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Ron Dough
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« on: 22:01:44, 11-03-2007 » |
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Too late for Rheingold, which I only discovered whilst it was already half-way through earlier this evening, but if you can receive the Performance Channel then there's an excellent chance to see a very different perspective on The Ring in a staged cycle from Stuttgart, rather simpler in execution than the Garden's. By looking at the piece from two radically varied viewpoints in quick succession one gets a rare opportunity to consider not only each production's relative strengths and weaknesses, but also to balance their overall take on a work that (love it or loathe it) offers one of the deepest and most complex examinations of the human condition in the whole of operatic literature.
Walkure, 18:30 18/iii/07, Siegfried, 18:30 25/iii/07, Gotterdammerung 18:30 1/iv/07. Performance Channel
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HtoHe
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« Reply #1 on: 23:38:30, 11-03-2007 » |
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an excellent chance to see a very different perspective on The Ring in a staged cycle from Stuttgart,
Is this the Zagrosek one from 2002/3? I saw all of them live and was underwhelmed (though a week in lovely Stuttgart was more than adequate compensation!). One aspect of the different perspective imho is the huge improvement in Lisa Gasteen between her 'Siegfried' performance there and her superb Royal Opera 'Walküre' which I heard at the Proms. The acting of JF West is too hammy even to be funny, though his voice wasn't as bad as some have complained. And the end of the Stuttgart 'Götterdämmerung' must be one of the biggest cop-outs in the history of drama. Still, if it's on telly for free I wouldn't want to put anyone off watching. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #2 on: 23:52:55, 11-03-2007 » |
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Yes, it is the Zagrosek. Bearing in mind that fact that some have found the Garden one a little strange, this rather straighter (and far less expensive) cycle just goes to show the extra layers of meaning that the London one reveals...
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HtoHe
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« Reply #3 on: 00:10:38, 12-03-2007 » |
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Yes, it is the Zagrosek. Bearing in mind that fact that some have found the Garden one a little strange, this rather straighter (and far less expensive) cycle just goes to show the extra layers of meaning that the London one reveals...
Thanks, Ron Dough. Did you mean the production cost less or the tickets were cheaper? Of course everywhere's cheaper than Covent Garden but Stuttgart is quite expensive by continental standards. You are aware, aren't you, that this cycle uses different directors and different casts for each of the four parts?. As far as I remember none of the imagery carries over from one 'day' to the others. This was one of its 'selling points' but for me it just didn't work. My hosts at the Stuttgart B&B were big Wagnerians - been to Bayreuth and everything - and they refused to go to this cycle. I must say I had some sympathy with them - just what is to be gained, for example, by deciding Wotan should have two eyes for a change? - but, for all my reservations I can't really say I regretted going. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #4 on: 07:07:26, 12-03-2007 » |
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Production costs were what I meant, certainly for Rheingold, with its single set and no transformations. Having seen comments elsewhere about the London Nibelung brothers resembling a pair of Steptoes, then the very neat and dapper duo here, three piece suits and all, seem much further away from the frankly repulsive, miserable pair that the libretto suggests and the Garden provides; the very cut-and-dried direction rather belittled the piece for me, but I'll suppose it could be argued that by having each episode of the cycle from a different director there may still be a chance for different layers of the onion skin to be revealed in the succeeding operas; certainly the rather extreme eugenics experiment of the London Nibelheim scene provides masses more food for thought than the very ordinary and rather uneventful one at Stuttgart.
What I saw of last night's performance reminded me of a good provincial Rep. production of a Shakespeare; but I'm still really glad of the chance to set the London cycle into immediate relief by using the stereoscopic effect of another viewpoint....
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #5 on: 12:48:58, 19-03-2007 » |
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After the Stuttgart Rheingold, I have to say that the Walkure seems a massive disappointment, unless you want a good giggle at all that's worst in contemporary opera production. Here the Valkyries resemble a clutch of backstreet toms with brown paper wings and megaphones strapped to their arms, presiding over a rickety conveyor belt upon which distorted dressmakers' dummies, presumably representing the departed warriors, occasionally make their jerky passage across the stage....
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HtoHe
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« Reply #6 on: 18:00:14, 21-03-2007 » |
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Good evening Ron the Walkure seems a massive disappointment, unless you want a good giggle at all that's worst in contemporary opera production. Here the Valkyries resemble a clutch of backstreet toms I didn't want spoil the rest of the 'Ring' for you so I only mentioned the 'two eyed Wotan' because I knew you'd already seen 'Rheingold'. There were plenty of other things in the Stuttgart production(s) that were either infantile or too sophisticated for my pedestrian brain; I'll leave you to decide which! The 'Walk - huren' that you mention was one of them. As soon as I saw them I thought "please tell me the director hasn't chosen these costumes just to make a schoolboy pun". I still haven't seen my recordings of the Covent Garden 'Siegfried' and 'Götterdämmerung'. The Cologne 'Walküre' and 'Siegfried' that I saw on Thursday and Friday were workmanlike productions that I found far more satisfactory than the more prestigious Stuttgart equivalents. Don't you feel jealous of the Germans for having this kind of thing readily available? I certainly do. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #7 on: 22:12:20, 21-03-2007 » |
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Htohe,
Despite the crass inanities of the Stuttgart Walküre, I'm still really glad to have seen it; I stick by seeing more in a work by viewing more than one interpretation, and it does underline how deep and many layered the Covent Garden one is (and also the huge amount that must have been thrown at it). The fact that there are several houses in Germany where one can see a Ring - or indeed any opera at all - is a reason for jealousy, yes. And I'll certainly record the other two Stuttgart episodes, too: can things get any worse? Don't tell me yet......
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HtoHe
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« Reply #8 on: 22:58:03, 21-03-2007 » |
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Despite the crass inanities of the Stuttgart Walküre, I'm still really glad to have seen it
Oh, yes. Given a straight choice between seeing it and not seeing it I go for the former every time. There are things to like about it - the orchestral playing was fine for one.
can things get any worse? Don't tell me yet......
I wouldn't dream of telling you, Ron. For one thing it's a matter of opinion whether things get worse or not. I'd be interested to know your opinions when you've seen the remainder. You'll be £60 up on me when you've made your recordings - when I saw the DVDs at a knock-down price I succumbed to temptation despite my reservations about the production. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #9 on: 23:04:45, 25-03-2007 » |
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Htohe,
Even though I missed the beginning, coming in about halfway through Act 1, have to say that I found the Siegfried very much better than Die Walküre as a production: granted the trailer-trash hero looks implausible, but he doesn't do badly in all, a few ugly sounds aside. Nothing seemed as forced or out of place as last week, and that really helped the acting; thought the Mime in particular was superb; a radical departure from what is in danger of becoming a clichéd norm. Gasteen unrecognisable: I'd forgotten it was her and never guessed... Some of the stage pictures were arresting, too; the Woodbird, dead Fafner propped on the wire netting....just quick first thoughts, will follow up later...
Ron
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #10 on: 00:02:09, 29-03-2007 » |
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Have just discovered that they're repeating the cycle over Easter, from Rheingold on Good Friday through to Götterdämerung on Easter Monday, each evening at 18:30 on the Performance Channel.
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HtoHe
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« Reply #11 on: 21:59:42, 07-04-2007 » |
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Hi Ron
Sorry to be so long getting back to you. Thanks for your thoughts on 'Siegfried'. I thought John-Frederic West's acting was awful. I know it's not unusual to portray S as infantile and idiotic but this was way over the top in my opinion. The production itself was, as you say, more coherent and thoughtful than the 'Walküre' of this cycle, and I agree that Mime was well portrayed, but overall I thought it could benefit from better acting. Gasteen was somewhat demented, too. She's a little less abandoned, and in much better voice, in the ROH 'Siegfried' that I finally watched the other night. I'm looking forward to the 'Götterdämmerung', which I should get round to before the holiday's over. What did you think of the Stuttgart 'Götterdämmerung'? If it weren't for that outrageous ending I'd probably say it was on a par with 'Siegfried' but I just can't overlook the sheer awfulness of it at the climax of a 15 hour epic. I won't say any more until I'm sure you've seen it.
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #12 on: 22:27:23, 07-04-2007 » |
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HtoHe
I've seen it already: as you say, something of a cop out, but on the other hand cleverly pointing out that any representation is likely to fail at that point. All in all not a bad production, quite up to the level of the Siegfried, with some weird and wonderful touches (Siegfried in a pinny e.g.) but I loved what they did with the set - until the end. I'm beginning to wonder whether they just ran out of rehearsal time...
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HtoHe
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« Reply #13 on: 00:15:41, 08-04-2007 » |
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<<something of a cop out>> Rather an understatement imho. <<any representation is likely to fail at that point>> Not really. Of course none is going to be perfect but that's no excuse for not trying. As I was saying, in my very imperfect German, to a lady on the U-Bahn on the way back to my hotel: if I want to read the stage directions I can do that at home. NB, I don't, of course, accost innocent German ladies on the U-Bahn - we were both reading our programmes and she struck up a conversation with me! As I said earlier, I wouldn't want to put anyone off watching the broadcasts but, from what I've seen, the ROH production is in a different league. I don't know where 'Performance' gets its material from. This production was made for SWR TV - I was sitting behind a bloody camera for 'Siegfried' - so I expect they got it from there. The Nederlandse Opera production under Hartmut Haenchen has, I believe, been shown on Dutch TV so it's worth looking out for that one on 'Performance' rather than buy the DVDs (as I did - again: I'm a sucker for getting recordings of things I've seen live). This, in my opinion, is an altogether more satisfactory cycle and if you thought the Stuttgart Mime was good I'd be interested to know what you think of Graham Clark in this one. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #14 on: 08:47:18, 08-04-2007 » |
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Almost anything that's turned up on DVD seems to be available to the Performance Channel, and a good deal more besides: masses of European stuff, and even some ex-Beeb material, like the Britten Prince of the Pagodas today, I'll keep my eyes out for it.
(I've never seen Graham Clark perform ever, which is really strange since our paths used to cross frequently; we used to live quite close together, and would often meet en route to and from our various performances.)
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