DVD Review: We Ain't in Valhalla No More

The Copenhagen Ring concludes. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen
(This is the fourth and final installment in our ongoing review of the Copenhagen Ring Cycle, directed by Kaspar Bech Holten. Featuring the Royal Danish Opera conducted by Michael Schønwandt. Read the reviews of Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried, also on Superconductor.)

Peter Klaveness, (Hagen) Guido Paevetalu (Gunther) and Stig Andersen (Siegfried)  in Act III of Götterdämmerung.
Photo by Martin Renne © 2006 Royal Danish Opera/Universal Classics.

In the final chapter of the Ring, director Kaspar Bech Holten updates this story of marriage, betrayal and murder on the banks of the Rhine to the 1990s. Mr. Holten poses modern problems for these heroes of German myth. Sometimes, he ignores the finer points of the libretto, but the result is worth seeing, a powerful operatic experience and an interesting spin on the whole saga. 

DVD Review: Bringing Up Knucklehead

The Copenhagen Ring continues with Siegfried.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

(This is the third installment in our ongoing review of the Copenhagen Ring Cycle, directed by Kaspar Bech Holten, performed by the Royal Danish Opera conducted by Michael Schønwandt. Read the reviews of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, also on Superconductor.)

Chalk talk: Siegfried (Stig Andersen, right) explains genetics to Mime (Bengt-Ola Morgny.)
Photo by Martin Renne © 2006 Royal Danish Opera/Universal Classics.

This third opera is the "light" chapter in Wagner's mythological drama. But Siegfried presents the director with a mighty set of challenges. It is to Mr. Holten's credit that he ignores them, re-imagining the opera as a situation comedy. This approach is clear from the set designs for Mime's cave: a low-rent townhouse complete with an attic bedroom for the restless young hero, with comic books, posters, and a guitar on the wall.