Suffering Brünnhilde, Her Betrayers and an Unexpected Hero

Even by the standards of anguished operatic heroines, Brünnhilde suffers a particularly tortured journey of betrayal, humiliation and heartache in Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung.” At a matinee performance at the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday, the Swedish soprano Katarina Dalayman offered a dramatically persuasive and vocally strong interpretation of this daunting role.

During the poignant Immolation Scene, she sang with expressive pathos, drawing the audience into her cathartic moments of wisdom and redemption. Ms. Dalayman, who is making her debut in the role at the Met this season, was one of three women recruited to substitute for Christine Brewer, who withdrew with what the house called a knee injury. Otto Schenk’s traditional, concept-free “Ring” production (which calls a spear a spear) will be retired this season and replaced with Robert Lepage’s new staging.

Ms. Dalayman occasionally sounded underpowered but improved throughout the afternoon. With a strong middle and upper range, she sang with a rich, lyrical voice and produced some gleaming top notes, although her lower range was sometimes indistinct. Ms. Dalayman had believable chemistry with her Siegfried, given a solid, if less memorable, performance by Christian Franz. Youthful and charismatic, he often sang sensitively and with admirable dynamic shadings. But at other times he seemed to be flagging vocally and sounded strained and gruff.

Ms. Dalayman and Mr. Franz had superb accompaniment from the orchestra, which sounded magnificent. James Levine, scheduled to conduct “Das Rheingold” on Thursday, withdrew at the last moment because of illness but returned to lead Saturday’s “Götterdämmerung.”

Mr. Levine coaxed his orchestra to ever-greater heights of voluptuous music making. He led a spine-tingling interpretation of immense power that was enhanced by exceptionally fine string playing. Siegfried’s Funeral March was particularly radiant, the swirling strings and vibrant brass illuminating the visually effective scene, in which Hagen and his men gather and exit under a dark, ominous sky.

The cast also included John Tomlinson, who offered a commanding portrayal of Hagen. While occasionally vocally frayed, he sang forcefully and conveyed his power-hungry character’s misdeeds with chilling conviction.

With a theatrically convincing stage presence and appealing voice, Iain Paterson made a commendable house debut as Gunther. Margaret Jane Wray sounded lustrous as Gutrune. Yvonne Naef sang passionately and with strong top notes as Waltraute, riveting as she pleaded with Brünnhilde to return the ring to the Rhinemaidens.

Richard Paul Fink sang well during Alberich’s brief appearance. Wendy White, Elizabeth Bishop and Wendy Bryn Harmer were the three vocally luminous Norns. Lisette Oropesa, Kate Lindsey and Tamara Mumford were also effective as the Rhinemaidens.

The loudest applause at curtain call was justifiably reserved for Mr. Levine. He was welcomed like a returning hero with a tumultuous roar after each intermission, the audience’s appreciation reaching a fever pitch as he took his final bow.

Vivien Schweitzer | April 26, 2009

James Levine always collects a thunderous ovation when he enters the pit for the Ring. He deserves it, no doubt, even though an irreverent suspicion nags that some conspicuously devout consumers confuse the conductor’s achievements with those of the composer.

The maestro was greeted with bona fide pandemonium when he arrived for Götterdämmerung on Saturday. Two days earlier he had fallen ill, abandoning Rheingold to an assistant minutes before curtain time. Precarious-health rumours raged rampant, but here he was, looking reasonably hale and hopefully hearty. Relief.

Possibly inspired, he conducted with unaccustomed degrees of urgency and grandeur, offset by rare degrees of pathos and introspection. The mighty Met band responded as if lives were at stake. And the cast, good by current standards (admittedly modest), exceeded expectations.

Katarina Dalayman, the latest ersatz Brünnhilde, had been something of a disappointment as Isolde in November. Here, however, she sang – and acted – with compelling fervour. She rose to the high climaxes with bright tone and dauntless ease (pardonable fatigue in the finale notwithstanding) and projected the heroine’s complex tragedy with simple sympathy. She may have lacked maximum power at the lower depths (“Ruhe, du Gott”), and may have disappointed those who unreasonably expected a Germanic superwoman. Still, she triumphed on her own resourceful terms, and essentially on Wagner’s too.

Christian Franz returned as a bright and canny Siegfried who resorted to a bit of Sprechgesang in the trials of his endless death-scene. John Tomlinson boomed lustily as evil Hagen so long as the vocal line did not rise above his comfort zone. Iain Paterson made an auspicious debut as Gunther, sounding like an incipient Wotan and looking like a vulnerable giant. Margaret Jane Wray projected proper sadness and radiance as the duped Gutrune, and Yvonne Naef projected Waltraute’s pleas with hearty desperation. Richard Paul Fink made much of Alberich’s slimy cameo. The dreary norns and splashy mermaids dispatched their triadic duties ably.

The Schenk/Schneider-Siemssen production, anno 1989, revelled in shameless if well-made picture-postcard kitsch. With luck I may never see it again.

Martin Bernheimer | Apr 27 2009