Here we go again with Götz Friedrich’s old, old, old production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold. I understand that producing a new Ring could be too expensive for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and it’s sure better to have an old Ring than none, but I don’t believe that these reprises are doing justice to Götz Friedrich: this Ring looks its age and those who are sampling it for the first time in the XXIst century won’t leave the theatre understanding why Friedrich was such an important director. Paraphrasing Christa Ludwig’s famous quote about time to retiring, it is always better to say “pity it’s no longer there” than “pity it still still there”. The good news is that Jasmin Solfaghari’s Spielleitung looks more like “stage direction” than Søren Schumacher’s last year. This doesn’t mean that it looks effective – it does not – but again, it is better some than none. There is now an attempt of making comedy that I find quite distracting and blocking is still awkward, especially when singers have close interaction.
As for the musical aspects of this evening’s performance, I have to confess that last year’s was so disappointing that it was not really a great challenge to offer something better this evening. First of all, the orchestra was in far better shape tonight. One could feel that conductor Donald Runnicles had to scale down for his mostly light-voiced cast, but at least the orchestra had some sound even in those moments. That said, I still find it unconvincing – if the conductor is not going to offer hallmark lush Wagnerian sound, why not opting for clean accents, forward movement, clarity and excitement? As it was, many moments sounded dull and one could often feel time pass. Last year, the Deutsche Oper had a trump card that made the evening memorable, Tomasz Konieczny’s Alberich for the ages. Having to live up to this standard is an unfair demand on Gordon Hawkins, whose weighty, dark and grainy bass-baritone cannot produce the same kind of impact. He does not seem to have the proper personality to the role – and sometimes his more self-contained attitude and rich tonal quality made me think that Wotan could have been his role if he had clearer consonants and more variety as a whole. As it was, his Alberich was rather well-behaved than gripping. Although Mark Delavan’s voice was a tiny little bit opaque in its higher reaches this evening, his Wotan has clearly developed since last year. He is more comfortable on stage, his text is somewhat crispier and his heroic top notes more integrated. But there is still a lot of road before him until he achieves true musical and dramatic impact. Daniela Sindram’s light but well-focused Fricka was sensitively sung and she has enough presence to bring her role off the background. Let’s see what she is going to do tomorrow. Burkhard Ulrich’s vivacious Loge is consistent with last year’s performance, but it is Ewa Wolak’s excellent Erda who deserves the “special mention” in this cast, an exemplary performance.
rml | September 10, 2011