Die Walkure/Ring Cycle at Met

[canbelto]

Go see the HD on March 30! Christine Goerke is a wonderful Brunnhilde and the rest of the cast is uniformly strong as well.

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/03/die-walkure-casts-its-magical-fire-spell.html

[Helene]

Goerke sounded marvelous over Sirius on Monday night.  Barton and Grimsley were also superb.

[canbelto]

Did anyone see this in HD? WHat did you all think?

[Helene]

I did and loved the singing.  Our local Wagner and More group had a post-performance lunch, and when asked who our favorite singers were, I really didn't want to decide and chose the orchestra.  In Seattle, we have a soft spot in our hearts for Greer Grimsley, who made his splash here in Wagner, starting in Tannhauser, and who did his first Wotan here, as well as a splendid Dutchman.  We also have an enduring love for Stephanie Blythe, and missed her Fricka, although Jamie Barton has made the role her own, and she also has a wonderful on-stage relationship with Grimsley, which we saw in San Francisco last summer.

I think that Grimsley is a better man than Wotan, and that the, for me, over-emotional farewell at the end of Act II is more Grimsley than Wotan.  (In his scene with Erda in Siegfried, his description of the breach is more in character.)  Although, I'm not sure how anyone could resist Goeke's beseeching Brunnhilde.  (Maybe it was the titles, but I'd never thought before how much her arguments resembled Fricka's at the beginning of Act II, about being humiliated and downgraded.)  Goeke reminded me of Natalie Dessay and her kooky energy.  I also thought the first Walkure to sing reminded me of a cross between Aljona Savchenko and Cameron Diaz.

Also now that most of the kinks in The Machine seem to be worked out, the transitions it and the projections make to melt from scene to scene are marvelous.  I've only seen that happen in Ring productions once: in Adelaide, although there was one needless curtain that broke the rhythm.

I'm glad to hear Gunter Groissboeck is going to sing Wotan at Bayreuth.  He transforms himself into each character he plays -- his Baron Ochs was a masterpiece -- and I look forward to hearing about his take on the role.

[Helene]

Does anyone know what happens to Siegmund in the end?  He decides not to kill Sieglinde when Brunnhilde tells him Sieglinde is pregnant, and goes through with the fight.  All of the other Valkyries expect Brunnhilde to be bringing Siegmund's body, they are surprised when Brunnhilde brings Sieglinde to the mount, so none of them have gone to bring Siegmund to Valhalla.  I don't remember references to him being there in the last two operas, but I could have missed them.

[canbelto]

1 hour ago, Helene said:

Does anyone know what happens to Siegmund in the end?  He decides not to kill Sieglinde when Brunnhilde tells him Sieglinde is pregnant, and goes through with the fight.  All of the other Valkyries expect Brunnhilde to be bringing Siegmund's body, they are surprised when Brunnhilde brings Sieglinde to the mount, so none of them have gone to bring Siegmund to Valhalla.  I don't remember references to him being there in the last two operas, but I could have missed them.

Well he doesn't die a hero's death because Wotan takes away his sword so I guess he doesn't go to Valhalla? And neither does Hunding? 

[Helene]

At the beginning of Act II, when Wotan tells Brunnhilde to side with Siegmund in the battle, he tells Brunnhilde not to bring Hunding to Valhalla after Siegmund kills him, because Wotan didn't think he was a deserving hero, which also means that Brunnhilde doesn't appear before Hunding for the Annunciation of Death.  

As far as not dying a hero's death, he was supposed to go into battle weaponless and be killed, yet Brunnhilde still recites the Annunciation of Death and tells him he's going to Valhalla.   Wotan doesn't break his sword until partway through the battle, and Siegmund doesn't run once defenseless.   He's no less heroic, and he's no less dead. 

Men get to Valhalla based on Wotan's rules, not Fricka's or anyone else's sense of worth or fairness or anyone else's rules.

[Birdsall]

I loved it. I am back into opera after a hiatus of several years. I saw Goerke years ago and thought something was wrong with her voice and I couldn't put my finger on it. She has gone on record saying that she was trying to fit a large voice into smaller roles (my paraphrase actually.....or my interpretation). To me her Brünnhilde had a roundness and bloom to it which is rarely the case in such a difficult role. Even Nina Stemme, who I absolutely loved in SF's Ring Cycle back in 2011 doesn't have a rounded quality. I also loved how Skelton held onto his cries of "Wälse" forever.......that was exciting! 

I cry every time I hear Wotan's farewell to Brünnhilde. It is the most moving moment in all of opera, in my opinion. I know it is a father saying goodbye to his daughter, but I always think of my sister. Wagner captured immense feelings in that farewell in his music. I choke up and my eyes fill with tears. He's never going to see her again, and she's going to live in another realm. 

The sad thing is that Brünnhilde is the hero Wotan is looking for, but he keeps trying to create a man (first Siegmund and then Siegfried is born) who is separate from his will who will save the world. But it is a woman (Brünnhilde) and love that ends up saving the world in the end. He totally misses the fact that his daughter (right under his nose) is the true hero. This seems to be the way of the world. 

It is also why the farewell, in my opinion, is so touching. He's saying goodbye to the hero he is searching for and doesn't even realize her potential. 

When I first saw all the Met's "machine" Ring operas in HD I hated the machine and thought it added nothing to the story or history of the staging of the opera. This time I went in thinking, "Maybe I was too harsh, and I will be open-minded and maybe enjoy the machine this time." Well, I started out thinking, "Okay, I am liking the machine more......it's growing on me...." but slowly halfway through the same old feeling came back. Most of the time it just sits there motionless creating a very "blah" backdrop or it is used simply as a video screen. I think regular backdrops and sets and video screens would tell the story much better. This machine is a big flop, in my personal opinion. If it moved and reconfigured itself constantly throughout each opera it would probably be exciting. In fact, I remember the initial video of computer drawings that the Met posted before it was actually created, and it looked VERY exciting. One computerized image showed all the planks moving together like they were wings with the Ride of the Valkyries playing in the background. I was really expecting big things when the first initial computerized concept video came out and was posted by the Met, but then the real actual thing came out on stage and in HD and so much of the time it sits there inert. So much expense for so little action and drama. With hindsight it makes sense that this machine did not work as originally planned and has to be used as a computer screen much of the time because it would have been too unsafe for singers to be moving around and trying to sing on a moving machine. The audience seems to love the Ride of the Valkyries with the planks moving up and down, but I find it dumb, especially as they wave to the audience and the audience applauds. Feels like a Disney World event. 

I think of the amazing Rings captured on video (the Copenhagen Ring is wild but thrilling, the Valencia space age Ring with La Fura dels Baus, the Met's old but gorgeous staging) and the ones I saw live (LA Ring which many hated but I loved, SF Ring with a huge environmental theme), and I then think of this "machine" Ring and I feel the Met, arguably the best opera house in the world, really messed up. I suspect by the time they realized this was a flop, they had already spent too much on it and had to keep going. So the Met is stuck with the biggest flop of a Ring Cycle on Earth. At least they are hiring good casts to make up for it.