively, perhaps Lohengrin is destined to be my least favourite Wagner opera. Only time will tell on that one, I suppose.

Very little more needs saying over my previous review. The orchestra were on even finer form with very few obvious problems whatever, the singing was the same as the previous week, and the staging was still really rather poor ('Pathetic' as one nice old lady was saying to her friend in the interval after Act 2). I didn't notice last week that Parsifal doesn't even do anything with the spear to make Klingsor's polystyrene statues break in two...err, I mean, his castle fall down. Very disappointing.

Staging apart, however, this was downright excellent, and well worth seeing, even twice in a week!

While I've had a 'listening only' ticket for next Saturday's Parsifal for some months, I decided to grab the opportunity for an inexpensive standing place (very close to where I was for Walküre) last Sunday, where I could also see the action. Twice in a week may be a bit excessive for the 'experience' of Parsifal - but who knows when I'll be able to see it again? And with Haitink conducting, at that.

It strikes me that I need to 'work though' my feelings about Parsifal in general at some point. It took me about 12 years of trying to 'get' Parsifal, and only this year have I managed to work it out and appreciate it as the incomparable piece of art it truly is. I am very glad indeed I made the intermittent effort for those 12 years. Anyway, for now, this is just a review:

The singing - in the major parts, was uniformly excellent. Sir John Tomlinson as Gurnemanz was, as ever, outstanding - I could listen to him sing absolutely anything and I'd be happy. If Gurnemanz is tedious, much of Parsifal will flag, but this certainly wasn't a worry here. Christopher Ventris as Parsifal was decent enough and strong enough, and Petra Lang as Kundry was excellent - and she can certainly scream loudly! Willard White was a suitably menacing Klingsor, fitting Wagner's directions for the character pretty well, and Falk Struckmann was a very strong and impressive Amfortas indeed - I'd like to see him sing some other roles. Hard to say much about the other roles - I don't really know the Flowermaidens scene well enough to judge their singing fairly.

The music - on the whole, wonderful. Both brass and woodwind had a couple of minor slips towards the end - they seemed to get tired at about the same rate as me in my standing place! - but the orchestra sounded very good indeed. The pace was majestic and felt just about correct (barring the Klingsor-Kundry scene that opens Act 2, which felt just a little too slow). This was definitely an opera you could happily listen to time and again - so I'll certainly be taking up my 'listening seat' next Saturday.

The production - ah, as with so much Wagner, this was rather diappointing. The setting for Act 1 was reasonable, the Last Supper-like table actually quite a nice touch, but the towel that was supposed to be a swan, the underwhelming grail (you couldn't even see what it was from where I was standing, and I was in a good place) and the silliness of Amfortas having a trundle-wheel-a-like to represent his wound (which, apparently, Falk Struckmann has complained about - and so he should!) were all rather unfortunate. And then Act 2 was highly disappointing - from the large shark in Klingsor's castle (err, why?), through to the lack of even attempting to be clever about the spear trick (oh, Parsifal has moved to by the curtain. Oh, the stage has gone dark. Oh, now Parsifal has got the spear. He didn't grab it from behind the curtain when it went dark. Of course not!), and the utterly derisory attempt at showing the castle falling (a handful of small statues break in two. How exciting) all made for a pretty poor staging of the act. The forest in Act 3 had lots of highly-unnatural-looking snow that didn't even have the grace to 'melt' somehow as spring arrived. And the static tableau at the end was reasonably effective, but not following the stage directions about the Grail at all.

So, a disappointing staging, but the experience itself was more than worthwhile. Actually being there as the opera is created before you, from a handful of singers and a number of musical instruments, is simply amazing. And there is something quite special about Parsifal that really gets to you, especially when you are there, sharing the experience.

A quick note on other reviews : various newspaper reviews seem to have complained that it was too slow because it took five-and-a-half hours (inclusive of a 40 and a 30 minute interval). Well, err, no. That's about what it should take. Haitink wasn't especially slow, it is just long. Also people seem to have complained the production is too static, with people just standing around (as opposed to doing what?). Have they seen Parsifal before? Do they know what is supposed to happen? Do the people who review operas for the newspapers actually know what they are talking about? I'm beginning to strongly suspect they don't.

And a quick note on the audience : you're not supposed to clap at the end of Act I. About half of you don't seem to know that. Tut-tut!

I had a second bout of good fortune and managed to get another last-minute ticket for the Royal Opera House Ring, this time for Götterdämmerung, last Friday. The trains were actually working for once, and while the standing place I got was high up in the ampitheatre, not half as good as where I was for Walküre, fortunately there were a few no-shows (or maybe they found spare seats) so there was more room to stand (and avoid heads in front) than there otherwise would have been.

The singing - there was little either outstanding or deeply disappointing. Much has been made of John Treleaven's unsuitability for Siegfried - and while I see what these people mean, he could have been a lot worse. Kurt Rydl's Hagen was pretty good - fortunately, I don't remember seeing a bad Hagen, as that would pretty much ruin the opera. As many people have said, Mihoko Fujimora as Waltraute was excellent. The vassals were very powerful and effective. Everyone else sufficed most of the time, and unlike Placido in Walküre, at least came in at the right time! The singing in Act 2 Scene 4 disappointed though - suddenly all the singers seemed to lose power.

The music - unfortunately the brass had a bit of a nightmare, with at least six very noticeable off-key moments. If the brass is going to have a bad day, it is rather a shame if it happens in Götterdämmerung, which is very brass-heavy. The rest of the orchestra was fine though. In general, the tempo was rather quick, except for the rather odd decision by Pappano to take the first scene of Act 2 really really slowly. I can see the temptation of doing so - it is a dream sequence after all, and has a very eerie quality to it - but it really doesn't work, which is especially a shame when you have a good Alberich to bash out the lines.

The production - got in the way rather more than in Walküre, and seemed like a lot of things there for the sake of it. One or two scenes worked remarkably well - Act 2 Scene 4 may have disappointed with the singing, but the rotating stage was surprisingly good. The banks of the Rhine at the start of Act 3 were impressive too, and the Rhinemaidens jumping in the water was a pleasant touch (even if not half as amusing as some of the audience seemed to find it). The fire at the end was spectacular - indeed, it was all technically excellent. But the tendancy to do things for the sake of it got in the way far too often. The Rhine Journey was diminished significantly because of the rolling around on the stage as it progressed, and the Funeral March was just confusing, with Siegfried wandering around for much of it (though, to be fair, while this may not have made sense, at it least didn't distract from the music in the way the Rhine Journey did). Alberich was floating around in his scene for no clear reason, Hagen stupidly puts the Tarnhelm on his head rather than blowing his horn to summon the Vassals (why???), and the end of Act 1, which has Siegfried with the Tarnhelm, and Gunther, both on the stage at the same time, is just confusing (particularly as Act 2 revolves around the fact it was actually Siegfried, not Gunther, who 'wins' her here). And Hagen being on the stage throughout the last scene of Act 1 is another fan-boy thing that is intriguing as an idea but just shouldn't be done in practice. Why have Hagen stab Gunther a few lines before he kills him, other than because you can because the lines don't contradict it? Why have Brünnhilde on stage from the start of the final scene, especially as the lines specifically contradict that being the case? The conclusion involves someone standing on a large semi-circle (part of a ring?) for no apparent reason. And all through we have the curtain covered with non-sensical mathematics, which as a (recovering!) mathematician annoys me if it has no purpose. And the plane doesn't make an appearance at all - so what was that supposed to be about earlier in the cycle? It really feels like a production with a complete hotch-potch of ideas that have no overall coherence and, rather more unfortunately, tell us almost nothing about what the Ring is about. There is some vision here, lurking, but it doesn't get out, it just gets confused and occluded by all the unnecessary stuff that goes on.

So... I guess that sounds like I hated it. Well, no, I didn't. It was the first live real Götterdämmerung I've seen, and for the most part it went quickly and was very enjoyable. I'd even go and see it again, if I could get tickets as cheaply as I did this time around. Very glad I went, and a good experience, but Wagner fans are nothing if not picky perfectionists, and I'm not much if not a Wagner fan!

I had the remarkable good fortune to pick up a very last-minute ticket for Sunday's Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, the last of their three Ring Cycles. It was a standing ticket, but frankly I didn't mind at all given it was very reasonably priced indeed.

The singing - it was interesting to see Placido Domingo in the flesh (as Siegmund) and his Wälse cries, especially the second, were wonderful. Unfortunately he did come in a little too early on at least three occasions, but it didn't really matter. Sir John Tomlinson was very close to perfect as Wotan. Eva-Maria Westbroek gave probably the most compelling Sieglinde I've heard. Lisa Gasteen's Brünnhilde was good too, and Rosalind Plowright's Fricka and Stephen Milling's Hunding both dealt well with the reasonably thankless roles they get.

The music - the orchestra was close to faultless - I heard nothing glaringly wrong - and the tempo seemed pretty average. No real quibbles here, although the storm at the start seemed rather subdued. Perhaps my ears were accustoming to the acoustics of the hall. Or something.

The production - well, I'm a traditionalist through and through when it comes to productions of Wagner, so I was never going to be the biggest fan of this. Mostly however it worked quite well, and a couple of things even made me think a little - notably of a link between Wotan's 'Das Ende' cries and Siegfried throwing the clump of earth in Götterdämmerung, though I'm not at all convinced that making that link was the aim of the staging. Much of the time it just got in the way though - it was clear what was trying to be achieved in Act 3 by the big rotating wall, but it got annoying far too quickly. 'Things happening' during the Preludes to Acts 1 and 2 were unnecessary and distracted from the music. We don't need to see Wotan at the start of Act 1 placing the sword - showing it seems a bit too fan-boy-ish to me. And having Wotan run his spear through Siegmund at the end of Act 2 is plain odd and unbalances the story - as does Wotan spearing Hunding, rather than just making him drop dead.

Nevertheless, despite my small gripes, this was very enjoyable indeed and well worth suffering the incredible irritation caused by the rail network in order to get to it and back (I could write a long diatribe, but in summary, bus to Royston due to misguided bus work, wait in the wind and rain, train to Finsbury Park because of signalling problems. On the way back, misleading information at Kings Cross, unhelpful staff at Finsbury Park, even less helpful staff back at Kings Cross, a slow stopping train to Royston, and a bus back to Cambridge. A journey that should have took 50 minutes each way took about two-and-a-half hours instead. Grr).

Now I get to look forward to seeing (or, rather, hearing, as I have a cheap 'no-view' seat) Parsifal in December.

Spent most of yesterday watching the Prom of Gotterdammerung at the Royal Albert Hall, which was very hot and stuffy, but the music was pretty good, especially for being my first full live performance. The orchestra was excellent, the tempos were quite quick but very variable (but that's not necessarily a bad thing), and the singing varied wildly. Hagen (Sir John Tomlinson) was, as expected, fantastic, and there were a couple of pleasant surprises - in particular Gunther, a pretty thankless part in general, gave a commanding performance. I was rather less sure about the Brunnhilde and Siegfried - both seemed very variable, and rather weak at times, but Siegfried gave a good performance in Act 3, and Brunnhilde was better but seemed to have something lacking. In any event, this was good fun, if too hot.

The Proms are trying to play with my mind somewhat. They took the money off my credit card for both concerts I wanted to see, then yesterday sent me a ticket for just one of them (the significantly less important one). Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth - or disappointment at least! And then this morning I get another envelope, with another copy of the various leaflets that were in yesterdays, with a ticket to the one I really did care about (Gotterdammerung, which should be pretty obvious to anyone who knows me). So, in mid-August I finally manage to get to see a full Ring component live, even if not staged. Hurray! Something tells me this will not be the last though, by any means. Next thing to do is get on the waiting list for Bayreuth......