Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma - Anthony Pappano, conductor. May 21, 2019.

Frauenkirche Dresden.  Empore D (Seat R3-P45, 75 euros).

Program

Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Mahler.

When I was looking for concert listings for Dresden during the three days we would be here, I found out about this festival.  Some “big names” will be here, including Yuja Wang, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, and several world class orchestras.

The name of this Rome-based orchestra, established by Papal bull in the 1500s - is a bit on the long side, and I just found out Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians.  This would be the first time I get to hear them.

The Dresden bombing towards the end of the second world war destroyed the church, and under East German rule it laid in ruins as a memorial to the war. The rebuilding started after the reunification of the country, and re-consecrated on October 30, 2005.  Outside was a statue of Martin Luther, the only indication I could find that this is a Lutheran church.  The dome is supposed to be 

The altar area of the church was converted into the orchestra area, from where we sat (second balcony would be my description) we had a clear view of how the musicians were organized.

 A statue of Martin Luther stands outside of Frauenkirche.

A panoramic shot of the inside from our seat.  We couldn't see the dome, one of the largest in the world.

All this should provide an interesting concert experience.  On top of that, it was a delightful concert competently delivered by this orchestra.  We also had fun observing how the musicians went about their business, how the woodwinds would be raised for some passages, and how the percussionists moved from one station to the other, and – of course – how the special drum was struck.

There were two strikes for tonight’s concert, and the order of the inner movements was scherzo – andante.  Again, a discussion better reserved for the specialists.  My opinion is go with all three hammer blows, it takes a lot of logistics to get the drum to the stage.  On the other hand, superstition can make people do different things.  There is a music stand with (I'm quite sure) music in front of this special instrument.  One would think for two notes they can memorize when it is supposed to strike ...

Again, I couldn’t quite hear “tragic” in this symphony.  One could argue this or that theme is that of a funeral march, or that certain passages are sad, and that the quiet ending is a final surrender after tragedy strikes twice (or three times), but that is not necessary.  I may have said this before, in this Symphony Mahler wanders less and develops more.

The orchestra in general sounded great.  The few balance problems may be due to the acoustics of the hall.  The concertmaster’s solo lines were on the soft side, the flutes didn’t stand out as much, and the sound lingers a bit.  It is always interested to see the oboists being asked to play such long passages that their faces turn less, as they were on several occasions tonight.  (It was even more so at the Berlin Philharmonic concert.)

There were over 100 musicians in the performance.  The special drum and hammer can be seen in the back.

The concert started at 8:30 pm, and lasted till about 10 pm.

Semperoper Dresden. Puccini’s Tosca. May 20, 2019.

Semperoper Dresden.  Parkett Links (Seat R11-P10, 94 euros).

Story.  See previous blog.

Conductor – Stefano Ranzani.  Tosca – Hui He, Cavaradossi – Andeka Gorrotxategi, Scarpia – John Lundgren, Angelotti – Chao Deng.

 Inside the opera building.

I was made aware of this opera house by someone from my high school.  A search of the web indicated that Semper was the architect of the house first built in 1841, employing an eclectic combination of styles including Greek Corinthian, Baroque, and Renaissance.  It was destroyed by fire in 1869, and rebuilt in 1878 in Neo-Renaissance style.  This was largely destroyed by the Dresden bombing of 1945.  It re-opened 40 years later, with the outside almost exactly the same as before, but a modernized interior.

We traveled from Berlin to Dresden this morning, and seemed to have traveled back in time by many decides.  The backwaters feeling was further compounded by the blackened local sandstone which evidently was used quite extensively in the other impressive Theaterplatz.

The auditorium felt ornate, especially compared to what we just experienced in Deutsche Oper Berlin.  The detailed artwork all over are dedicated to various artists.

Our seats were again close to the stage, so we heard the voices very well.  I enjoyed the well-known arias, as well as some of the “dialog” in the opera.  The several motifs that are associated with the various characters were used repeatedly, to good effect.  He was a bit off in Vissi d’arte, although she still managed to get across the emotion quite well.  Gorrotxategi could have delivered a stronger “E lucevan le stelle.”  Instead of acceptance, I wanted more of “screaming at fate.”  Scarpia did well in that he probably made the audience hate him.  The orchestra – again not visible from where we sat – sounded great.

 End of Act 1 where the sinister singing of Scarpia sounded particularly evil against the pious singing of a church service.

From left are: Conductor Ranzani, Tosca, Caravadossi, Scarpia Boy soprano, ...

The sets were also on the simple end of the spectrum.  For the first two acts (church, and Scarpia’s dining room) three panels are used, for the last act the middle panel was taken away.  Accessories are added as appropriate.  These panels probably helped to reflect the sound of the singers.

It was a crisp evening (around 60F).  We stopped by Nordsee to grab a quick dinner before heading to the performance.

Deutsche Oper Berlin. Puccini’s Turnadot. May 18, 2019.

Deutsche Oper Berlin.  Parkett 1 (Seat R13-P23, 82 euros).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – John Fiore.  Turandot – Anna Simirnova, Calaf – Stefano La Colla, Liu – Meechot Marrero, Timur – Andrew Harris, Ping – Samuel Dale Johnson, Pang – Gideon Poppe, Pong – Michael Kim.

 Minimalist exterior of the Opera House.

 No chandeliers, no murals, simplicity defines the inside as well.

The walk from the train station was more interesting.

This was the first opera of this trip, and it was an opera staple, Turandot.

The Deutsche Oper Berlin first opened its doors in 1912, was destroyed during the second world war, and reopened with a newly design building in 1961.  The word to describe the outside design is “austere” and the inside is “practical.”  Which may not be all bad.  Another example would be Lincoln Center.  The auditorium seats 2000, which makes it rather large by German standards (La Scala seats also about 2000).  Our seats are in the center, close to the stage.  The acoustics are generally good.

The orchestra pit is deep, so we had no view of the conductor or the musicians during the performance.  During intermission I went up to a higher level to look at the set up, and a rather large orchestra was used.

The experience was mixed.  Let’s start with the good.  All the principals sang very well, Liu gentle and pleading; Calaf a bit insensitive,  but consumed by love; and Turandot quite severe.  The German audience probably isn’t much into applauding after each aria, it happened only once, after Liu delivered her haunting “Signore Ascolta.”  Calaf turned in an excellent Calaf in “Nessun dorma,” but there was no applause.  To make up for it, the applause at curtain call was very enthusiastic.

The costume is modern, but quite non-descript.  Most people are dressed up as Westerners, but one of the three “clowns” had a Chinese official dress on part of the time, the other sometime dressed up as a Turandot. 

Most “traditional productions” (I haven’t seen that many) have a severe-looking executioner wielding an axe at the beginning of the show.  What we got here was more like a comedy sketch, the victim pulled his coat above his head and ran around a bit before leaving the stage.  Liu has a skirt on, which was okay; but the light denim coat makes her look a bit ridiculous.  This most likely contributed to why the show seemed a comedy at the beginning.

The set was just a bit better than minimal.  There seemed to be this attempt to make the whole thing a play within a play.  We have several rows of folding chairs where the mob/chorus sat, with seat numbers painted on them.  In the back is a wall with a cutout up high, serving as the place where the officials sat.  For the third act the wall fell down (done after curtain, so for a couple of seconds the audience thought something went wrong.)

As the opera progressed, some surreal and disturbing elements crept in.  The “play within a play” aspect was done with some production people walking around the stage, but they more than direct, they herded and used their batons to keep people in line.  We are in Berlin, I am not sure it’s time to make references to its dark history yet.  After Liu committed suicide, her body (in effigy, no doubt) was hoisted up and remained hanging for quite a while, adding to the macabre feel of the production.  The most inexplicable thing was at the end Calaf and Turandot would knife Timur and the emperor, respectively, to death.

Curtain call in front of the set used for Act 3.  From left: emperor, Liu, Timur, Calaf, chorus master, conductor Fiore, Ping, Pang and Pong (the three not necessarily in order.)

In the on-line description of the story there is this “deep philosophical” discussion.  First, the annotator points out how inexplicable it was for Turandot and Calaf to come together, and that Liu sacrificed herself.  All good, I attribute that to the librettist not being able to put together a coherent story.  To me, one goes to Turandot for the music, not the story (for the first timer, some funny moments).  He (Jan Philipp Reemtsma) lost me when he then proceeded to talk about the connection between might and violence, and even proceeded to invent – as far as I know – the word “autotelian” which simply meant sadistic.  No one can deny his last sentence “Wherever spaces are created for the perpetration of autotelian violence, autotelian violence will be perpetrated.”  No kidding.

It took a lot of research for me to find out which is the most popular of the three or so opera houses in Berlin.  Berlin State Opera is in the former East Berlin, it has as Barenboim music director for life.  In a few days they will stage Macbeth with Placido Domingo in the lead role (read into this whatever you want, but still a big name).  It seats 1300 people. We walked by Komische Oper, you have to look for it to find it; photos of the interior show a more traditional opera theater.  It seems to put on less-known more modern operas.

Berlin Philharmoniker – Herbert Blomstedt, conductor; Yefim Bronfman, piano. May 17, 2019.

Grand Hall, The Philharmonie, Berlin.  Block B links (Seat Row 4 Platz 5, 91 euros).

Program

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in B flat major, op. 19 (ca. 1788-1801) by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Symphony No. 2 in G minor, op. 34 (1911-1915) by Stenhammar (1871-1927).

Since I will be writing quite a few of these reviews during this trip, each needs to be short, or I will fall terribly behind, and probably can’t recall the specifics.

Berlin Philharmonic is of course one of the best-known orchestras in the world.  Their home is the Philharmonie, completed in 1963.  That was about the same time Lincoln Center was completed. On the outside Philharmonie looks a lot more interesting for those into that kind of architecture.  Per Wikipedia, the inside “vineyard-style” was the first of its kind, with audience seating surrounding the orchestra stage.  After all these years it still looks fresh.  Interestingly the organ pipes are not in the center but to the left of the orchestra.

 Outside the Grosser Saal, Berlin Philharmonie.

Inside of the hall during intermission.  Note the organ on the right side of the picture.

The acoustics were okay, but I thought it could sound a bit cleaner.  We could hear the musicians fine (even the violas), but the overall effect was a bit too muddled for me to give it a perfect score.

Bronfman dispatched the Beethoven piece competently.  This early (or earliest if you use when the concerto was started as a measure) work of Beethoven had passages that sounded very Mozartean, although it showed a lot of Beethoven’s use of contrasts.  For a moment (second movement I think) the orchestra was a bit sloppy, but otherwise it proved to be a worthy partner.

Bronfman acknowledging the orchestra, with Blomstedt looking on.

As the encore Bronfman played Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3.

This was my first encounter with the music of the Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar.  I do not need to feel too bad, Blomstedt himself conducted this piece for the first time three years ago, and he is a Swedish conductor.  As Blomstedt is quoted in the Berlin Philhamonic website, this piece is less Richard Strauss but more Bach and Beethoven.

The 45 minute piece has four movements: (1) Allegro energico; (2) Andante; (3) Scherzo: Allegro, ma non troppo presto; and (4) Finale: Sostenuto – Allegro vivace – Tranquillamente – Allegro ma non troppo.

How does it sound?  It does contain quite a few melodies, which I assume to be Swedish.  And, as advertised, the structure is very easy to follow.  So easy that I sometimes wondered: could the guy have put a bit of mystery into it?  There are many instances where a melody is passed from section to section, and stretches of music where many sections play in unison.  For instance, the main theme of the last movement is an 11-note line consists of notes in a minor fifth that kept re-emerging in different sections, with variations that fail to disguise.

The Berlin Philharmonic at the conclusion of the concert.  Half the bass section was cut out in this photo.

In searching for more information on the work, I come across this article from the San Francisco Symphony.  I quote from the notes: “The Second Symphony dates from what is known as Stenhammar’s late, third and final period, which begun around 1910. It aims at objectivity—or even austerity in its most beautiful form—and displays some truly clever and masterful writing (especially in the finale). Full of lush allusions to Swedish folk music and folk-dance rhythms (particularly in the first and third movements), this symphony brings together all the best qualities of this master Swedish composer. It is no wonder that the Second Symphony has become known as one of the most outstanding orchestral works in the Swedish repertory.”  The symphony was premiered at the SFO in February 2018.

On the other hand, the piece is complex enough that on a first listen it didn’t sound boring.  I am sure I can find other good things to say about it, but nothing comes to mind right now.  Blomstedt calls this “undoubtedly [Stenhammar’s] greatest work.

This was my first encounter with the orchestra, but both Blomstedt and Bronfman are staples at Lincoln Center.

We took Bus M85 to the concert hall.  They run every 20 minutes after 10 pm, so we had to wait a bit for the return.

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Vladmir Jurowski, conductor; Alina Ibragimova, violin. May 16, 2019.

Konzerthaus Berlin – Grosser Saal.  Chorbalkon Mitte links (Open Seating, 21 Euros).

Program

“Die Hebriden” – Konzertouverture h-Moll op. 26 (1829-30, revised until 1835) by Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847).

Konzert fur Violine und Orchester d-Moll op. 8 (1881-1882) by Strauss (1864-1949).

Sinfonie Nr. 6 F-Dur op. 68 (“Pastorale”) by Beethoven.

 The Konzerthaus is located at the Gendarmenmarkt, flanked by the French and German Cathedrals.

 Inside the main hall.  Our seats are located below the organ, above the orchestra platform.

Poster for the concert.

Anne and I are on a 4-city concert tour of London and northern Germany.  First stop Berlin.  We got into town earlier this afternoon.

This concert was nearly sold out by the time I got around to booking the tickets on 5/12. The only available seats were in the “Chorbalon” where seats sold for E20 each.  While I could pick the actual seat numbers (if I remember correctly), it was actually open seating on some benches.  We didn’t get there early enough to get the best choices, but ours at the edge were okay, especially considering the prices we paid.

After having visited Fingal’s Cave, Mendelssohn’s overture has been quite enjoyable, and tonight was no exception.  My complaint is the sound wasn’t as crisp as I would expect from my memory of how the cave resonates from the incoming waves.  The dynamic range was very good.

I didn’t know anything about the Strauss violin concerto.  It was written when Strauss was only a teenager and consists of three movements: Allegro; Lento, ma no troppo; and Rondo – Presto. I can stop right here: this was the work of someone who knew a lot about orchestral music and about the violin.  It showcases the violin virtuoso’s technical prowess, the first movement (Allegro) starts with so many fast double stops that our soloist sometimes muddled through, and it was intense, non-stop motion.  The second movement (Lento, ma non troppo) had some beautiful melodies, and the last movement (Rondo, Presto) could be passed off as a Beethoven piece.  Indeed the wikipedia reference states that Strauss was very reverent of Mozart and Beethoven, although I would be hard pressed to hear much Mozart in the piece.

Alina Ibragimova is a Russian-British violinist trained at the Yehudin Menuhin school and the Royal School of Music.  The Strauss piece required a lot of violence on the violin, and she was busy clearing broken hairs on her bow between movements.  One can assume she and Jurowski got to know each other as the latter is music director of the London Philharmonic.

Ibragimova acknowledging the orchestra after performing Strauss's violin concerto.

Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony can sound down right delightful when performed well.  Tonight’s performance didn’t quite rise to that level, but was quite good.  The horn was either a hit or miss with the many passages where it figures prominently.

Jurowski acknowledging the woodwind section after performance of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.

The two primary organizations we want to see are the Berlin Philharmonic and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, this was a late add on (we booked the tickets on 5/21).  While it may not be inspiring (I run into a few every year), it was certainly worth the price of admission (and a lot more).

Sitting where we were, we had a good view of how Jurowski conducted.  His hand gestures are quite precise, and the orchestra responded quite well, although not most of the time.

The Konzerthaus is located along Unten den Linden, and is a short subway ride from our hotel (a change of train is required).

Metropolitan Opera – Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites. May 11, 2019.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat A19, $133).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Yannick Nezet-Seguin.  Blanche – Isabel Leonard, Madame de Croissy – Karita Mattila, Sister Constance – Erin Morley, Mother Marie – Karen Cargill, Madame Lidone – Adrianne Pieczonka.

I saw this opera a few years ago.  Anne couldn’t go, so we decided to do this again.  This entry is not supposed to be a complete review (few entries are), but rather a record of some of the thoughts that came to me during the performance.

From all indications, Yannick has been embraced enthusiastically by the audience, the critics, the Met management (at least the PR machine of theirs), and possibly the musicians.  I think he conducted three to four operas this season, and will have a similar workload next season.  Considering there are over 25 different operas staged every year, this seems to be a small fraction.  Admittedly I don’t know what the practice is, and a music director’s job is more than just conducting the orchestra.

For this season I also saw Yannick conduct Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande, I didn’t say much about his conducting in that blog entry, although I did say “filled with beautiful orchestral music.”  Today the orchestra also sounded well, and Yannick elicited an orchestra performance that had wide dynamic and emotional range, and he placed quite a bit of emphasis on some of the dramatic moments – and there were quite a few in the story.

The problem was it felt like Yannick was conducting just an orchestral performance; whether the sound from the orchestra balanced the voices of the singers didn’t seem to factor very much in his equation.  So one could have a singer start an aria well but would then get overwhelmed by the orchestra; this happened a lot.  The stage setup – mostly flat – probably didn’t help the singers a lot with their projection, and they sounded a lot weaker than how they sounded during the ring cycle.

Lest one asserts “of course different singers have different projections,” two of them (Cargill and Morley) also sang at the Ring cycle, where I had no problems with their voices.  (And I wonder if they would sing in the evening’s Gotterdammerung.)

Many stories are based on the French revolution, a tumultuous period where between 20,000 to 40,000 people were guillotined for being enemies of the revolution.  The execution of Carmelite nuns was a historical event, but it is unclear why they were killed.  Previously I had thought it was because they wouldn’t let the state confiscate their property, although I am no longer sure that was the reason after seeing tonight’s performance.

The death scene of the Prioress wasn’t as “mad” as the one I remembered from my prior encounter.  I do wonder whether she had gone mad, or she was afraid to die, or was she simply cursing at death.  The scene was certainly long enough that one would hope to understand the reason behind the emotions.  Or it was simply to contrast how the sisters calmly accepted death at the end?

Curtain Call.

I do understand why the opera started with the sisters lying prostrate on the ground (maybe).  During my trip last year to Germany I found out priests (and by extension nuns) did pray that way during the Reformation times, so it would be reasonable to expect the same tradition was observed three hundred years later.

In looking over my blog entry for the prior performance, I realized that it was also in the middle of a Ring cycle I was attending, and that Leonard and Morley are reprising their roles.

This is the New York Times review.  The reviewer heaps praises on the conductor; apparently he has better ears or a better seat (or both) as there were no balance problems indicated.

Today was the last day of the Met 2018-19 opera season.  If I counted correctly, this would be the 17^th I saw this season.

We drove in, and grab a snack at Gourmet Garage before the noon performance.

Joshua Bell, violin; Steven Isserlis, cello; and Jeremy Denk, piano. May 5, 2019.

Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, NJ.  Tier 1 (Seat E103, $73.65).

Program

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 (1839) by Mendelssohn (1809-18470.

Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 (1944) by Shostakovich (1906-1975).

Trio elegianque No. 1 in G minor (1892) by Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).

Piano Trio in A minor (1914) by Ravel (1875-1937).

Two of the three musicians are quite well-known, so it was easy to decide to buy a ticket to this event when discounted tickets became available.

I do not know what to listen for in Chamber Music except how the music sounds, how well the individual players do, and how the musicians work together as an ensemble.  Beyond those I usually don’t have much to say (for instance, about the structure of the piece or its movements.)

I can say so much, though.  The overall experience was great, the players performed beautifully – and there were some challenging passages; they cooperated well; the string players had great intonation.  The last item isn’t always a given, one “old” complaint I had of Bell was that his pitch was often off; to be fair, that complaint has been less frequent the last few years.

Here is my recollection of the individual pieces, aided by the notes I took during the performance:

Mendelssohn.  The movements are (i) Molto allegro ed agitato; (ii) Andante con moto tranquillo; (iii) Scherzo: Leggiero e vivace; and (iv) Finale: Allegro assai appassionato.  They add up to about 30 minutes.  Whoever thinks Prudential Hall has great acoustics has not seen much, the sound in Tier 1 sounded muddled,  The first movement sounded elegant bordering on regal, the second movement was peaceful, the third fiery, which led to an equally exciting finish in the fourth.  At this point I told myself I could sit through the whole thing, despite the antiseptic sound of the hall (for lack of a better adjective).

Shostakovich.  His movement markings tend to be straightforward, and for this 30-minute work they are Andante, Allegro con brio, Largo and Allegretto.  The cello began the movement with harmonics that slid up and down the instrument’s neck, and the movement has a simple sound I often associate with Shostakovich.  The violin and cello had a lot of muted passages.  Despite the marking of Andante for the movement, there were some fast passages thrown in.  The movement ended with a satisfying flourish.  The second movement was a non-stop exercise in allegro tempo.  The third movements started sounding like music written 150 years earlier, but the harmony eventually devolved into “weird,” with the strings making huge interval leaps.  The fourth movement was played attacca, and began with a lot of pizzicato.  It had a heavy dose of folk-like music but felt sad and dark overall.  Both strings had del segno and harmonics passages.  The work ended on quiet pizzicato from the strings.

Disclosure. I watched part of the Trio again on YouTube, with Gidon Kremer at the violin.  This was a recording from about 20 years ago, and he sounded much better then, with great intonation.

Before the concert began, some young people from a local youth chamber orchestra played the Canon by Pachelbel and a movement form Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins.  (The person next to me said they are from the Elizabeth Morrow School in North Jersey.)  Despite the ushers’ best efforts, they couldn’t stop some people from trying to take photographs or videos during the group’s performance.  What was inexcusable was how these family and friends felt they could come in and out as they pleased during the Trio’s performance, and that the ushers would allow them to do so.  My neighbor remarked, appropriately, that this wasn’t a baseball game.  The creaks and groans of the seats while people moved about had to be quite disturbing to the musicians.

The Elizabeth Morrow School Youth Chamber Orchestra played a couple of pieces before the Trio began.

Things quieted down a bit after the intermission.

The 15 minute Rachmaninoff piece provided a nice change of pace.  It began with the cello playing a fifth interval, followed by the violin.  When the piano crept into the ensemble it led with a beautiful romantic melody that Rachmaninoff seemed to have an abundant supply of.  The piece ended with a quiet recollection of the initial melody.

Ravel’s piece was also about 30 minutes long.  Tempo markings are in French: Modere, Pantoum (Assez vif), Passacaille (Tres large), Final (Anime); one can guess what they mean.  It began with a clean introduction.  Per a Wikipedia article I read, Ravel was worried about the cello’s not being heard, so he oftentimes separated the two string instruments by two octaves, with the piano (right hand, at least) in the middle.  That he did with the beginning.  The Scherzo was a delightful give and take among the instruments.  The Largo Passacaglia began with a piano melody followed by the cello and the violin.  It started simple enough but got more complicated as the movement progressed.  The Finale was rapid harmonics, constant motion, with a dose of oriental flavor.

During the Ravel trio one could hear clearly the barking of a dog.  I did see a service dog during intermission.

The three musicians put together a delightful program for the afternoon.

This was a great concert, despite the interruptions. NJPAC was running some promotions (including $50 for 2 seats), and the hall was reasonably full.  One complaint I do have is the lack of Program Notes other than (rather) detailed biographies of the musicians.

This program is repeated many times as the group tours various cities.  I get a lot of web ads about their appearance in Santa Barbara.  One can conclude these ad placement algorithms are either very smart or very dumb.

Metropolitan Opera – Wagner’s Gotterdammerung. May 4, 2019.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat E115, $152.50).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Philippe Jordan.  Norns – Ronnita Miller, Elizabeth Bishop, Wendy Bryn Harmer; Brunnhilde – Christine Goerke, Siegfried – Andreas Schager, Gunther – Evgeny Nikitin, Hagen – Eric Owens, Gutrune – Edith Haller, Waltraute – Michaela Schuster, Alberich – Tomasz Konieczny, Woglinde – Amanda Woodbury, Wellgunde – Samantha Hankey, Flosshilde – Tamara Mumford.

Wagner first wrote the “poem” to this opera, calling it “Siegfried’s Death.”  He kept writing prequels until he reached Das Rheingold.  Even though this was the longest of the four operas, and perhaps even the most dramatic (we have deceit, jealousy, betrayal, death, self-immolation, and – depends on how you want to look at it – annihilation or redemption, it’s not the most popular of the four.  We saw for the four operas performances number 171, 541, 273, and 238; making Die Walkure the most popular one, by far, and surprisingly Das Rheingold the least performed one.

One can argue whether the story lines contain too many holes (which different people will fill in differently), or too many inconsistencies (in which case one has to suspend logic), but there are enough dramatic elements to keep the audience engaged.

I am sure much more time has been spent on understanding and appreciating Wagner’s music than his libretto, perhaps to Wagner’s chagrin, but that’s how it should be.  Wagner after all has a lot more impact on music than on literature; I am sure that’s not a controversial point.

The norms remain a mystery to me.  They sounded like they were predicting the future, and were busy weaving as they did so.  Neither Anne nor I caught how the ropes suddenly disappear; we both claimed we lost our concentration only briefly.

The new characters introduced in this opera are Hagen, Gunther, and Gutrune.  These half-siblings evidently have the same mother, since having the same father would make even less sense.  Owens voice was among the weakest.  His hatred towards Siegfried was mostly because of his father Alberich’s influence, which may explain why his heart didn’t seem to be in it.  He was the last man standing at the end of the opera; clearly a significant point, but I do not get it.

The synopsis’s description of how Gunther and Siegfried deceive Brunnhilde is as confusing as ever, although things were clearer when the plot got acted out on stage.

For this Ring cycle, the machine worked well nearly all of the time.  Of course, I do not know if there was a lot of manual override to get the planks aligned properly,  The only time it hit a real glitch was when Erda came out from earth in Das Rheingold.  Other complaints would be the creaks when the planks were turning, they were not bad as I remember from prior Ring performances.  And I wonder if the singers needed to be extra careful around them.  Having seen it a few times, it no longer amazes.

The synopsis in the playbill continue to say Brunnhilde rides Grane into the fire.  For tonight she led it into the fire.  CS mentioned that the immolation scene was so “lame” that he didn’t know what it was until he read the program notes.

 The Three Norns and Waltrute after Act 1.

The Rheinmaidens, Hagen, Siegfried, Maestro Jordan, Brunnhilde, Gunther and Gutrune at the conclusion of the opera, and the Ring.

So, this was it.  A 5 ½ hour event to conclude the Ring Cycle.  It was a great one, I am glad we went. I still remember remarking after Seattle that I wasn’t sure I would go see another one; now I am quite sure I will if the timing works out.  To put together something as complex as the ring takes a lot of talent and effort, and to do it well – as was the case here – is a feat only few organizations can pull off.  Perhaps my recollected has dulled over the passage of time, but this was the best overall Ring cycle I have seen.

I had my doubts that – after seeing her performance as Elecktra - that Goerke could pull this off.  She did, although I am a bit disappointed that her multi-faceted portrayal of Brunnhilde in Die Walkure did not carry through to Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.  Schager as Siegfried was impressive.  We saw Jordan at the Paris Opera (Bastille) a couple of years back, that didn’t leave much impression on me.  He was great this past week.

For the record, I copy the durations of the four operas as listed in the Playbills below:

• Das Rheingold [150 mins] Total 2 hrs 30 mins
• Die Walkure [Act 1 65 mins][Intermission 39 mins][Act 2 90 mins][Intermission 35 mins][Act 3 66 mins] Total 4 hrs 55 mins
• Siegfried [Act 1 82 mins][Intermission 37 mins][Act 2 73 mins][Intermission 35 mins][Act 3 79 mins] 5 hrs 6 mins
• Gotterdammerung [Prologe&Act 1 119 mins][Intermission 40 mins][Act 2 60 min][Intermission 31 mins][Act 3 76 mins] Total 5 hrs 32 mins

There are many reviews in the New York Times about this Ring cycle.  This one discusses Wotan as sung by Michael Volle, the three critics had nothing but praise for him.  I could not find a review of Goerke as Brunnhilde, but here is an NPR article on her.

We got into town quite early, and stopped by to have Ramen before the concert.  The concert ended at 11:45 pm (time stamp on my iPhone photos), and it was close to 1 am when we got home.

Metropolitan Opera – Wagner’s Siegfried. May 2, 2019.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat E115, $152.50).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Philippe Jordan; Mime – Gerhard Siegel, Siegfried – Andreas Schager, The Wanderer (Wotan) – Michael Wolfe, Alberich – Thomasz Konieczny, Fafner – Dmitry Belosselskyiy, A Woodbird – Erin Morley, Erda – Karen Cargill, Brunnhilde – Christine Goerke.

The story to Siegfried is simple.  The Playbill actually calls this the “comic opera of the Ring.”  The three acts can be summarized as follows.  Act 1.  Siegfried is raised by Mime, the latter is planning to steal the treasure after Siegfried kills Fafner.  Siegfried melts down Nothung and forces a new sword from it.  Act 2.  Siegfried kills the dragon, claims the treasure, and kills Mime before he could poison him.  Being able to hear the woodbird after having tasted Fafner’s blood, Siegfried proceeds to find Brunnhilde asleep on a mountain surrounded by fire.  Act 3.  Siegfried wakes Brunnhilde, and the two fall in love.

There are some side plots that took considerable time, such as how Wotan became the Wanderer and warned the dragon (why?) in Act 2, and how the sword forged by Siegfried broke Wotan’s staff, thus signifying the shift in the story from the gods to the humans.  And I was surprised in the Act 3 duet there was mention of “twilight of the gods.”  I assume that would be “Gotterdammerung” in German – indeed it is as a search of the web for the lyrics would confirm.

The Program Note quotes from what Wagner wrote Liszt “Only in the course of composing the music does the essential meaning of my poem dawn on me.  Secrets are continually being revealed to me that had previously been hidden from me …”  It wasn’t like the story came to Wagner in a dream so he didn’t know its full implications, but I will allow as the creator he could re-interpret the storyline as he wished.  What I have trouble with is how critics can see layers of meaning in the plot that I am sure Wagner didn’t think of as he was creating the work; some people take themselves too seriously.

One aspect of the opera I hadn’t realized before (don’t worry, I am not philosophizing) was how much it asked of Siegfried.  Other than some tender moments with Brunnhilde, he basicially had to belt out his lines.  A keen observer might notice some fading towards the end, but to me he sounded spectacular throughout the opera.  And he didn’t get to just stand/sit there and sing, I was particularly impressed with how much he moved around as he wasn’t reforging Nothung; that included pounding on the sword, in rhythm.  Siegfried has to be one of the most difficult tenor roles in the opera genre.

I was a bit disappointed at Goerke tonight.  For my last review I described her voice as having a sweet quality to it, unexpected but appreciated.  If she needed to be tender and wistful, it was during Act 3 where she struggled with falling in love with Siegfried.  Instead her voice was a bit on the harsh side.  If I remember the story correctly, Gotterdammerung calls for a range of emotions from Brunnhilde (blissfulness, jealously, regret, among others), I wonder which Goerke will show up.

 It is amazing that the singers can be heard above such a large orchestra.  Six harps!

 Curtain Call after Act 1.  Wotan, Mime, and Siegfried.

 Curtain Call Act 2.  Mime, Siegfried, Wotan, Woodbird (sung by Erin Morley), Fafner, and Alberich.

Curtain Call Act 3.  Wotan, Erda, Brunnhilde, Maestro, and Siegfried.

Perhaps I was influenced by the Playbill, I did find many aspects of Siegfried to be comical.  So did the audience, if the chuckles every now and then are any indication.

The set again worked quite well today.  CS said he was quite impressed.  Having seen this a few times, I must say it seemed a bit “old hat.”  I do wonder if they can “restructure” the scenery for future Ring cycles, or repurpose the planks for use in other operas.  It is still a mystery to me how they project the different images onto the planks.

My expectations of this opera weren’t very high, being biased somewhat by how I remembered the three that I had seen before tonight.  (In re-reading my entries, my view had improved considerably.)  While it didn’t take me on an emotional roller-coaster, it did make me appreciate more the genius of Wagner and his realization of this Gesamtkunstwerk mentality.

Today’s traffic into town was a bit busier, I parked the car at around 5 pm.  Dinner was again street food eaten at Richard Tucker Park.  It was close to 12:30 am when we got home.

Metropolitan Opera – Wagner’s Die Walkure. April 30, 2019.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat E115, $152.50).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Philippe Jordan; Siegmund – Stuart Skelton, Sieglinde – Eva-Maria Westbroek, Hunding – Gunther Groissbock, Wotan – Michael Volle, Brunnhilde – Christine Goerke, Fricka – Jamie Barton, Valkyries – Kelly Cae Hogan, Jessica Faselt, Renee Tatum, Daryl Freedman, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Eve Gigliotti, Maya Lahyani, Mary Phillips.

The set in all its $40 million glory as the performance was about to begin.

One way to describe the progress of this Ring Cycle after two performances was how CS characterized it (I am paraphrasing here): he found Rheingold a bit underwhelm, but he really like Die Walkure.  This was my fifth Walkure, and I was a lot more engaged than I had expected.

The “story” I put together for my first encounter with this opera – way back in February 2008 – was a short paragraph.  It is still good, but I will add two points: that Siegmund and Sieglinde are twins, and that Brunnhilde disobeyed Wotan (an obvious point).

Some commentaries make a big deal about the twins issue, plastering the word “incest” all over the place.  And indeed Fricka condemned it (never caught that before).  I would say “Common, the story is based on Nordic and German myths; and the story can well be told without this fact thrown in.”  I was, however, a bit confused what was discovered when as that realization unfolded.

There are so many “messed-up” relationships in the story that I wonder why Fricka picked this one out in particular.  To start off, Sieglinde was kidnapped by Hunding, so I imagine her marriage to him wasn’t quick voluntary (at least a manifestation of Stockholm Syndrome), so any reasonable person would try to free her from Hunding instead of calling that particular marriage “sacred.”  To my knowledge, Wotan had several wives: Fricka, the twins’ mother, Erda (Brunnhilde’s mother), and (I am quite sure) one or more women who gave birth to the Valkyries.  So there was a lot to fix on the home front if marriage was such an important thing for Fricka.

As to Brunnhilde’s disobedience, I am still not sure what Wotan really wanted.  As the god of gods he was really pathetic, so I wasn’t sure his edict that Hunding wins was borne of true conviction or fear of Fricka.  He did seem quite resolute that Brunnhilde should be punished, though.

I realized during Rheingold that doubles were sometimes used (most likely, as I couldn’t find confirmation anywhere).  One instance is when Wotan and Loge walked down to/up from the Nibelung world; they used harnesses and were walking “horizontally” at some point).  The second instance is at the end of Die Walkure with Brunnhilde hanging upside down.  She looked different, and it is a risky move that no amateur should make.

The machine worked fine today, with creaks kept to a minimum.  The Valkyrie-horse scene didn’t look as clever as it did when I first saw it, and I came to realize that there is some degree of risk to the people involved.  A leg could slip and be crushed, the harness could break resulting in a fall, and one may run between the wrong planks and get hurt.  For the last scene I could clearly see stage workers in black clothing helping with position Brunnhilde.  Incidentally, my neighbor and I both agreed there was a glitch yesterday: Erda took too long to be raised.

We now come to the singing.  It was great.

What many people wonder about is how well Goerke would do as Brunnhilde.  We heard her as Elektra last year.  Her singing was strong, but Strauss’s work was a bit unscrutinable for us.  Per the Playbill, she also sang Turandot.  I certainly thought she sang well.  While her voice is not as strong as say that of Voigt’s, it has a sweet quality that makes it endearing.  When she first came on (in Act II) and did the war cry “Hojotoho!” she was not so much this towering woman warrior as she was someone enjoying life as Wotan’s daughter.  This quality was put to great use in her dialog with Siegmund when she told him he would die.  She still has some heavy-duty singing ahead of her, I wish her well.  (I am sure reviews are already out there about how she did in Ring Cycle I, but I am resisting the urge to read them.)

As an aside, there is this is YouTube video about Voigt and the little black dress she couldn’t fit into, it appears she has retired from many roles.  She is 59.  Goerke (per Wikipedia) was born in 1960, a bit older than I thought.

The other major characters are of course Sieglinde and Siegmund.  Westbroek sang the same role in my prior encounter with Sieglinde, and she portrayed the role well.  Turns out Skelton was also Siegmund in the Seattle Ring we saw. I didn’t write down how he did, but he was great this evening.  The dialog with Brunnhilde was one of the emotional moments in the opera for me.

Wotan has been great so far.  I thought he would disappear from the story after tonight, but in reading the synopsis for Siegfried, found out he would return as the wanderer.  His monologue gave a lot of background information for the story, which helped.  One thing I didn’t catch was that he pursued Erda to gain knowledge from her, and in return Erda bore him Brunnhilde.  (What kind of bargain is that?)

 Curtain Call, Act 1.  Sieglinde and Siegmund.

 Curtain Call, Act 2.  Hunding, Fricka, and Siegmund.

Curtain Call at conclusion.  Valkyries, Wotan, Brunnhilde, Maestro Jordan, and Sieglinde.

I have chosen to write down every artist’s name in the performance.  I realized even though the Rhine maidens scene felt like an introduction to an introduction (latter was how Wagner himself described Das Rheingold), the three ladies sang for close to 30 minutes, substantial by any measure.

As for this ring?  So far so good.  And to my delight the storylines are quite easy to follow, as long as one doesn’t get bogged down in the minutiae.

The French conductor Philippe Jordan has so far led in an excellent way, including an orchestra that is so integral to this gesamtkunstwerk of Wagner.  And this is a huge orchestra, with six harps, for instance.  He heads up Paris Opera.

We left our house at around 3:30 pm and got to the Lincoln Center area in about an hour.  We decided to buy truck food and eat at the Richard Tucker Park.  Coming back we were so absorbed in our discussion that I missed a Turnpike exit.  It was around 12:30 am when we got home.