Many small statues of Wagner placed on front lawn.
Conductor - Simone Young. Siegfried - Klaus Florian Vogt, Mime - Ya-Chung Huang, Der Wanderer - Tomasz Konieczny, Alberich - Olafur Sigurdarson, Fafner - Tobias Kehrer, Erda - Okka von der Damerau, Brunnhilde - Catherine Foster, Waldvogel - Alexandra Steiner, Der junge Hagen - Branko Buchberger, Grane - Igor Schwab.
Here are the titles of the Acts as provided by the Program Book. Act I: decades later - "The joys of education;" Act II: Fafner's home - "Twilight of the Patriarchs;" Act III: after Fafner's death - "A new generation."
The worlds of the Ring begin to spiral out of control when we get to Siegfried; the new world as envisioned by Valentin Schwarz simply spirals. The main complaint again is how many loose ends are in the new story line, and how many heretofore great music episodes are now devoid of any meaning.
The music continues to inspire, although there are weak spots here or there. Some of that can be attributed to singers not in front of solid objects, thus not benefitting from reflections from them.
One of the highlights of the old story is how Notung is forged by Siegfried as he sings one of the more hummable tunes. Here he says "Notung" many times, but we are not sure what he is trying to make. There is this sword hidden in the crutch left by Wotan, but the sword is used only to knock the pistol off Wotan's hand, and not used to kill Fafner, who simply dies of either old age, sickness, or possibly boredom. The old story does not have Wotan handing over any weapons, which is used to kill Mime instead of Fafner. As an older Hagen now appears next to Fafner, one wonders what his role would be when Brunnhilde sees the ring on Siegfried's finger in Gotterdammerung. His character development is such that he can't possibly be whom people desire anymore. This reinforces my point that the new story removes much of the drama and replaces it with a milquetoast of a plot.
The Waldvogel starts as Fafner's nurse, which is another of the so-called clever actor placements. She seems a bit rushed in her singing, but the tunes are pleasant enough. Is there flirting between her and Siegfried? One can argue having the forest bird on stage is an improvement over the projection of a bird on the background. The orchestra did a great job here describing how Siegfried and Waldvogel establish their communication. What is missing, naturally, is how Siegfried acquires the ability to understand the bird after touching Fafner's blood.
A reviewer claims such techniques generate some sort of economy; frankly I don't know what he means. As the music remains the same, the scenes take equally to morph from one to the other, whether it is Erda emerging from the deep earth, or the Waldvogel begins talking to Siegfried. Clever, may be; but the technique adds nothing to either the drama or the flow of the opera.
In the new story there are no heroics involved with the re-awakening of Brunnhilde: she simply walks back on the stage. The way she greets the sun and light when she emerges from her bandages (so she also underwent plastic surgery?) was still one of the great moments in the opera.
After Act I: Mime, The Wanderer, and Siegfried.
After Act II: Fafner, Waldvogel, Mime, Alberich, The Wanderer, Hagen, and Siegfried. Why is Siegfried wearing a vest?
After Act III: Grune (noticeably older), Erda, Siegfried, Brunnhilde, The Wanderer, and Hagen. Many non-singing extras were used in this production.
With Simone Young.
Let me quote the last sentence in the Program Book on this opera: Between longing for love and the urge to die, the militant duo celebrate a future that is to be their alone. Make it make sense for me. (I know I said earlier I didn't want to add legitimacy to the Program Book by quoting from it.)
The effort to remove the high points of the operas may be deliberate, and I don't know how a person in charge of keeping Wagner's spirit alive can stand for it. Wagner's idea is to offer a "gesamtkunstwerk," which definitely would include the story, and replacing it with a different story line (one that doesn't work, at that) would be an insult to that idea, no? On top of that, the audience finds emotional resonance only when they refer back to the original story. So my attitude on the new production now shifts more towards the disdain end of the spectrum.
The opera ended a little after 10 pm.
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