Ring Cycle for the 21st Century – “Die Walküre”

After the premiere of Robert Lepage’s dull production of the first installment of Wagner’s four-opera “Ring Cycle”, Das Rheingold (also reviewed on this blog), I was skeptical that the production’s main set piece – a 24-plank machine that can be arranged into a limitless number of configurations – could support the theatrical requirements of the longer operas in the cycle. But after I attended Die Walküre, the second opera in the cycle, on April 25, my concerns proved to be unfounded. The use of the set, the direction, and the singing were many times superior to the fall production of Rheingold, and I was reassured that the production has the potential to conjure up the many magical realms of the remaining two operas.

The "Die Walküre" banner on the Met façade

Although the title character is the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, Bryn Terfel as the god Wotan was the star of the performance. As opposed to his rather flat portrayal of the character in Das Rheingold, Mr. Terfel presented an informed characterization both vocally and dramatically. Mr. Terfel sang dynamically and ranged from practically whispering at the beginning of his Act Two narrative (a very effective touch) to singing forcefully with controlled power. Although resembling Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter, he displayed the many aspects of Wotan’s personality, and his acting evoked both an arrogant god and deeply emotional father.

As Brünnhilde, soprano Deborah Voigt was not as impressive. Although moving in the role’s lyrical moments, her top notes – especially during her “Hojotoho” – lacked clarity and sounded a bit forced. Fortunately, she improved considerably over the course of the evening, and the final scene between Brünnhilde and Wotan was quite touching. Ms. Voigt’s major strength was her acting. The production represents Brünnhilde as a rambunctious warrior-maiden and Ms. Voigt was very convincing as Wotan’s impetuous daughter.

Jonas Kaufmann as the half-human, half-god Siegmund dominated the first act with his huge sound and strong presence. Mr. Kaufman has a hefty tenor which seemed out-of-place when he sang Cavaradossi in last season’s presentation of Puccini’s Tosca. However, Mr. Kaufmann’s voice is much better suited for the Wagner heldentenor roles, and he was excellent as Siegmund. An especially astounding moment of the performance came during his cries for his father: “Wälse! Wälse!”. Mr. Kaufmann sustained both high notes for a seemingly inhuman duration of time, yet he never seemed to strain.

The set of "Die Walküre" before the opera begins

As his sister and later wife Sieglinde, Eva-Maria Westbroek (still recovering from recent illness) was a committed actress, but had a slight wobble in her singing – most noticeably in the top notes. Also, on one occasion, she lost connection with the orchestra and raced through one of the most important phrases of the opera, “O hehrstes Wunder!” – the introduction of the “Redemption through Love” theme.

Stephanie Blythe as the goddess Fricka – although appearing as if out of a 1950’s sci-fi film – brought much to her relatively short time onstage. Ms. Blythe sang with her characteristically clear, powerful mezzo and performed incredibly as usual. Moreover, she was able to portray Fricka’s anger without sounding like a nag and elicited justifiable sympathy from the audience.

As the boorish Hunding, German bass Hans-Peter König sang with a booming voice and acted with commanding stage presence. The Valkyries, Brünnhilde’s eight warrior sisters, were sung by a mixture of talented sopranos and mezzo-sopranos – some of whom delivered the battle cry “Hojotoho” more proficiently than Deborah Voigt. Although strong in their individual contributions, the ladies produced beautifully-sung, deeply-textured ensembles and displayed a natural camaraderie onstage.

The Met Orchestra performed to its high standard of musicianship under the baton of Music Director James Levine. The musicians played masterfully in the powerful forte moments yet expressively in the subdued piano passages.

The final bows of "Die Walküre"

As stated earlier, the Lepage production has progressed significantly since the first installment of the cycle. Lepage’s direction of the performers was perfectly choreographed with the opera’s descriptive music and the performance rarely lagged. Although the stage machinery is still loud and quite distracting, the production uses the machine much more creatively. Unlike Das Rheingold, where the planks were used mainly as flat screens for interactive projections, in Die Walküre they were arranged into various configurations that emulated natural scenery – a heavily wooded forest, a rocky crag, a snow-topped mountain – and the projections served ably as textures for each environment.

In addition, during both Siegmund and Wotan’s narratives, images or animations were projected onto the set to bring the characters’ stories to life. These projections focused attention away from the Met’s built-in translation system and onto the stage, as well as enabling the audience to grasp the details of the intricate plot. Although some touches were campy –the Valkyries rode the planks as horses during the famous “Ride”, or the final scene having Brünnhilde suspended upside-down – the production team used the complex set effectively.

True "Ring Nuts" during an intermission of "Die Walküre" (photo courtesy of Jan Jobson Rowland)

I highly recommend this production of Die Walküre, which combines a stellar cast with a creative production concept. Performances run through the end of the season on May 14, with a “Live in HD” presentation of Die Walküre that afternoon. In addition, this production returns next season for the first presentation of the highly-anticipated full Robert Lepage Ring Cycle.

To learn about the music of Wagner’s Ring check out this very useful website:

http://www.rwagner.net/e-frame.html

For a mini site devoted to the Met’s presentation of the Ring Cycle, visit:

http://metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_template.aspx?id=12572

For videos of Die Walküre, see:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/template.aspx?id=16210&prodpage

And for an extensive photo gallery, check out:

http://archives.metoperafamily.org/Imgs/Walkure1011.htm

For questions or comments, email me at cbrowner@taftschool.org