Das Rheingold - Friday 12th October, Covent garden

[Michel]

Das Rheingold - Friday 12th October, Covent garden

Oh! The highest joy of this miracle!

Don't worry, I have not got my opera's confused.  I include this phrase merely to illustrate that Parsifal's thought when gazing at the redeeming spear mirrored my amazement about everything in the Rheingold production at Covent Garden on Friday night.

For the first time in my life I felt as though every one of my individual claps at the end of the performance was as sincere as a mothers embrace to a new born child. I wanted to let out a thunderous applause because I wanted to show my appreciation for a brilliant night, it wasn't that it just seemed the most appropriate thing to do, as it might normally.

Perhaps my recklessness was simply due to the fact that it had only been two and a half hours since I first caught a glance of the Rheinmaiden's breasts and naked bodies, and that I hadn't yet had enough time to calm down. But I think honestly that it was simply a brilliant performance of a brilliant opera, leaving you with a lovely buzzing feeling of rivetedness.

The staging throughout was spectacular. We have Wagner in part to thank for that, since so long as as an opera has an ambitious fantasy streak, there is always the possibility of a great deal of creativity from the director.  I would disregard anything negative said about this opera, it seems the attack on its "ideas", are simply part of the overall obsession to act bizarrely when anything involving Wagner is concerned. Why are we to moan that we think it is silly Wotan and the God's are part of the Victorian middle class, for example? I think it is fine, and I won't say anything more. We're just too uptight.

The staging of the opening scene was very clever, leaving you in no doubt for what was to follow. The lighting was a spectacle in itself, casting almost confusing shapes and shades of green and blue across the black stage to depict the river. It was well acted and good fun to watch. I was pleasantly surprised by the Rheinmaidens: though their voices lacked projection and expressiveness, they all had nice tone and the scene was very effective. I have to agree with other reviewers about Alberich, Peter Sidhom was very good throughout.

Some say John Tomlinson is the finest Wotan of the last twenty years and while I cannot qualify that, since I don't own any recording later, it seems, that the seventies, I will say that when listening to Solti this morning, he is no George London. He is good, no doubt, and he is worth the price of admission, and I have always greatly enjoyed his acting – he, like the magnificent and supreme Hotter, always looks the part too, which is a bonus. But it is confusing when you compare him to George London, for example, because London's voice sounds so much deeper and powerful because it is in better control. To me, the difference comes from when Tomlinson tries to launch his voice into the amphitheatre with great volume, it just goes higher. There is no doubt to my ears that Tomlinson is best in the lower register, which is why I enjoyed him so much in Duke Bluebeard's castle a few years ago. Maybe at 61 he is over-the-hill. But lets not beat him up, he was very good.

Freia's, sung by Emily McGee, was beautifully sung. I would have to say that she, like Catherine Wyn-Rogers was a standout performance. The Guardian reviews said she was portrayed too ditsy, but I think such a comment is a moot point; she was very good. But it was Wyn-Rogers that did something very special, in my view.

Erda's warning is always a tumultuous part of the Opera; for the first time Wotan considers his behaviour and it plants the seed of his eventual decision to give up the ring a little later. But nothing can prepare anyone for the beauty that comes from Catherine Wyn-Rogers mouth. Now bear in mind although I consider my ear relatively learned with historical singers, it is nevertheless inexperienced, especially with live music and modern singers. Sometimes, I don't feel fully confident in judging a singer, but in this case I do. She was brilliant. Her tone was utterly beautiful. And for someone who has not seen this opera live before, it made Wotan's realisation all the more powerful, and all the more belivable: even the audience was utterly gripped and affected too. I think we would have all given up the ring.

So the singing, in general, was good. So what about the orchestration? It was a weakness, in my view, though not a great one.

To me, for the whole performance, it was very restrained. The march of the giants, one of the most recognisable parts of the opera, had not the industrial forcefulness and outright power of the some of the better performances. I am not sure why the decision was to be restrained, but certainly if you do not have a cast to die for like Solti often did, I suppose you have to go careful so not to dwarf the singers. But restrained certainly best sums up Pappano. It wasn't awful, and it actually made very little negative impact at all to my ears, since the staging, acting and for the most part, singing, were so good that it became less important.

This performance turned out to be a special student performance; the first in Covent Garden's history. Not a single person in the crowd was over 21. And it showed. We started late. And I have never heard such a kerfuffle as I did when the beautiful and instantly recognisable prelude was gently bubbling away. It was nearly ruined. There were coughs that were as frequent as machine gun fire, bangs louder than Siegried's forging of his sword, flashes from supposedly banned cameras and in some unbelievable instances, loud conversation that would eclipse even Del Monaco's voice. A mobile phone even projected its nastiness in one incident. For those of you who have never been to Covent Garden you must realise that this sort of behaviour is utterly unheard of. While, as in my previous review of Siegfried, you will have read about my disdain for the interbred, at least they sit silently, and remain inoffensive (until you catch a glimpse of their face when the curtains go down and the lights come on).

Such a young audience did have its advantages though. We didn't fall asleep. There was a nervous expectation everywhere that we were all experiencing something new and special. There was an energy in the air that isn't normally there. It was also good to see a thousand young people who obviously like Opera. Sure, it is the household name of Wagner, and I would like to see the level of interest if they did a similar promotion for something like Strauss, but it is a positive sign nevertheless. It was also interesting to see their reaction at the end. It is clear young people liken Opera more to Theatre than anything else, since the greatest applause was for the funny and well acted part of Loge, sung by Philip Langridge. We seemed to be clapping acting and the character, not the voice. Which is why I started exclaiming strange sounds and clapping my hands disproportionately loudly when I noticed Catherine Wyn-Rogers receiving a luke warm applause. Not that I had to try very hard. As I said at the beginning of this review. It was the first time in my life my hands were controlled by something else: an overriding belief that what I just witnessed was bloody fantastic.

[knight66]

Great, thanks for going into so much detail. Some like Pappano's way with Wagner and others feel he neds more time marinading in it. For sure the Prom Walkure he did two years back was terrific. Tomlinson must be in the autumn of his career, but I guess he must still be a considerable singer to sustain the part now he is getting on a bit. Langridge too is surely going to have to choose his roles with care to husband an admired, but I think, rather dry voice.

Mike

[Michel]

Can anyone shed some light on Catherine Wyn-Rogers?

Was she supposed to be that good?

[knight66]

Sorry, I know next to nothing about her. For some reason I thought she was a Handel singer.

Mike