Wagner's Valhalla

[Lisztianwagner]

Very probably. Otherwise, it could be that, although the woodbird has told him about the ring, Siegfried doesn't understand how it is possible that a so small thing could give a so great power, or anyway, he has no interest in becoming ruler of the world. As a matter of fact, when he comes out of Fafner's cave after killing the dragon, Siegfried doubtfully looks at the ring and the Tarnhelm; and later, he admits he has almost forgotten about the Nibelungs' treasure when Hagen reminds it to him.

[knight66]

A couple of months ago I found an Abbado Wagner disc on Spotify.
Tannhauser Overture
Parsifal Act 1 prelude
Parsifal suite from Act 3
Tristan prelude and Liebstod
Berlin Phil

The Parsifal was recorded live and contains choral voices in the suite. Altogether there are 38 minutes of the opera. It was the Parsifal I enjoyed so much. This to the extent I bought the disc to get it in better sound. It is slow but not sluggish and the bleeding chuncks sound fairly organic. It is terrifically powerful music making. The Tristan music is beautifully done, the Tannhauser, less to my taste. Overall, it is satisfying when I don't have time for a full act but need a full-on Wagner fix.

Mike

[ritter]

A couple of months ago I found an Abbado Wagner disc on Spotify.
Tannhauser Overture
Parsifal Act 1 prelude
Parsifal suite from Act 3
Tristan prelude and Liebstod
Berlin Phil

The Parsifal was recorded live and contains choral voices in the suite. Altogether there are 38 minutes of the opera. It was the Parsifal I enjoyed so much. This to the extent I bought the disc to get it in better sound. It is slow but not sluggish and the bleeding chuncks sound fairly organic. It is terrifically powerful music making. The Tristan music is beautifully done, the Tannhauser, less to my taste. Overall, it is satisfying when I don't have time for a full act but need a full-on Wagner fix.

Mike

I've enjoyed this disc for years, and yes, it's because of the Parsifal excerpts...wonderful performnace, and the Good Friday Spell is one of the best I know...Pity a complete Parsifal from Abbado was never commercially recorded...

Cheers,

[calyptorhynchus]

Very probably. Otherwise, it could be that, although the woodbird has told him about the ring, Siegfried doesn't understand how it is possible that a so small thing could give a so great power, or anyway, he has no interest in becoming ruler of the world. As a matter of fact, when he comes out of Fafner's cave after killing the dragon, Siegfried doubtfully looks at the ring and the Tarnhelm; and later, he admits he has almost forgotten about the Nibelungs' treasure when Hagen reminds it to him.

Isn't it that the potion he's been given makes him forget, as it makes him forget Brunnhilde?

[Lisztianwagner]

Isn't it that the potion he's been given makes him forget, as it makes him forget Brunnhilde?

No, he says that before drinking the potion.

"I almost forgot the treasure,
so poorly do I prize its possession!
I left it to lie in a cavern
where once a dragon guarded it."

(Götterdämmerung, act 1^, scene two)

[Jaakko Keskinen]

BTW, does Siegfried suffer from amnesia? Right after he emerges from the cave in act 2 of Siegfried, carrying Ring and Tarnhelm, he says that he has no clue what to do with them, even though the woodbird has just moments earlier told him what those objects are capable of. Maybe at least the ring could be explained with that he just can't believe it could possibly make you ruler of the world.

[Lisztianwagner]

BTW, does Siegfried suffer from amnesia? Right after he emerges from the cave in act 2 of Siegfried, carrying Ring and Tarnhelm, he says that he has no clue what to do with them, even though the woodbird has just moments earlier told him what those objects are capable of. Maybe at least the ring could be explained with that he just can't believe it could possibly make you ruler of the world.

Indeed; Siegfried is, in some way, like the pure fool Parsifal, who doesn't know anything.

[ritter]

Indeed; Siegfried is, in some way, like the pure fool Parsifal, who doesn't know anything.

Or, as very aptly put by Anna Russell: "he's very handsome, and he's very strong, and he's very brave, and he's very stupid!" 

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Having studied prose drafts of Ring, I have to say that Wagner's opinion about Mime might not be completely negative one either. He often speaks of Mime in draft of Rheingold in pitying tone. I guess he had empathy with fictional creations.

Unfortunately, being more empathetic than Wagner was towards real people... doesn't take that much.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Found amusing quote: Tristan using alias "Tantris" when seeking medical help from Isolde, could be compared to Winston Churchill sneaking into the Nazi cabinet by using the alias Chinston Wurchill.

Ring-related question: is it ever revealed who claims Nibelungenhort after Siegfried kills Mime and leaves it unused in Fafner's cave? The only person left alive after the events of the cycle who knows about this hoard is Alberich (well, he and the Woodbird but I doubt she cares for the treasure). Does he reclaim it? That view is supported by Andvari of Norse Mythology (who was partly a model to Wagner's Alberich) finding his lost gold in the cave, even though the Ring (Andvaranaut) was gone.

[Sergeant Rock]

Found amusing quote: Tristan using alias "Tantris" when seeking medical help from Isolde, could be compared to Winston Churchill sneaking into the Nazi cabinet by using the alias Chinston Wurchill.

Ring-related question: is it ever revealed who claims Nibelungenhort after Siegfried kills Mime and leaves it unused in Fafner's cave? The only person left alive after the events of the cycle who knows about this hoard is Alberich (well, he and the Woodbird but I doubt she cares for the treasure). Does he reclaim it? That view is supported by Andvari of Norse Mythology (who was partly a model to Wagner's Alberich) finding his lost gold in the cave, even though the Ring (Andvaranaut) was gone.

In the Nibelungenlied, after Hagen kills Siegfried, Kriemhild (Siegfried's widow) claims the treasure and brings it to Worms, the Burgundian capital. But Brunnhild and King Gunther confiscate it after which Hagen steals it and sinks it in the Rhine (in modern day Worms there is a statue of Hagen doing that). With the death of Hagen, the treasure is permanently lost. Of course Wagner ignored all this in the Ring and Hagen dies a villain (in the original story he eventually becomes a hero).



Sarge

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Interesting statue and information! I recall having read something about that, long time ago.

Oh well, whatever the case, Alberich is a dwarf. He probably has means to find more gold whether he got the treasure or not (supported by information that he bribed Grimhilde with gold to sleep with him after Rheingold's occurrences).

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Watching Met production of Walküre from 2013. For some reason I often feel embarrassed at the part in act III where Brünnhilde tells Sieglinde's history to other valkyries. It just feels so unnecessary. Sure, it doesn't last long unlike Wotan's 45 minute monologue in act II about earlier events, but I see the one in act II as necessary in expressing character development Wotan is undergoing. This one in act III feels a waste, to some extent. It's a 75 minute-act, full of wonderful music and the part I mentioned lasts hardly a minute, so it's funny how this one moment bothers me. And considering the other valkyries didn't know anything about Sieglinde, I really don't see a way around it.

[jlaurson]

Fresh from Forbes:



AUG 5, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Das Rheingold

...The Rhinemaidens were a terrific trio, extremely even and very good and saucy
actresses all, svelte blondes, sexed-up lascivious bombshells with ankles to which
no English critic could object....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/05/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-das-rheingold/

[/quote]

[jlaurson]

Fresh from Forbes:



AUG 5, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Die Walküre

...But one casts Botha for his voice and has to accept that, dramatically, he
isn't the bee's knees, being easily out-acted by the more talented of the two
live turkeys in the cage. His preferred modus operandi is to stand there, arm
stretched out to the sides, and let us have it – and we take it pretty gladly...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/05/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-das-rheingold/

2015 Bayreuth Festival, Walküre, Act I
courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath

[ritter]

Thanks for posting your wonderful reviews of the Petrenko / Castorf Ring, Jens. I saw the prioduction last year, and I think what you write perfectly describes what the audience feels in the Festspilehaus. Inconsistencies and all, I believe this is a theatrical and musical excperience of the highest order, and would venture to say it's bound to become a landmark as far as Wagner interpretation in the early 21st century is concerned.

I look forward to your reports on Siegfried and Götterdämmerung! 

[jlaurson]

Thanks for posting your excellent reviews of the Petrenko / Castorf Ring, Jens. I saw the prioduction last year, and I think what you write perfectly describes what the audience feels in the Festspilehaus. Inconsistencies and all, I believe this is a theatrical and musical excperience of the highest order, and would venture to say it's bound to become a landmark as far as Wagner interpretation in the early 21st century is concerned.

I look forward to your reports on Siegfried and Götterdämmerung! 

I can see that, from you avatar. :-)

Thanks for the kind words.

Different people reacted differently, obviously... and my former boss at WETA whom I was with, for example, although agreeing on most everything with me with regards to details, liked Siegfried the best (partly because he was least distracted) whereas I liked Siegfried the least and Goetterdaemmerung the best.

Unfortunately, as I will report, this Ring will suffer a massive (29 roles!!!) cast change next year (and of course a new conductor, though I think Janowski might well do an excellent job) --- which must all but ruin Rheingold & Goetterdaemmerung. No continuity and only a couple rehearsals, as all the focus shifts to Parsifal.

[ritter]

Unfortunately, as I will report, this Ring will suffer a massive (29 roles!!!) cast change next year (and of course a new conductor, though I think Janowski might well do an excellent job) --- which must all but ruin Rheingold & Goetterdaemmerung. No continuity and only a couple rehearsals, as all the focus shifts to Parsifal.

Yep, I read about those cast changes in the Festival's webpage....let's see how the new team does. I think the festival I really want to attend is that of 2017: this year's production of  Tristan, next year's new Parsifal and the 2017 première of Barrie Kosky's Meistersinger (plus what I presume would be the last run of the Castorf Ring).

Regards,

[jlaurson]

Yep, I read about those cast changes in the Festival's webpage....let's see how the new team does. I think the festival I really want to attend is that of 2017: this year's production of  Tristan, next year's new Parsifal and the 2017 première of Barrie Kosky's Meistersinger (plus what I presume would be the last run of the Castorf Ring).

Regards,

Boy! That's the toughest year. The Ring & and the three 'big ones'. Phewww. A review of Tristan will also be forthcoming.

[jlaurson]

Fresh from Forbes:



AUG 6, 2015
The 2015 Bayreuth Festival Ring: Siegfried

...Wolfgang Koch, who continues his smarmy, drunken, sleazy, seedy Wotan with most admirable gusto and believability, certainly shows that it's not for lack of will or skill on his part... seeing that he gets plenty to do in the third act, when he summons Erda. It's perhaps the most touching moment of this Siegfried, when the washed-up Wotan, ex-lover, gets together with Erda, his aged, long-time favorite ho, for a spaghetti dinner and too much wine, in a scene full of recriminations and regrets and make-up blow jobs. When Wotan-Wanderer is supposed to pay up (the waiter catching Erda in flagrante), he realizes he's just a bit short on cash and with the words "Dort seh' ich Siegfried nahn!" ("Woha, I think Siegfried approaches!") he's off, properly welshing and leaving Erda with the bill and the audiences in stiches. It's not the only moment that garnered laughter, but there could have still been more, seeing that Siegfried is supposed to be a comedy and that Castorf certainly has the irreverent streak that lends itself to comedy....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/08/07/the-2015-bayreuth-festival-ring-siegfried/

2015 Bayreuth Festival, Siegfried, Act III
courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath