Well, how about that for service? The Siegfried I ordered just before lunch yesterday arrived at 9:30 this morning!

There are some production photos in the booklet, which I may try and post later if people would like. It clearly shows how the orchestra have been used as a vital part of the action, with illuminated walkways crossing and in front of the pit.

The conductor, Hartmut Haenchen, provides a booklet essay (no libretto, sadly) on ‘Tempo, balance, tone and sound effects in Wagner’ which is both interesting and provocative, especially in dismissing some Bayreuth performances. He quotes Richard Strauss: “It’s not me who’s got faster in Parsifal, you people in Bayreuth have got slower and slower. Believe me, what you are doing in Bayreuth is really wrong.” He goes on to explain how the covered pit inevitably leads to slow performances, quoting Wieland Wagner: "This is what causes a lot of the dragging here in Bayreuth. Everyone waits more or less unconsciously for the other and only decides to go on when he thinks he can hear him."

They have compiled the 1876 annotations by Wagner and his assistants, about a third of which are concerned with requiring faster tempi than Hans Richter used in rehearsals. Certainly, this performance is a speedy one – 223 minutes compared to 237 for Solti and 251 for Levine (the latter’s lethargic approach probably no surprise).
Interestingly, I note that the role of the Woodbird is taken by a boy soprano, which corresponds with a footnote Wagner made on the score ‘to be sung by a boy’s voice’, although he had to abandon his original idea for the first performance.

Now, I’m no Wagner expert. Indeed, I’ve often found the Ring hard work; I think Rheingold is great, parts of Walküre work for me, but interest tends to wane in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (ducks for cover behind sofa!) despite the ‘purple patches’ in the score. I don’t know a plethora of recordings – Levine was my first exposure to the Ring and I also received a Solti set some years ago as an introductory offer to Britannia – so what I write is by no means that from one of our more experienced Wagner commentators.

I’ve just had a listen to Act I and Graham Clark is just marvellous as Mime, relishing his role and taking great care over the words. Stig Andersen is a new name to me, but has a bright, fresh tenor – wonder how he’ll do later on into the performance when he’s matched up with Brunnhilde who’s not had to do a couple of hours of singing before she appears?! The Wanderer is Albert Dohmen, who I remember as a particularly malevolent Scarpia some years ago. His is a more baritonal Wotan than I’m used to, but it’s a fine voice.

The sound is exceptionally fine – a real sense of presence, with clear orchestral detail, but the singers are not swamped at all, which was what I feared on seeing the photos of the staging. Very good playing by the Netherlands Philharmonic. Tempi are swift, but it propels the action on. I find it a most exciting opening act.

Well, the sword is forged. After a shopping break and some lunch, will report back later…

Act II…

The dragon is dead, as is Mime, and Siegfried’s off, following the Woodbird to Brünnhilde’s rock. This is very good stuff indeed – the orchestral climax being Fafner’s death which is thrilling. Fafner in his cave uses a speaking tube, rather than electronic effects, and you cannot hear him terribly well, but his death throes are movingly portrayed (Mario Luperi). The Alberich/Wanderer confrontation at the start of the act is good too – well contrasted voices. The controversial bit in this act, as indicated earlier, is the use of a boy soprano for the Woodbird, rather than the coloratura soprano – and there have been some big names used in this role over the years (Joan Sutherland, Kiri Te Kanawa, Dawn Upshaw). It’s certainly unusual but Robin Schlotz of the Tölzer Knabenchor does a very creditable job, to my ears. I wonder what others will think (Listen to exceptrs on iTunes which is the only place I’ve located with clips).  

Here are some of the booklet photos illustrating the production:

 







Once or twice in the Alberich/ Mime confrontation outside Fafner’s lair, the orchestra overwhelmed the voices, but it’s not a problem at any other time. I’ll repeat what I posted earlier – the orchestral contributions are fantastic and the sound vivid.

Off out now across the ridge (hoping not to meet any dragons on the way!); will post thoughts on Act III later this evening.

 

Morning, IGI! A silly question: what does SACD mean?  I had hesitated before buying the complete cycle (individually though) from Amazon, where an important note reads that the CDs will play only if the system has specific technical characteristics, and I guess they won't play on a conventional CD system. I don't enjoy playing music on my laptop, but if I have to, do I need to install a special programme to play these CDs, and what's the point of SACD, anyway? 

Good morning, Parsifal! Yes, Opilec's right - that note on Amazon's page is misleading. Hybrid SACDs have different 'layers' as I understand it, so that if you put the disc into a conventional CD player, the machine recognises it as a CD and plays it as normal - even on a standard CD player the sound quality of stereo SACD is notably better than standard 'red book' CDs. If you have the right equipment - i.e. a player which plays SACDs (mine will play DVDs, mp3s, CD-Rs etc) and a surround sound speaker system, such as this:



then you'll experience something (usually) even greater. I'm surprised that there haven't been more operatic releases on SACD as it's a perfect medium to experience the 'sound stage' and the acoustic/ambience of the opera house.

The first SACDs to appear, if I remember correctly, could only be played on an SACD player, hence the notice on Amazon, but very soon I think the companies realised that this wasn't going to be viable and so Hybrid SACDs started to appear. In fact, some companies like BIS do not issue two versions of their discs any more but just issue the Hybrid version. So, it is possible to begin building up an SACD collection even if you don't yet have the equipment to fully enjoy it. These Etcetera discs also appear to be very reasonably priced too, which is a bonus...

SACD is well worth it, I find. The only other opera I have is LSO Live's Falstaff, which is highly recommended - good cast, fine playing, well conducted. As I posted earlier, I cannot understand why opera houses haven't used this technology more to issue their own SACD recordings, although I suspect it's down to contractual reasons with big name singers. LSO's Dream of Gerontius is also very fine, as are their Beethoven symphony recordings under Haitink, although I'd recommend those strongly whatever the format. Choral music works well - there's a super Tallis disc on Naxos. Most of my SACDs tend to be big orchestral stuff - Mahler, Shostakovich and the like - although there are some particularly fine chamber music discs. BIS are particularly good at SACD - I like their Grieg series from the Bergen Phil - as are PentaTone, who only issue SACDs. Some recordings try to put you in the middle of the orchestra, which is really not good; the best ones (most of them, really) put you in the best seat in the hall, so that you do experience the ambience/ acoustic of the venue. In things like Mahler, you do get the off-stage effects nicely - I look forward to Mahler 8 on SACD - PentaTone, I think, have remastered a Philips' Haitink recording which got very good reviews.

I do hope you enjoy it, Opilec, and post your thoughts; it's certainly been the best tenner I've spent for a long time! I also hope to sample, by way of rental, the DVD performances from 1999 - a very different cast, but I'm intrigued to see how this walkway over/ around the orchestra works.

Strange, I only just logged onto eBay to browse and there it was, just three minutes away...thought it was worth a try!