Opera Review: All the Pretty Horses

Die Walküre returns at the Metropolitan Opera.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Fearless: Christine Goerke makes her Act II entrance as Brunnhilde in Die Walküre.
Photo by Richard Termine © 2019 The Metropolitan Opera.

It's hard to believe, but the Metropolitan Opera’s controversial Robert Lepage production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle has been treading the boards at America's largest opera house since 2011. That's ten years that New York's Wagner addicts have had to deal with this technologically innovative but sometimes balky production, set on a hi-tech platform ("the Machine") that uses spinning and rotating teeter-totter boards to create scenery for this massive mythological work. This week marked the return of Die Walküre, the most popular section of the Ring. It was also the only Ring opera to be included in this season's Live in HD schedule. Saturday's matinee, the second performance of the season. was also the opera's broadcast day.

Concert Review: Oceans of Love and Time

Jaap van Zweden pairs Dark Waves with Wagner.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jaap van Zweden in orchestral ecstasy.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2018 The New York Philharmonic.

When Jaap van Zweden was announced as the new music director of the Philharmonic, he was seen by pundits and punters alike as a firm, conservative voice designed to return America's oldest orchestra to its role as guardian of the standard European repertory of the 19th and 20th centuries. This week, he confirms that hope with a performance of Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre. However, the program opens with the New York premiere of Dark Waves, a masterful 2007 composition from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams.

The Wagner Project: Die Walküre

The second chapter of the Ring remains its most familiar.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

James Morris (standing) as Wotan in the final scene from Die Walküre. 
Jane Eaglen (lying prone) is Brunnhilde.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2004 The Metropolitan Opera.

This is the opera people think of when they think of Wagner. The Ride of the Valkyries. The Magic Fire scene. Thick orchestrations. Pulse-pounding passions. And some of the composer's best and most enduring music. There's nothing quite like Die Walküre. On a good night (or in a good recording) this is a four hour story that unfolds with the pace of a breakneck car chase--one involving flying horses.

Opera Review: The Brother From Another Opera

Siegmund falls early; the Met revives Die Walküre.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Wotan, (Mark Delavan) Brünnhilde (Deborah Voigt) and (at right) a plank of the "Machine."
Scene from Act II of Die Walküre. Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

There were no technical problems with Saturday morning's matinee performance of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre. In fact, the Metropolitan Opera's revival of the second chapter in Robert Lepage's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen went off without a glitch from the "Machine," the 45-ton set that occasionally upstages the gods and mortals that inhabit this mythic German drama.

On Saturday morning, the problem was...allergies.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Die Walküre

Robert Lepage's high-flying Wagner circus continues.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Nine girls and a machine in Act III of Die Walküre.
(That's Deborah Voigt bringing up the rear.)
Photo by Ken Howard © 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

Like every opera in Robert Lepage's version of The Ring, Die Walküre takes place on a massive unit set with 24 rotating planks above the Met stage. Over the course of four hours, the "Machine" (as stage-hands call it) transforms into mountain-tops, buildings, trees, and even a gigantic flying wing for the Ride of the Valkyries.

An Unexpected Wagner Treat

The Met Live in HD Die Walküre on YouTube.
by Paul Pelkonen.

There's that pesky spotlight:
Jonas Kaufmann as Siegmund.
Photo by Ken Howard
© 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

Christmas continues to roll along. Today is the tenth day. In lieu of ten lords-a-leaping, here's nine Valkyries from the Met.

James Levine is not appearing at the Met this season or the next. But Wagner lovers can take this opportunity (while it's still up) to enjoy this May 14, 2011 performance of Die Walküre, the same footage shown in the opera company's Live in HD broadcast. This was the last performance he conducted at the Met before the start of his current hiatus.

This performance stars Jonas Kaufmann (Siegmund), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde), Hans-Peter Köning (Hunding), Deborah Voigt (Brunnhilde), Stephanie Blythe (Fricka), Bryn Terfel (Wotan.)

The subtitles are in French, but the price is right.

Some comments as I watch:

This is the first time I've seen any of the broadcast footage of the Ring. (I saw Rheingold twice last year, and Walküre three times in the theater. Up close, the problem of the actors blocking the digital projectors (and having trees and such projected on their bodies) bothers me a lot more than it did in the house.

All footage © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera. 

This is the first time I've seen any of the broadcast footage of the Ring. (I saw Rheingold twice last year, and Walküre three times in the theater. Up close, the problem of the actors blocking the digital projectors (and having trees and such projected on their bodies) bothers me a lot more than it did in the house.

In the hut scene, the blocking (actors at hip height under the walkway, etc.) works better on television or in the movie theater than it did in the house.

Whenever a singer in a spotlight goes near the projection of the ash tree the bark disappears. That doesn't happen with real scenery.

There's a weird background noise in Act I. Is that the noise of the projectors being picked up by the recording equipment? The La bohème snow-fall? And are those creaks and clacks coming from the musicians in the pit or from the Machine itself?

Singers and audio seem slightly out of sync. Weird as it's a film of a live broadcast--probably some sort of carrier delay between mikes and cameras and the truck.

Hans Peter König's Hunding is like a creepy Santa Claus. Not even Macy's--he's dressed by Hot Topic. With tree bark projected on his face.

I understand that the camera pulls back to see Robert Lepage's shadow-plays during the narration but it is worse than it was in the house, taking focus totally off the singers.

Why did everyone get up from the table while Hunding told the story? Oh right. The director seems to care more about the animation than the singers. Maybe we should start calling this the PIXAR Ring.

Hunding's hut looked like IKEA in the theater. On the HD it still looks like IKEA. The Met has a Raymour and Flanigan and a Gracious Home up the street...maybe a nice lamp? A print of the old production? A stuffed Fafner? Something to punctuate the dreariness?

Blog You Like a Hurricane

First: a Hurricane Irene update.

Although I'm not really sure why you should be getting your hurricane news from a classical music site, I can tell you that the onset of Hurricane Irene has put a damper (pun intended) on music activities this weekend in New York City.

• Tomorrow night's season-ending performance of the Mozart Requiem has been cancelled, which makes tonight's show the last of a highly successful festival. Review to follow.
• Also axed: the first two nights of the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD Festival which would have featured showings of last year's Don Pasquale and a 2010 Simon Boccanegra with Plácido Domingo. The Festival will (hopefully) open on Monday with the scheduled showing of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride starring Susan Graham.

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb?

Tenor Cancels Japan Tour for Medical Check.

UPDATE: Tenor Jonas Kaufmann has cancelled his commitment to sing in an upcoming tour of Japan with the Bavarian State Opera, but will meet New York commitments including Faust and Die Walküre.

Jonas Kaufmann as Siegmund.
Photo by Ken Howard.
© 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

In a statement, the tenor wrote:

I need to have an operation to remove a node in my thoracic area. I do not wish anyone to become alarmed reading this, but my physicians have ordered me to have the surgery as soon as possible. This will take place after my appearance in Stockholm on September 2. I am pretty sure that the results of the histological examination will come up "benign" but as I said, this procedure could not be further delayed.

Mr. Kaufmann was scheduled to sing the role of Don José, and the title role in Lohengrin. He will be replaced in the latter by South African tenor Johan Botha.

Mr. Kaufmann is scheduled to sing the title role in the Metropolitan Opera's new staging of Faust, which premieres on Nov. 29. This new staging is by Jersey Boys director Dez McAnuff and was first presented at the English National Opera.

 Mr. McAnuff updates Gounod's opera to the 20th century and the birth of the atomic bomb. already seen one cancellation: Angela Gheorghiu nixed her commitment to it earlier this year, citing "artistic differences."

The tenor burned up the stage in 2011 in the role of Siegmund in the company's new production of Die Walküre. Mr. Kaufmann is currently signed to reprise the role of Siegmund in three performances of Walküre, part of the company's complete staging of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

We here at Superconductor would like to wish Mr. Kaufmann a speedy recovery, and we hope that his prognosis is good.

CD Review: The Grand Master's Wagner

The conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, in action.

The last decade has seen a slew of bargain-box reissues of Wagner's Ring Cycle. The latest of these, issued by EMI on May 17th in North America to (hopefully) coincide with the composer's 198th birthday, is Wilhelm Furtwängler's second recording of the four operas, made for Italian radio in 1953.

Furtwängler is celebrating his 125th birthday this year. One of the most controversial, and important Wagner interpreters of the 20th century, he was a born Romantic. Specializing in Wagner, Bruckner and Beethoven, he conducted with an organic feel, letting tempos fluctuate in order to mine greater meanings and depths of expression. On these discs, new and exciting details of the score come forth. As expected, the orchestra stretches and flexes under his baton, taking the music in fascinating new directions.

Examples of this idiosyncratic approach include an ultra-slow version of the charging Act III prelude from Siegfried, the rapid Rhine Journey, and the devastating heaviness brought out in Hagen's Watch.. This is always one of the most difficult parts of Götterdämmerung, and the maestro does the right thing: speeding up with anticipation as the scene changes back to Brunnhilde's rock, and then pausing, seeming to stop breathing as the next scene starts.

Big climactic moments, like the Entrance of the Gods, the Magic Fire scene and of course, the Immolation are heard with a new freshness that makes this set hold up on repeated listens. The orchestra plays beyond their abilities, as the maestro makes his Italian band sound like Bayreuth's finest. And yes, it's in mono sound, but the voices sound fresh and immediate, with details leaping out of the orchestra. There is an audience--they applaud enthusiastically at the end of each act--but they make minimal noise otherwise.

The singing is very good. Ludwig Suthaus recorded Tristan with Furtwängler in 1952, and that experience pays off in his Siegfried. Wolfgang Windgassen sings Siegmund here, a rarity for the tenor who preferred the role of Siegfried. (He also sings Loge in Das Rheingold.) Soprano Martha Mödl was recorded here at the height of her powers. brings all of her resources to Brünnhilde, creating a compelling portrait over three operas.

These discs also preserve Ferdinand Frantz' memorable portrayal as Wotan, the deal-breaking god of Das Rheingold, the tormented father in Die Walküre and the sad and lonely Wanderer of Siegfried. This is a towering performance. Gottlob Frick is a brutish Hunding. Josef Griendl a memorable, venomous Hagen. And in Siegfried, tenor Julius Patzak shows that the role of Mime can be sung, not screeched.

Wagner lovers and Furtwängler aficionados probably own this set already. But if you've only heard of the conductor, or only heard whispers of his legendary podium prowess, this is worth checking out. Sure, the packaging is ugly and somewhat unimaginative. There's no libretto included. But for top-notch Wagner at about $4 per disc, the price is certainly right.

Backdraft: The Musical

Solving the "Magic Fire" in Die Walküre

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Met's "magic fire" effect in the Robert Lepage production of Die Walküre.
Photo by Richard Termine © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

One of the reasons for the enduring popularity of Die Walküre is the Magic Fire scene which ends the opera. The warrior maiden Brunnhilde is sentenced to punishment by her father Wotan. She is laid to sleep atop a rocky height, and surrounded with fire, a barrier which can only be crossed by the hero Siegfried.

DVD Review: The Boulez Ring: Die Walküre

Donald McIntyre as Wotan in the Magic Fire scene from Die Walküre.

The second installment of the landmark Boulez/Chéreau Ring is a passionate, fiery performance that rockets forward with momentum, passion, and energy. From Peter Hofmann's entrance, the sense of sexual chemistry between Siegmund and Sieglinde (Jeanine Altmeyer) propels the first act, aided by delicate textures and precise orchestral playing. This is one of the fastest performances of Die Walküre ever recorded, but Boulez does not skip over the big moments--he just gives them a greater sense of urgency.

Hofmann, a sturdy Nordic blonde who looks the part of a Wagnerian hero, does not have the prettiest heldentenor voice--he later went into contemporary repertoire and country music. However, 1980 saw the singer at a personal peak, and this Siegmund is his legacy performance. Altmeyer (who has the distinction of singing Freia, Sieglinde and Brunnhilde in three different video productions of Wagner's operas) expertly conveys the weight of Sieglinde's plight. Matti Salminen is a fine Hunding, portrayed here as the leader of a gang of Mafia toughs who will help him hunt down the hero who steals his wife.

Peter Hofmann and Gwyneth Jones in Act II of Die Walküre

Act II introduces Brunnhilde, sung by Welsh soprano Gwyneth Jones. Jones is a singer with a powerful instrument who, through the course of a long career, was beset by vocal inconsistency. However, she is a consumnate actress, and although her voice isn't always pretty, she sings with passion and power. Few other Brunnhildes capture the character's blend of bravado, innocence and vulnerability. This comes across most strongly in the Annunciation of Death scene. Boulez makes that famous three-note figure shimmer in the air as Brunnhilde confronts (a now shirtless) Siegmund and informs him that he is going to die in the coming fight. This is the scene upon which the whole Ring turns, and the actors are superb.

Donald McIntyre remains one of the most intelligent interpreters of Wotan ever committed to videotape. The famous moment when he stares into a mirror and removes the covering from his mutilated eye remains a signature image of this Ring Cycle. His reliable bass-baritone lacks warmth and some of the sonorous depth associated with the part (although this may be due to Boulez' interpretation of the score.) However, this remains a deeply understood reading of the character that makes perfect dramatic sense. And he dominates the latter half of the third act, singing a moving Wotan's Farewell despite an orchestral accompaniment that wants to make it as brief as possible.




Hunding (Matti Salminen) deals with a domestic issue in Act I of Die Walküre

All photos and video footage © 1980 Unitel/Deutsche Grammophon.

Opera Review: The Siegmund Exit

In which illness defeats our intrepid correspondent.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Act III of the Met's Die Walküre.

The much-ballyhooed experiment of having Lorin Maazel conduct Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera House proved most interesting at the January 28 performance. This run of the opera marks the conductor's return to the Met podium after a 45-year absence. Maazel seems to prefer lyrical flow and feel over big dramatic moments. His opening storm scene left something to be desired--there was no sense of angst or terror in the music. However, he found his groove with the introduction of the singers.

Clifton Forbis sang a fine Siegmund, with thrilling tenor notes and a sweet, romantic tone for the love-music of the first act. Act II complmented the first, with some notable baritonal notes that most Siegmunds have a problem reaching down for.

 Deborah Voigt's Sieglinde is something of a Met institution and a signature role for this great soprano. She went from timid housewife to ardent lover to terrified fugitive, expertly acted and beautifully sung. Both twins had good chemistry together onstage. Mikhail Petrenko gave a new take on Hunding, resonant and intimidating with fine bass pitch.