Keith Warner's Walküre at the ROH

[uffeviking]

Because of the overwhelming response I received to the review of Das Rheingold I'll give you another review to disregard. Is it possible only one solitary member of GMG, residing in or near London, had attended those productions? 

Granted, the director Keith Warner is no Zefferelli nor a Pierre Audi, but he did have a few moments of inspiration. He is the only one - so far! - who discovered, or invented, Hagen's mother! Wagner only mentioned her earthly, human background, Warner found her at Nibelheim, in the Rheingold episode, a creation of Alberich to fulfill his loveless sexual urges. He even gave her a luxurious blue long-haired wig, which Brünnhilde retrieved from Nibelheim when Hagen's mother is being mentioned in the Walküre segment. - Are you still with me? -

All of this is irrelevant anyhow because this production belongs to two outstanding Wagnerian interpreters: Bryn Terfel and Lisa Gasteen What a pair! It's Terfel's first stage performance as Wotan. He was great in Rheingold, but this Walküre rendition had me at the edge of my chair. His powerful, resonant voice in every register, is unequal to any of the past, much lauded historical Wotans. Usually the tears start building at the sound of Wotan's "Leb' wohl, du kühnes herrliches Kind!" Terfel displays his anguish already with his "So thatest du, was so gern zu thun ich begehrt -"; it's a heart-renting statement of deepest pain. This is only Terfel's first performance as Wotan; I am wondering how he will ever improve in the future. I feel he is perfect!

Gasteen is his perfect partner in action and her truly great voice. Those two ARE father and daughter!

Of course Siegmund and Sieglinde are the main subjects of the opera, but they appear to me as background persons, the reason for Wotan and Brünnhilde's presence. Jorma Silvasti - Siegmund - can act, thank god, no Treleaven he, a very romantic, lyrical lover, if only he would cut back on the tremolo in his voice. - Or is it called 'vibrato'? - whatever, it's annoying, at least to my ears. Katarina Dalayman as Sieglinde very good indeed, yet it is hard for me to recall those two because of the memory of the paramount last act. Stephen Milling - Hunding - is the usual brutal husband, usual in his brutality, but above average with his bass, a bit reminiscent of Matti Salminen.

I already reviewed Siegfried and Götterdämmerung many pages ago, it's maybe even in the OLD GMG. Relax and return to listening to, or even watching, the bland, uneventful and tiresome Walküre at the NY Met anno 1990. 

[knight66]

Lis, I have lost the plot here a bit. Are these telecasts or DVDs? I did not know the performances were available in any way. It sounds like you are missing Domingo from the front line. Last year's prom performance had an all round superb cast.

What is the production like, apart from the long wig of Hagan's mother. I hope that was not the 'Big Idea' of the production.

Mike

[uffeviking]

The videos I have are from telecasts of the ROH productions. I am sure they are not available as DVDs yet, but considering the deal between the NY Met and ROH maybe we won't have to wait too long for their commercial release. If it were not for the super acting of Terfel, I would be glad to just get the CD!

The production by Keith Warner, especially Das Rheingold, is so weird, I simply skipped talking in detail about it. Walkure is a bit better, mostly empty stage, but the singing and acting of Terfel and Gastein are overshadowing whatever improbabilities Warner came up with. Of course the Feuerzauber is spectacular, but that's more to the scene designer's credit.

What you are thinking of, is the 2005 Proms concert performance with Domingo and Terfel. The ROH did Rheingold January 2005, Walkure March 2005, Siegfried October 2005 and Gotterdammerung April 2006.

[Michel]

I will be seeing all the Ring at Covent Garden in the autumn...

[Hector]

BBC televised the whole production even delaying transmission whilst Terfel recovered. So we got the first part and months later the last two acts!

I'm not aware of any issue on DVD. It would be a runaway winner in spite of the dubious production, design and Terfel's dodgy makeup.

Tickets were like Rhinegold.

[uffeviking]

I will be seeing all the Ring at Covent Garden in the autumn...

Michel, you will not disappoint me and skip giving me your opinion of this Ring? No, you wouldn't. 

[Michel]

Michel, you will not disappoint me and skip giving me your opinion of this Ring? No, you wouldn't. 

Its not quite guranteed yet, as I don't have tickets and they are all sold out. However, the ROH is putting about twenty tickets for every performance on sale at 9am on the morning of the opera. I am therefore going to practically camp out overnight to get them, but am determined to do so!

I will let you know how I get on.

[Lobby]

It won't surprise Lis to know that I have my tickets already for the Ring at Covent Garden.  I saw them all first time round (produced individually over a period of about 18 months), but this is the first time this production will have been seen as a cycle.

Rumour has it that Keith Warner wants to revisit and restage parts of the production, something which the Opera House is apparently less keen on, given the amount they have already shelled out on sets and costumes for this.  I'll let you know if he is allowed to amend the production.

The other good thing about this autumn's cycles is that Terfel will be adding Der Wanderer to his repertoire.  The cycle I am going to features Terfel as Wotan/ Wanderer, Domingo as Siegmund and Gasteen as Brunnhilde.  Unfortunately, the painful Treleaven will be doing his best to destroy the role of Siegfried again.

I have attached a couple of images from Rhinegold and Walkure to give some idea of what the production looks like.

[knight66]

The photos make it look quite striking. I am not sure I will ever sit through Siegfried again, even for the continuity of seeing the entire Ring. But I look forward to all the reports.

Mike

[uffeviking]

I will be seeing all the Ring at Covent Garden in the autumn...

No, you won't! Unless you want to see it without Bryn Terfel!     

Just received this NY Times article from a friend:

"Subject: Lots of shrieking, wailing, gnashing of teeth
Date: Monday, September 03, 2007 4:29 PM

Terfel Cancels Royal Opera 'Ring' Cycle - New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 3, 2007
Filed at 6:49 p.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- Bryn Terfel has pulled out of his highly anticipated appearance in the Royal Opera's production of Wagner's ''Ring'' cycle, citing ''a particularly stressful family situation'' involving one of his children.

The Welsh bass-baritone was to have sung Wotan/The Wanderer in the performances scheduled for next month. It was supposed to have been his first performance in a complete Ring Cycle.

''I have had a particularly stressful family situation involving one of my children this summer which has affected the time I had put aside to prepare for this challenging role,'' Terfel said in a statement carried by the Opera's Web site. ''Having begun rehearsals it is clear to me that I would not be able to perform at the standard I would wish to.''

The nature of the problem was not disclosed.

The Times of London newspaper reported that the performance had been sold out for more than a year, with some tickets for the entire four-opera cycle going for as much as $1,610.

''The Royal Opera expressed shock and surprise at Bryn Terfel's cancellation, acknowledging the disappointment it will bring to audiences who were looking forward to seeing him perform in a complete Ring Cycle for the first time,'' the company said on its Web site.

The company said Terfel would be replaced by award-winning singer Sir John Tomlinson, with whom Terfel had been due to share the role.

Terfel sang Wotan for the first time in ''Das Rheingold'' and ''Die Walkuere'' during the 2004-5 season in the Royal Opera's production by Keith Warner.

He also is slated to sing Wotan in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of the Ring cycle, scheduled for 2012.

------

[uffeviking]

It won't surprise Lis to know that I have my tickets already for the Ring at Covent Garden.  I saw them all first time round (produced individually over a period of about 18 months), but this is the first time this production will have been seen as a cycle.

Rumour has it that Keith Warner wants to revisit and restage parts of the production, something which the Opera House is apparently less keen on, given the amount they have already shelled out on sets and costumes for this.  I'll let you know if he is allowed to amend the production.

The other good thing about this autumn's cycles is that Terfel will be adding Der Wanderer to his repertoire.  The cycle I am going to features Terfel as Wotan/ Wanderer, Domingo as Siegmund and Gasteen as Brunnhilde.  Unfortunately, the painful Treleaven will be doing his best to destroy the role of Siegfried again.

I have attached a couple of images from Rhinegold and Walkure to give some idea of what the production looks like.

Jon, my sympathy! Of course there is Domingo and Gasteen, but there also is Treleaven. Should I imagine you standing in the lobby holding up a bunch of tickets, offering them at basement bargain prices? Maybe Michel will buy them, he hasn't seen nor heard Treleaven yet; I think he should; Michel is such a tolerant and forgiving young gentleman! 

[Szykneij]

Monday, September 3, 2007 The Associated Press

LONDON - Bryn Terfel has pulled out of his highly anticipated appearance in the Royal Opera's production of Wagner's "Ring" cycle, citing "a particularly stressful family situation" involving one of his children.

The Welsh bass-baritone was to have sung Wotan/The Wanderer in the performances scheduled for next month. It was supposed to have been his first performance in a complete Ring Cycle.

"I have had a particularly stressful family situation involving one of my children this summer which has affected the time I had put aside to prepare for this challenging role," Terfel said in a statement carried by the Opera's Web site. "Having begun rehearsals it is clear to me that I would not be able to perform at the standard I would wish to."

The nature of the problem was not disclosed.

The Times of London newspaper reported that the performance had been sold out for more than a year, with some tickets for the entire four-opera cycle going for as much as $1,610.

"The Royal Opera expressed shock and surprise at Bryn Terfel's cancellation, acknowledging the disappointment it will bring to audiences who were looking forward to seeing him perform in a complete Ring Cycle for the first time," the company said on its Web site.

The company said Terfel would be replaced by award-winning singer Sir John Tomlinson, with whom Terfel had been due to share the role.

Terfel sang Wotan for the first time in "Das Rheingold" and "Die Walkuere" during the 2004-5 season in the Royal Opera's production by Keith Warner.

He also is slated to sing Wotan in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of the Ring cycle, scheduled for 2012.

[Lethevich]

Omg your thread name - I thought he was dead or something

Bryn Terfel has pulled out of his highly anticipated appearance in the Royal Opera's production of Wagner's "Ring" cycle

AGAIN? He seems to have a habit of pulling out...

[Szykneij]

Omg your thread name - I thought he was dead or something

Sorry. Good point. I changed the thread title.

[Lethevich]

Sorry. Good point. I changed the thread title.

Hehe, no problem, it was fun

[Larry Rinkel]

Omg your thread name - I thought he was dead or something

AGAIN? He seems to have a habit of pulling out...

I have yet to see him live. He's cancelled three appearances for which I had tickets.

[knight66]

Yep, I have missed him twice. He usually has a bad back. I was surprised to see him as the Dutchman about a year ago. I turned up assuming there would be an announcement, but no, he appeared.

Mike

[uffeviking]

Unfortunately, the painful Treleaven will be doing his best to destroy the role of Siegfried again.

Jon, don't give your tickets to Michel, not just yet, because in this month's Opera I read something encouraging about Treleaven! - Have you read your issue already? - In the article "A Southern Valhalla?" John Allison reports about Santiago and mentions among other good news the Tristan performed at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires:

"The cast was led excitingly by John Treleaven and Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet. The tenor (surely the only real Cornish Tristan) threw himself unstintingly and untiringly into his part..."

Cheers!
Lis

Miracles have happened, maybe the dear man took acting lessons and brushed up on his singing!

[Lobby]

Lis,

Treleaven may have thrown "himself unstintingly and untiringly into his part" as Tristan, but the review doesn't say whether all that effort paid off!

To be honest, Treleaven usually gives his all and he certainly has plenty of stamina.  Unfortunately, that stamina isn't allied to a voice that is in any way pleasant to listen to.  Last time I saw him as Siegfried, his voice didn't deteriorate during the opera (if anything, it improved slightly), but that really isn't saying much.

On another thread you mentioned a new Lohengrin DVD with Treleaven.  One of the reviews I have seen describes his performance as a disaster and says it is even worse than his previous DVDs of Siegfried and Tristan.

The sad thing is that there are other Siegfrieds out there who are better than Treleaven (i.e. Jon Frederick West and Stig Anderson, both of whom performed very well in proms performances here in the last two years and I am sure there are others), so I don't know why Covent Garden persist in using him.

Getting back to the subject in hand, I am understably dissapointed that we won't be getting Terfel as Wotan/ Wanderer, but as others have noted, he does have a history of cancelling.  I have been lucky so far in that I have seen his Don Giovanni, Falstaff, Wotan, Dutchman and Gianni Schicchi where others have not been so fortunate.  Also, although Tomlinson's voice is no longer what it was, he does bring a lifetime's experience to the role of Wotan, so I have no qualms about seeing him instead.

Jon, still looking forward to the Ring .... sort of.