The prologue to this
version of the last part of the enormous
Ring cycle opens with the Norns weaving
the fates of mankind, surrounded by
big crosses. The first associations
are therefore with Golgotha. And then
there are those replicas of Siegfried’s
sword. When the Norns start to fasten
their threads to these ‘things’ and
connect them the self-evident reference
is to aerials, connecting the Ring’s
two worlds: the realms of the humans
and of the Gods. Dressed in nun-like
outfit and with pale faces the Norns
struggle with their yarn until "the
end of eternal wisdom", then disappear
through the stage floor: "The world
will see us no more". In their
place an enormous altar is elevated
from below, but it turns out to be Brünnhilde’s
rock … Overall this production comes
up with a plethora of inventive stage
solutions. I am not going to tire readers
by describing them all, or rather: since
I am going to recommend this set I don’t
want to take away the pleasure that
lies in discovering these things one
one’s own.
I have been fascinated
straight through this Ring cycle - I
have yet to see Die Walküre
although I know it well as a sound recording
- by the staging and the lighting but
I do have some objections to the acting.
To my taste there is too much running
back and forth, climbing, lying on one’s
back – Siegfried Jerusalem must have
been as fit as a Marathon-runner fifteen
years ago. There may have been a thought
behind all this even though I remain
mystified but generally speaking I am
not too fond of all this running, walking,
biking business that goes on in many
productions. This is not to be interpreted
as criticism; I just want to explain
my point of view.
The costumes are a
mix of modern, ancient and indefinable.
Gutrune powders her nose when Siegfried
is about to arrive and in the last act,
lo and behold, she has blazing red nail-polish!
Waltraute wears a kind of Star Wars
helmet. Siegfried, on the other hand,
after having dressed up in the first
and second acts, in the third attires
himself in the same blue overalls as
in Siegfried. He looks like some
service person when he has his dispute
with the Rhinemaidens.
The acting is uniformly
good and, just as in the other Barenboim-Bayreuth-Warner
sets, little of the singing can be faulted.
Siegfried Jerusalem is more lyrical
than most Siegfrieds but he has enough
heft when needed. His death scene veers
between weak lyricism and wild ecstasy
and is a masterly creation. Here it
is shown to a great extent in close-up.
Having been stabbed by Hagen and sung
his final phrases he stumbles towards
the back of the stage but falls dead
to the ground, which opens like a crater.
Wotan himself comes in, dumbfounded,
and sits down, grieving, by the side
of the crater; on the opposite side
Brünnhilde kneels. I admired Anne
Evans greatly in Siegfried. Here
she has much more opportunity to demonstrate
her powers which she does admirably.
Her voice combines biting steel with
human warmth. Her final scene must count
among the best on any complete set.
Eva-Maria Bundschuh
is an expressive Gutrune and the young
Waltraud Meier is a fresh-voiced Waltraute.
Among the norns Birgitta Svendén
is deeply impressive. Bodo Brinkmann
acts well as Gunther but I have heard
more ingratiating singing of the role.
On the Pierre Audi/Hartmut Haenchen
set from Amsterdam Kurt Rydl’s Hagen
dominated the stage whenever he appeared
through Rydl’s galvanising acting. Philip
Kang too has tremendous stage presence
and his voice is steadier. Günter
von Kannen creates, as in Das Rheingold
and Siegfried a terrible Alberich
with his expressive face and rolling
eyes. The male chorus should also be
credited for expressive acting, dressed
more or less like Siegfried in workers’
outfits, as opposed to the Amsterdam
set, where they were a faceless anonymous
mass.
This Götterdämmerung
ends as Das Rheingold started:
in the green depths of the Rhine. No,
not quite: it goes a step further just
as Das Rheingold started a little
earlier. I can’t help quoting Tony Haywood’s
review of that set: "As the low
E flat rumbles away like an organ pedal,
Kupfer has his cast of characters stood
motionless on the bare set dressed in
modern outdoor clothes. They are survivors
from some catastrophic holocaust, standing
at a crossroads, the meaning of which
will work its way full circle at the
end of Götterdämmerung.
They turn and walk slowly away into
the black distance of designer Hans
Schavernoch’s now-famous ‘highway to
nowhere’." Here, during the final
bars of the Ring, they are back, but
in party dress and with champagne glasses.
They celebrate the hoped for return
of the Ring to its rightful place and
the resulting liberation from the evil
powers that have ruled the proceedings.
The king of evil and greed, Alberich,
who started it all, stands to the left,
observing the partying. All’s well that
ends well? Or is it?
Of the two most recently
issued DVD Rings, I found much to admire
in the semi-staged Amsterdam set. However,
in the last resort this Barenboim/Kupfer
production wins hands down through more
spectacular sets and more accomplished
singing. John Bröcheler’s Wotan
and Jeannine Altmeyer’s Brünnhilde
are great assets in Amsterdam, as is
Graham Clark’s Mime, but he is of course
also in the Barenboim cast. Where in
Amsterdam there were several ‘wobblers’
in the cast, Bayreuth has much steadier
voices all round. The Barenboim set
has always been among the top contenders
on CD and with the added impact of the
visual dimension it becomes even more
attractive.
Göran Forsling
See Das
Rheingold
Die
Walkure
Siegfried
Gotterdammerung
Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele/Daniel
Barenboim 
WARNER CLASSICS 2564 62321-2 [270:00 + 13:00]
