It has been 15 years since the Metropolitan Opera last presented Wagner`s mighty ”Ring” cycle, a very long time indeed for such an important work to be absent from the repertory. The previous effort was somewhat of a patchwork of artistic impulse, having been abandoned by Herbert von Karajan after the opening ”Die Walkuere” in 1967 and his duties reassigned to other conductors and stage directors.
Now the Met has embarked on a new realization of the ”Ring” that promises not only to be far more artistically coherent, but also to be a version that the company and its public can live with for many seasons to come.
True to Met precedent, the new cycle–conducted by James Levine and staged by Otto Schenk in designs by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen (sets) and Rolf Langenfass (costumes)–again begins with ”Walkuere,” the most popular music drama of the tetralogy and by far the most often performed.
”Das Rheingold” and ”Siegfried” are due next season, with
”Goetterdaemmerung” scheduled for 1988-89 when the entire ”Ring” will be presented. Deutsche Grammophon is getting into the Wagnerian act with a planned integral recording based on the Met production.
In any undertaking of this magnitude and complexity there are bound to be effects that fizzle the first time out, staging and musical concepts that will require some time in which to gel.
At times absent from Schenk`s staging scheme is a strongly individual point of view that would energize tradition. Moreover, the Met cast headed by Hildegard Behrens as Bruennhilde, Simon Estes as Wotan, Jeannine Altmeyer as Sieglinde and Peter Hofmann as Siegmund may not be the answer to every Wagnerian`s dream, even given the depressed state of Wagnerian singing in today`s global operatic village.
But the important thing about the new ”Walkuere” is that nearly everything has been carried out in a way that allows the combined power of Wagner`s music, philosophy and stagecraft to tell what is essentially an epic love story on intensely human terms. That is an honorable achievement, indeed, in an operatic age that has witnessed too many gimmicky stagings by too many trendy stage directors bent on imposing Meaning on Wagner, regardless of whether their contemporary notions have anything much to do with the works in question.
Schenk`s aim in ”Walkuere” was to shun both postwar-Bayreuth abstraction and post-Wieland political reinterpretation in favor of a kind of romantic realism as seen from a modern vantage point. This entailed neither old-fashioned posturing from the singers nor a strict adherence to Wagner`s detailed stage directions. Schenk provided no ram-chariot for Fricka, no steed for Bruennhilde, no Valkyries flying through the air. He did encourage his singers to act in a naturalistic manner, however, which helped a great deal to bring this tale of tangled destinies–the gods` and the mortals`–down to a believably human level.
Schneider-Siemssen`s decor seems to have drawn much of its inspiration from the German Romantic paintings of Caspar David Friedrich as well as the famous ”Ring” illustrations of Arthur Rackham. Though not as striking or imaginative as the San Francisco Opera designs by John Conklin for its 1985
”Walkuere,” the sets and costumes are beautiful to behold, with their rich earth tones and woody, rocky textures, and the scenic effects, notably the Magic Fire that Wotan summons at the end, work spectacularly well. This one puts Bayreuth`s muddled Peter Hall/William Dudley affair (with which Georg Solti was briefly involved) thoroughly to shame.
In his first Met ”Walkuere,” Levine stirred up the storm music and passions of Act I with a knowing, urgent hand and when the Waelsung lovers embraced his orchestra came alive with the magic of love and springtime. His pacing of Wotan`s farewell and the ”Todesverkuendigung” had real lyric expansion. At the performance heard Tuesday evening the Met ensemble played sonorously and well, although the high brasses seemed to be having an off-night.
The vocal honors on Tuesday went almost entirely to the women. Brigitte Fassbaender drew an understandably warm ovation for her firmly sung Fricka, winning over her vacillating spouse, Wotan, with stinging verbal irony rather than mere nagging. Altmeyer offered a finely wrought, occasionally overwrought, Sieglinde, holding her vibrant soprano back somewhat during the love duet as if anticipating the rigors of Act II. Altmeyer, incidentally, retains the Leonie Rysanek device of screaming at the moment Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree. It proved most effective.
Say what you will about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Behrens` claim to the Birgit Nilsson crown–the German soprano is a tireless trouper. She threw herself into the punishing role of Bruennhilde with much the same vocal and dramatic intensity that she had brought to the Valkyrie several years ago at Bayreuth, emitting stratospheric ”hojotohos” of thrilling gleam and solidity, darting about the stage with a high-spirited zest appropriate for Wotan`s favorite daughter. A committed singing actress, Behrens played her final scene for the utmost poignancy, as if doing the acting for both herself and the stolid Estes.
And then there was Estes. The basic quality and amplitude of Estes`
baritone are right for Wotan`s music; when he doesn`t force for effect the smoothness, solidity and weight of the voice are impressive. Unfortunately, much of his singing is blandly inexpressive, and he too often fails to give gravity or poetry to the god`s words. Someone should sit this man down and force him to listen to Hans Hotter`s recordings of Wotan`s farewell and monologue.
This ”Walkuere” documents the continuing vocal decline of Hofmann. Leathery of tone, the tenor simply can no longer sustain a lyric line without wavering off-pitch. A pity, because he still looks terrific in the part and manages to create real erotic chemistry with Altmeyer. Aage Haugland snarled blackly as the villain Hunding. The Valkyrie octet hooted and swooped with squally abandon.
”Walkuere” repeats Saturday, Wednesday (Oct. 8), Oct. 13, Oct. 17, Feb. 26, March 4 and 7, 1987; at the Metropolitan Opera House.
