Opera North’s enthralling Siegfried at Leeds Town Hall

Siegfried, the “Second Day” of Der Ring des Nibelungen and the third staging by Opera North after Die Walküre in 2012 and Das Rheingold the year before, is just as enthralling as its predecessors. As before, the orchestra is thoughtfully positioned and sorted out on the Victorian stage of Leeds Town Hall, where the acoustics, though not perfect, are good and Wagner-friendly, the singers are ranged across the strip in front and the three huge video screens are fixed high at the back.

Last year, back at the Grand Theatre, the company was not entirely successful in its dealings with these: they were used to excess in Faust, tending to distract attention from the singers. Here, though not exactly discreet, they are always helpful and appropriate, carrying surtitles, brief narrative updates and images which match the action. There is plenty of fire raging and spouting in Act I, for example. The orchestra, magnificently conducted by Richard Farnes, is not overwhelming either, giving us a range of beautiful textures, each section given its full chance: the brass is particularly impressive – strident, or smooth, or subtle. This means, of course, that singers can avoid barking in competition with the instruments and concentrate on words and their meanings. This they do, and it makes the old Town Hall seem almost intimate.

It is easy to take against the boorish young Siegfried, the brutal and bullying innocent, in spite of our knowledge of the way he has been brought up, or not brought up, by the malevolent, whining Mime – but that would be difficult with Mati Turi, an Estonian wunderkind of a tenor making his debut with Opera North, who has the appearance of a jovially grinning weightlifter. He would flourish in a fully comic part, which becomes clear when he cuts and blows through an invisible pipe in an attempt to communicate with the bird in the woods. He seemed to get fresher and better on the first night after a briefly uncomfortable start, reaching his peak at the climax of an astonishing performance in his ecstatic exchange with Brünnhilde. His diction is excellent, and he can be delightfully lyrical as well as heroic, as demonstrated in Act II when he longs for his mother. There is plenty of Blackadder-flavoured humour in his double act with Mime.

It is easy to sympathise with Mime at first – until he starts cooking up fatal refreshments – probably because people enjoy a comic anti-hero, especially if the versatile Richard Roberts lands the part. He writhes and squirms wonderfully, constantly fascinating us, and sings with great clarity. Michael Druiett’s wracked Wanderer is familiar as the Wotan in Opera North’s Das Rheingold, soaked with dramatic charisma, and rich-voiced Mats Almgren is a memorable Fafner, seen for a short while in a grey suit with a red tie, his dragon self zooming at Siegfried and the audience from the video screen in the shape of an out-of-focus crocodile. His fearful effect on characters is indicated not only in the music but by lighting from below which creates huge shadows the height of the Town Hall pillars. This simple trick fits well with the rest of Peter Mumford’s excellent staging, which makes great use of miming, but there is not much need for that in Fafner’s rapid despatch: one big plunge with the invisible sword Nothung in his general direction and he is as good as dead.

If Mime does not chill us to the bone, his brother Alberich does. Jo Pohlheim (also making his Opera North debut) is a great villain, with a fine, strident baritone and a look which projects pure twisted evil even when he is not singing.

The power of the music in Act III, in which Wagner slows the action down, is just tremendous, deeply affecting and enjoyable. Wotan’s scene with the goddess Erda in which he realizes that his world will collapse is sensitively managed, a sad and perfectly enunciating Erda (Ceri Williams) moving off majestically to her everlasting sleep, and Annalena Persson appears as a truly ardent and lucid Brünnhilde as she is woken by the fearless boy who has never seen a woman and who thinks she might be his mother. This is the signal for the eroticism to begin to dominate everything, Tristan-style. The two are stationed well apart from each other for much of their long duet, which builds towards the moment when they can actually feel each other’s warm breath, touching and kissing at the very last, climactic moment.

Richard Wilcocks | 17 Juni 2013

Opera North’s so-called “austerity Ring” continues to astonish, nowhere more so, perhaps, than with Siegfried, sometimes dubbed the cycle’s scherzo, and the ­opera in which interpretative and ­directorial inspiration has a habit of faltering.

Opera North’s approach – pared-down semi-stagings that place the emphasis on narrative clarity and ­psychological insight – proves ­effective here. Director-designer Peter ­Mumford wisely leaves us to imagine those scenes that never quite work in a full ­realisation, such as the shattering of Mime’s anvil, or ­Siegfried’s fight with the dragon. Video ­projections of bloody water, fire and stone underpin the ­shifting moods ­without ­intruding. And even though Mumford never leaps on any ­ideological bandwagon, the work’s politics are very much there: when Michael ­Druiett’s ­Wotan and Jo ­Pohlheim’s Alberich ­wrangle at the ­entrance to Neidhölle, they look just like the pair of shady ­capitalists Wagner surely ­intended them to be.

As on previous ­occasions, the ­musical ­standards are high. ­Exciting as always, ­conductor ­Richard Farnes has a ­matchless ­understanding of the ­relationship ­between speed, detail and span in ­Wagner. His ­Siegfried, ­meanwhile, is Mati Turi, whose ­bullyboy ­characterisation might not be to ­everyone’s taste, but who has both the voice and the stamina for the role – and, unlike some ­Siegfrieds, ­produces some ­wonderfully introverted soft singing in the ­Forest Murmurs.

Druiett’s Wanderer, authoritative and sympathetic, makes the perfect foil for Pohlheim, whose Alberich, in a ­sensational company debut, is among the finest of recent years. There’s also a perfectly judged Mime – cute yet ­irritating – from Richard Roberts.

But when Turi finally wakens ­Annalena Persson’s Brünnhilde, she turns out to be squally in her upper register, which makes the final duet a bit anticlimactic after all that has gone ­before.

Tim Ashley | 18 Jun 2013

Opera North Continues Ring Cycle Triumph with Siegfried

Year 3/Stage 3 and the juggernaut that is Opera North’s Ring Cycle rolls on its glorious way with Siegfried. The Company had set itself an intimidating standard with Rheingold and Die Walküre so expectations ran high. No worries, however. Orchestrally, vocally and dramatically this production is a triumph.

Opera North’s home, Leeds Grand Theatre, does not have a pit large enough to contain Wagner’s huge orchestra so the performance was transferred to Leeds Town Hall (known for the international piano competition), the building of which began in the year Wagner started writing the music for The Ring. With its ostentatious grandiloquence, not to mention the biggest organ of its type in Europe, it seemed an appropriate match for Wagner’s ambitions.

Peter Mumford’s simple yet imaginative rendering is somewhere between a semi-staged and concert performance. Above the Orchestra there are three large, square screens on which are projected relevant images and semi-abstract landscapes as well as English subtitles and some narrative commentary. There is not a stick of scenery, nor anvil, hammer sword or horn. Singers stand on stage in front of the orchestra as the floodlit focus of attention with the main house lights down. Most of the singing in Siegfried is in the form of dialogue between two characters but in this production they rarely interact directly. The protagonists usually stand well apart and project directly at the audience members as if to dialogue directly with them. Surprisingly it works really well.

Thus singers and orchestra are always coming straight at you, often to devastating effect. Scenes that some can find tedious longeurs – such as the scene 2 dialogue between The Wanderer and Mime that proceeds at a speed much slower than real time – come vividly alive. In this case Richard Farnes and his magnificent orchestra generated an excitement I would not have thought possible. Every instrumental and motivic detail was pointed with colour and clarity, every phrase beautifully pointed, every climax mounted with steady assurance. At the same time and overall this was a brisk interpretation that gave the narrative a strong, inexorable sense of propulsion. But Farnes also achieved the hardest thing of all: to give each of the three great arches that are the three acts the sense of proportion that Wagner intended, and to hold these within one single arch that is the whole work. This was architectural perfection: Farnes is emerging as a great Wagner conductor.

You might expect some balance problems with such a stage set-up but there were none. All singers were strong and never overwhelmed with one exception. Wotan was drowned out occasionally when the trombones blasted out his own spear motive with its dramatically descending scale. Personally, not only was this not a problem but the fulfillment of a longstanding desire to hear Wagner’s heavy brass come at you, full frontal instead of buried in a pit. To be pressed into the back of my seat by it was an immeasurable thrill.

As The Wanderer Michael Druiett resumed the role of Wotan that he sang in Rheingold two years ago. It was an authoritatively sung portrayal that conveyed the God’s increasing weariness, sadness and resignation. It contrasted with Estonian Mati Turi’s irrepressible Siegfried representing the future with youthful optimism. Macho both physically and vocally, he has a voice strong throughout its range. This is, I think, the first live Siegfried I’ve heard where the singer has not shown some signs of strangulated strain before the night was out. There was not a hint of exhaustion but then he did have the advantage of not having to charge about a stage forging swords, slaying dragons and rescuing maidens.

Richard Roberts as his adoptive father Mime conveyed a nasty character without resorting to the exaggerated over-portrayal of a twisted dwarf that is so common. He eschewed the kind of snarling interpretation that so often destroys the melodic line. Likewise Jo Pohlheim as his brother Alberich. Both of them showed that these dwarfs do have human attributes and the drama was stronger for it.

Mats Almgren similarly gave his dragon a sense of dignity that generated a tweak of sorrow for his fate at Siegfried’s hands. Flur Wyn flitted delightfully up and down her vocal range as the woodbird. Although the role of Erda is relatively small it is, as Wagner declared, “a role of exceptional importance”. Ceri Williams’ fruity contralto conveyed suitable motherliness and her scene with Wotan, as he clasped her to his breast in a rare moment of physical contact in this production, was moving.

Halfway through the last act it was difficult to imagine that things could get any better, but they did. Richard Farnes is on record as saying that one of his favourite passages is the transition to the last scene. The 1st violins slowly climb upwards as if reaching toward some unobtainable goal before sinking back down to earth. This is a frightening test of string intonation but it was carried off with perfection.

Then Siegfried woke Brünnhilde and we were introduced to Annalena Persson, a Wagnerian soprano of rare distinction. Having decided against a career in farming or the police in Sweden, she went to opera school and a year after leaving was singing Isolde – and is clearly a born Wagnerian. She and Mati Tuli took us into the home straight to blow our socks off with their final duet as Richard Farnes drove his orchestra in accompanying them to the final climax, Brünnhilde riding it with a climactic high C as solid as the rock from which she has just risen.

Come the extensive ovations, when each singer received the same volume of cheering as if in recognition of a team effort greater than the sum of its parts, Mati Tuli looked sufficiently fresh, after completing one of opera’s supreme feats of stamina, to launch into Götterdämmering after a short interval. We will have to wait a year for that though.

John Leeman | Town Hall, Leeds, 15.6.2013

The physical impact of Wagner’s gargantuan orchestra operating at full stretch in plain sight is startling. The players are beaming. Miraculously, balance problems never seem to arise, despite the alarmingly high volume levels. And I’d far rather have Peter Mumford’s elegant, unobtrusive video projections than an obtuse, financially challenged stage production. For Siegfried we get flickering flames, dark, glowing reds and oranges, nicely opposed to the vibrant greens and yellows of the forest scenes. The one miscalculation is a cheesy realisation of the sword Nothung, unnecessary when its appearance has been spelt out so clearly through Wagner’s music.

Costumes are similarly low key. Michael Druiett’s Wanderer is immaculately dressed in overcoat and hat, and Mats Almgren’s delicious, smartly-suited Fafner signals his demise by slowly removing his red silk tie. Mati Turi’s Siegfried sports a rather alarming tabard, which can make him look a little like Fred Flintstone. Which ceases to be a problem once he opens his mouth, as he sings superbly. Turi’s physical size gives him just the right aggressive edge; he’s not a conventional hero in the first act but a confused, petulant and naïve adolescent. There’s a hint of Steptoe-style black comedy in Turi’s exchanges with Richard Roberts’s slippery Mime (pictured above right), the characters interdependent but full of mutual loathing. Druiett is marvellous, fatigue and disappointment conveyed in every heavy footstep and shoulder shrug. Jo Pohlheim’s lantern-jawed Alberich oozes menace.

Annalena Persson as BrünnhildeThere’s amusement to be had when Siegfried attempts to charm the Woodbird (a fresh-sounding Fflur Wyn, perched mischievously behind the bassoons) with a reed pipe, the mood changing abruptly when the famous horn call inadvertently summons the dragon. There’s an overabundance of testosterone swilling around, and it’s a relief to hear Ceri Williams’s weary Erda make her entrance at the start of the third act. Annalena Persson’s Brünnhilde (pictured left) conveys strength as well as humanity, and the long, closing scene closes ecstatically.

It’s all magnificent. The playing is world class. Richard Farnes judges the score’s enormous span perfectly, and has the measure of the music’s faster passages, rhythms kept taut and punchy. You lose count of the tiny details which spring to life, such as faint drum rolls and imperceptible chromatic bassoon figures which prefigure Stravinsky’s Firebird. And listen out for Farnes’s extraordinary handling of the unison violin melody heard shortly before Brünnhilde sings. For a few transcendent minutes it’s as if time stands still; all sense of harmony and movement frozen.

graham rickson | 16 June 2013

It is turning out to be a modest bicentenary for Verdi. For Wagner, the other operatic giant born in 1813, the anniversary already ranks as a golden year, to which this Siegfried makes a small but significant contribution. The disparity between Verdi and Wagner celebrations boils down to manpower. Good Verdi voices are in short supply, whereas reliable Wagner voices have suddenly become abundant. This does not mean every casting director is in luck, but Opera North has chosen wisely. There is not a weak link in Siegfried, and the fact that the production is billed as a “dramatic performance for the concert hall” does not mean it is devoid of visual interest.

Peter Mumford’s design and lighting concept involves three large screens above the orchestra, on to which are projected a series of poetic-naturalistic and abstract images that are sometimes cinematic, sometimes still – but always atmospheric, never distracting. Mumford encourages the singers to behave in character, without much moving around. There is no forge, no bear, no sword, no ring – and no holding of scores, the bane of opera-in-concert. The appeal is always to the audience’s imagination.

It’s an ideal way to get to know or re-acquaint yourself with The Ring, because the experience is rooted in the music, which tells the story almost as clearly as the surtitles. As such, Opera North’s touring, easy-to-digest Ring – unfolding at the rate of one opera per year and set to climax next summer with Götterdämmerung – is part of a fashion for anti-interpretation sweeping the Wagner world. The reasons may be partly financial, but it offers a welcome antidote to abstruse over-interpretation.

Richard Farnes conducts a beautifully prepared, lyrically contoured performance that shies away from dramatic extremes. Michael Druiett has matured into a majestic Wanderer of international quality. Jo Pohlheim’s powerful Alberich is equally impressive, while Richard Roberts (Mime), Ceri Williams (Erda), Mats Almgren (Fafner) and Fflur Wyn (Woodbird) make the most of their parts. Annalena Persson’s Brünnhilde sings with light radiance. Mati Turi makes a big, burly Siegfried, with a voice to match. Opera North’s audiences can count themselves lucky.

Andrew Clark | Jun 18 2013