Der Ring des Nibelungen

Lothar Zagrosek
Chor und Orchester der Staatsoper Stuttgart
Date/Location
September/October/December 2002
January 2003
Staatsoper Stuttgart
Recording Type
  live   studio
  live compilation   live and studio
Cast

Das Rheingold

Die Walküre

Siegfried

Götterdämmerung
Gallery
Reviews
Mostly Opera

At some point during the 1990´s Stuttgart Opera manager Klaus Zehelein conceived the idea of simply dividing the Nibelungen Ring Tetralogy into four independent operas. Whether a good idea or not remained to be seen, as it had never been done before in the entire history of the work.

So decided, Rheingold was given to director Joachim Schlöner, Walküre to Christof Nel, Siegfried to Jossi Wieler/Sergio Morabito and Götterdämmerung to Peter Konwitschny.

Three different Brünnhildes were hired, three different Wotans, two different Siegfrieds etc. Each opera was treated as one entity with no connection to the others. According to Klaus Zehelein, the concept carried the “aesthetic advantages to pour everything into each individual work”.

The only continuous aspect to this “cycle” was conductor Lothar Zagrosek and the orchestra.

The production opened in Stuttgart 1999 to much controversy, though mostly on the positive side. These DVDs are live recordings from the Stuttgart Opera 2002-3.

At the time of release, the only Nibelungen Ring DVDs on the market were the Chéreau/Boulez 1976 Bayreuth Ring and the Schenk/Levine Metropolitan Opera production. Thus, the Stuttgart Ring attracted considerable attention and has widely become known as the epitome of the Regietheater Ring, remaining virtually unchallenged at this position, despite the recent additions the the Nibelungen Ring catalogue (the Copenhagen Ring, in this respect, comes second).

Whether one takes to these interpretations obviously depends on individual tastes, though a more nuanced discussion of the term Regietheater is essential: Regietheater does not just cover one branch of directorial approaches, but is rather an umbrella covering several stylistic genres. None of the stagings belong to the genuine deconstructive school, ie. all four works more or less follow the storyline, though there are a major differences between the psychoanalysis of Christof Nel and the glum comedy of Wieler/Morabito. As ground-breaking Wagnerian music-theater it is impossible to ignore.

Musically, the major achievement is by Lothar Zagrosek and the Stuttgart orchestra, who play on par with all the DVD competition, Daniel Barenboim´s Bayreuth Festival orchestra apart. The singers are all dramatically convincing, though vocally, Eva-Maria Westbroek´s Gutrune apart, there are no particular standouts. Neither are there any disasters. A complete overview of all seven commercially released Nibelungen Ring DVDs may be found here.

The individual operas – Rheingold

Directed by Joachim Schlömer with sets by Jens Kilian, this Rheingold is a realistically outlined everyday tragedy with an almost Strindbergsk intimacy to the single set of an inner courtyard with an fountain.

Wotan is the tired patriarch of a 1920 business empire. Fricka is both his business partner and wife. Loge is a broker, fixed on his commission. Alberich, an elderly megalomaniac business man. Fafner, the young cunning businessman is accompanied by his elder, naïve brother Fasolt, who truly loves the young and innocent Freia and is loved back in return. Non-speaking characters, such as Alberichs assistant are used extensively and all characters are virtually on stage for the duration of the opera.

No lofty metaphors and no semi-attempts at magic are made: The traditional Tarnhelm is replaced by a mirror, mirroring the self-deception of the characters, so to speak. The Rhinegold is quite simply golden jewelry located in the marble fountain. Needless to say, there is no spear. When Erda arrives, the doors of the courtyard open in the most dramatic moment of the opera. And instead of the sparkling rainbow? The Gods simply disappear down into the cellar at the end.

Not a bad idea and surprisingly coherent as well, thus focusing on the sociopolitial aspects of the piece such as broken labour contracts, slave labour and exploitation.

All singers act well. Unfortunately they don´t all sing well, the major liability being Wolfgang Probst´s frankly disappointing Wotan. Best were Mette Ejsing as Erda and Esa Ruuttunen as Alberich, for once not entirely ridiculous, but sincere in both acting and singing.

The individual operas – Walküre

According to director Christof Nel “Humans have the same problems as Gods and vice versa”, which is exactly what he brings on stage in a densely psychoanalytically Walküre.

Symbolism is rife throughout in this minimalistic staging, where moods are mainly created by dusty stage-lights. Hunding´s shack is build from planks with a rudimentary shower in the corner, light barely peeping in. Movements are stylized and symbolically laden gestures are shown in slow-motion: Sieglinde offering Siegmund water. Her circling around him. A polite, though significance-laden arm wrestle takes place between Hunding and Siegmund (Hunding wins), and after Hunding has identified Siegmund as his enemy they sit politely opposite each other eating the steak, Sieglinde prepared for them. Nothung is a projection on the wall, which Siegmund steps through during the Wälse cry. When Sieglinde later steps directly into the projection, Siegmund draws the sword from within her. No doubt there is strong symbolism hidden in this. I am just not entirely sure of what. Neither does the significance of the unusually track-suit clothed Siegmund and Wotan become apparent.

Wotan controls events lying on an air mattress while Brünnhilde positions small soldier figurines on the floor and on a suspended stage of marionettes the deaths of both Siegmund and Hunding are played out just minutes before they happen on the “real” stage. At this point Wotan has already resigned. He knows all is lost and not even Renate Behle´s strong-willed Brünnhilde manages to infuse some life into him.

A conveyor belt transports the fallen heroes in front of a catwalk of 21st century model valkyries. Up front, a veritable newsroom is set up for Wotan to monitor everything and ultimately take leave with Brünnhilde. Some flickering candles on a table and a Wotan-operated spotlight make up for the fire of the Walküre Rock.

Does all of this work? Quite a lot of it does, though admittedly Nel´s sense of aesthetics does not always appeal to me. The psychoanalysis combined with the “Wotan´s miniature” concept is not uncommon in several more recent Walküre interpretations such as Keith Warner (London), Claus Guth (Hamburg) and Braunschweig (Aix-en-Provence), and makes much sense.

Again, all acted well, Wotan apart, who seemed to suffice by moving himself around the stage. Rootering did get away with it vocally, again demonstrating that Walküre-Wotan poses no real problems for a bass with topnotes (and Rooterings top-notes are not even that well-developed). I thought Renate Behle a rather fine and gutsy Brünnhilde, and also Angela Denoke is a wonderful actress, who vocally perhaps could venture slightly further towards the edge.

The individual operas – Siegfried

Director Jossi Wieler. Dramaturgy: Sergio Morabito. Sets Anna Viebrock.

This Siegfried is a glum comedy, set in the 1960´s. A charicatured comic book from start to end, and Siegfrieds T-shirt with the imprinted “Sieg Fried” gives a good indication of what follows. Into Mime´s kitchen arrives the Wanderer, an unsympathetic jaded old rocker, threatening Mime with a gun. Mime is even more pitiful than usual, masturbating after surviving the terrors of the Wanderer.

Act two takes place in front of a military exclusion zone, where Fafner apparently lives, sitting on a chair, back to the audience. The woodbird is a blind boy. Erda, writes her diary amidst laundry and crumbles in a dirty shower as she goes to sleep. Finally, a bourgeois bedroom awaits Siefried in Act 3, a scene which potentially could have worked out with alternative performer physiques, so to speak.

The grotesque elements are emphasized in this Siegfried in which Wanderer is the only real negative figure.

Vocally, Jon Frederic West gets reasonably away with it, though he doesn´t look the part. Same goes for Lisa Gasteen. On the other hand, Wolfgang Schöne perfectly portraits the jaded rocker, though less so vocally.

The individual operas – Götterdämmerung

According to Klaus Zehelein, the division of the Tetralogy liberates Götterdämmerung from “referring to things outside itself”. Thus director Peter Konwitschny is under no obligation to tie the loose ends from the preceding three evenings together, as in fact, there are no ends to tie. Thus, Konwitschny very much approaches the work at face value.

That the Norns are bag ladies establishes the context for what is to come: A simple wooden stage occasionally wrapped in plastic is used throughout in a staging where any reference to Nordic mythology is ironic. Siegfried, literally dressed as a cave-man steps out of the idyllic past of a romantic parody of a Brünnhilde rock and right into the present-day world of the Gibichungen. Alberich, already half-dead and wrapped in a shroud, comes to finally die the arms of his, for once, rather sympathetic son, Hagen.

No attempts of semi-creations of magic are made and no special effects are seen: Grane is a hobby horse. And the spectacular end? Rather effectively Konwitschny has Wagner´s original stage direction projected on to a giant screen with the redemption motive at the end. Words and music is what remains.

Again, all singers act convincingly, though best of all is Eva-Maria Westbroek as the best Gutrune on DVD. Luana DeVol is quite impressive as Brünnhilde and Albert Bonnema makes up for much with energetic acting. Perhaps Konwitschny didn´t intend Hagen to be malicious and if that is the case, Roland Bracht lived fully up to expectations.

The singers

Generel comments:

Generally the quality of the casting is rather high, all singers being dramatically convincing in their respective parts. Not a small accomplishment, taking into consideration that none of these are so-called A-list singers.

Wotan – Rheingold: Wolfgang Probst is frankly disappointing. Severely overchallenged, he often retorts to barking.
Wotan – Walküre: A bass, Jan-Hendrik Rootering effortless navigates the depths of the monologue and the Farewell he manages as well. Though there is not much to extract in terms of interpretation.
Wotan-Wanderer: Wolfgang Schöne is perfect as the jaded, unsympathetic rocker. Vocally he is not exceptional lacking the beauty in tone as well as legatolines, and seems somewhat past his prime.
Fricka – Rheingold: Michaela Schuster is dramatically convincing, though not overly exciting, which fits the production rather well.
Fricka – Walküre: Fine, stylish performance from Tichina Vaughn
Alberich -Rheingold: Esa Ruuttunen is a rather fine Alberich, with sincerity in both singing and acting. Alberich – Siegfried: Björn Waag´s high barytone projects well over the orchestra and his acting is equally convincing. Alberich-Götterdämmerung: Franz-Josef Kapellmann makes the most out of being a half-dead corpse in his rather short entry. Loge: Robert Künzli makes a rather unusual Loge, being rather subservant than diabolic and sharp, which works rather well. Fasolt: Roland Bracht, dramatically convincing as the elder subdued brother.
Fafner-Rheingold: Phillip Ens is fine as the younger rogue.
Fafner-Siegfried: Attila Jun repeats his unmenacing Hunding, now a friendly dragon.
Mime-Rheingold: Fine characterization by Eberhard Francesco Lorenz.
Mime-Siegfried: Heinz Göhrig plays the ultimately pathetic Mime virtually to perfection
Sieglinde: Angela Denoke is a superb actress and looks great. She is in fine voice as well.
Siegmund: Robert Gambill gets aways with it without distinguishing himself one way or the other.
Hunding: A remarkable un-menacing performance from Attila Jun.
Hagen: A more benevolent Hagen than Roland Bracht I have never seen. He can sing the notes, but a bit more punch would not have been amiss.
Brünnhilde-Walküre: Strong performance from Renate Behle. She hits all the notes, on pitch, no wobbling and furthermore creates a convincing character and looks the part reasonably.
Brünnhilde-Siegfried: Lisa Gasteeen sings the notes adequately but doesn´t exactly create drama or suspense on stage.
Brünnhilde-Götterdämmerung: Strong performance, especially dramatically, from Luana DeVol, who sings with full force all the way through.
Siegfried-Siegfried: Jon Frederic West gets reasonably away with it though slightly thin vocally.
Siegfried-Götterdämmerung: Albert Bonnema may be vocally overchallenged, increasingly evident as the evening progresses, though his energetic acting makes up for much.
Erda-Rheingold: With a dark, dramatic contralto, Mette Ejsing convincingly establishes the character of Erda
Erda-Siegfried: Helene Ranada does not quite reach the dramatic level of Mette Ejsing from Rheingold.
Waltraute: Fine performance from Tichina Vaughn.
Gutrune: Superb performance from Eva-Maria Westbroek, probably the highlight of the cycle.
Gunther: Hernan Iturralde makes the most of this rather thankless part.

The conductor and orchestra

Lothar Zagrosek and the quite spectacular Stuttgart orchestra is one of the major positive aspects of this Cycle. The tempi are relatively brisk, and for once it works well, never sounding rushed or superficial. Apart from Daniel Barenboim´s Bayreuth orchestra, they play as well as any of the competition on DVD.

In brief – The highlights and lowlights

The highlights:

The innovative concept. The playing of the Stuttgart orchestra under Zagrosek.

The lowlights:

Some of the lead characters disappoint vocally, though rarely dramatically.

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

The ratings are given in comparison to the other Ring DVDs available. As ever, the acting skills of the singers weigh in heavily.

Wolfgang Probst (Rheingold-Wotan): 2
Michaela Schuster (Rheingold-Fricka): 3-4
Esa Ruuttunen (Rheingold-Alberich): 3-4
Robert Künzli (Loge): 3-4
Roland Bracht (Fasolt): 3-4
Phillip Ens (Rheingold-Fafner): 3-4
Eberhard Francesco Lorenz (Rheingold-Mime): 3-4
Mette Ejsing (Rheingold-Erda): 4
Robert Gambill (Siegmund): 3
Angela Denoke (Sieglinde): 4
Attila Jun (Hunding): 3
Roland Bracht (Hagen): 3
Renate Behle (Walküre-Brünnhilde): 4
Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Walküre-Wotan): 3
Wolfgang Schöne (Wanderer): 3
Heinz Göhrig (Mime): 3-4
Björn Waag (Siegfried-Alberich): 4
Helene Ranada (Siegfried-Erda): 3
Attila Jun (Siegfried-Fafner): 3
Jon Frederic West (Siegfried-Siegfried): 3
Lisa Gasteen (Siegfried Brünnhilde): 3
Albert Bonnema (Götterdämmerung-Siegfried): 3
Luana DeVol (Götterdämmerung-Brünnhilde): 4
Franz-Josef Kapellmann (Götterdämmerung-Alberich): 3-4
Eva-Maria Westbroek (Gutrune): 5
Hernan Iturralde (Gunther): 3-4
Tichina Vaughn (Waltraute): 4

Joachim Schlöner´s Rheingold staging: 3-4
Christof Nel´s Walküre staging: 4
Wieler/Morabito´s Siegfried: 3
Konwitschny´s Götterdämmerung staging: 3-4

Lothar Zagrosek: 4

Overall impression: 3-4

18 January 2009

ForumOpera.com

Quatre metteurs en scène et quatre distributions différentes pour un seul Ring ? C’est l’idée qu’a eue la direction de l’opéra de Stuttgart pour sa saison 2002-2003, et que l’on retrouve aujourd’hui gravée en DVD chez Euroarts.

Quatre metteurs en scènes différents, oui, mais tous ont transposé l’action “à la moderne”: peu, voire rien de mythique ou de féerique. Les partis pris sont audacieux, et l’on se trouve confronté à une lecture de niche, expérimentale. Ce “laboratoire du Ring” propose-t-il quelque chose de vraiment intéressant ? La réponse varie selon les épisodes.

Das Rheingold, signé Joachim Schlomer, ouvre la tétralogie d’une superbe manière. L’action se situe dans une sorte de station thermale, où trône une fontaine pleine d’or. La transposition fonctionne à merveille, et si l’aspect mythique, originel, de ce prologue en est absent, c’est au bénéfice d’une autre approche: on se retrouve face à quelque chose de décapant, où la méchanceté parvient toujours à ses fins, où personne n’est innocent. L’aspect visuel est extrêmement soigné, pour des tableaux de grande beauté; à ce titre, l’avertissement d’Erda, dans un décor soudain foudroyé et aux allures post-nucléaires, est un sommet. Les interprètes offrent dans leur ensemble un plateau homogène et de qualité, l’Alberich de Esa Ruuttunen mis à part, qui sonne plus “vieux” que sombre, mais qui se trouve justifié par la mise en scène.

Le résultat de Die Walküre, par Christoph Nel, est plus discutable. L’accent mis à l’extrême sur la psychologie propose une vision absolument nouvelle, mais qui, de par sa complexité, en devient parfois presque indigeste. Si une bonne partie des excellentes idées se comprend assez bien (Wotan et Brünnhilde jouant avec des statues miniatures, en tant que maîtres des destins, ou le projecteur tourné vers le public en guise de défi, lors du final), le trop-plein de propositions rend parfois absconse la compréhension de cette mise en scène. En outre, une lecture si particulière fait perdre leur valeur à certaines scènes : ainsi en va-t-il du combat de Hunding/Siegmund, ou de la chevauchée des Walkyries, transformée en un sympathique défilé de mode qui n’a plus beaucoup de sens. Enfin, visuellement parlant, c’est un peu quelconque, à quelques exceptions près. Ces quelques réserves émises, il n’en reste pas moins que la proposition est intéressante et aboutie : la relation Brünnhilde-Wotan, la profonde humanité de Brünnhilde, … Vocalement, on retiendra dans l’absolu la Sieglinde de Angela Denoke: la voix est belle, ronde, souple et gracieuse. Une merveille. Robert Gambill dans Siegmund, malgré des raideurs vocales et une voix qui n’est pas tout à fait celle d’un heldentenor (mais John Vickers ne l’était pas non plus), incarne, grâce à son intelligence extrême du texte, un héros immensément tragique et désabusé. Les autres personnages sont bien figurés, sans tout à fait briller : Brünnhilde, Renate Behle, une fois son vilain cri de guerre passé, est une Walkyrie des plus convenables, de même pour Wotan (Jan-Hendrik Rootering), malgré des coups de glotte quelque peu énervants, et des aigus assez laborieux.

Siegfried concrétise un propos souvent esquissé ailleurs : un adolescent tonitruant, impossible à éduquer par un Mime-Papa faible et dérangé. Ce troisième volet, transposé dans une ambiance résolument contemporaine, foisonne d’idées, dans des décors souvent très bien pensés et riches. Idée géniale, par exemple, que le contraste entre le taudis du premier acte et la chambre inondée de lumière (proche du kitsch), au troisième acte. La performance de Jon Fredric West en Siegfried est irréprochable, aussi bien scéniquement que vocalement, puissant, assuré, et tout à fait dans l’esprit: on y croit, à cet ado en quête d’identité et de vie. À noter aussi l’Alberich de Björn Waag, d’une noirceur toute sophistiquée, qui nous rappellerait un peu Helmut Berger dans ses années Visconti…

Die Götterdammerung, par Peter Konwitshny, termine cette tétralogie en touchant scéniquement au génie. C’est une vision d’une triste ironie, presque comique au début, mais qui se terminera par un bouleversant dénouement. Le rideau se lève sur trois étranges Nornes, en réalité des sans-abri qui se racontent des histoires mystérieuses. On poursuit avec le monde résolument kitsch de Brünnhilde et Siegfried: fait d’une toile de fond représentant un paysage romantique, il s’écroulera au retour du héros corrompu par le Tarnhelm. Alberich apparaît comme un nain hideux, traumatisant, et Hagen comme un personnage tourmenté. Lorsqu’au final, il tente de se saisir de l’anneau, la salle entière s’allume, prenant soudain le public à témoin. La scène de l’immolation s’achève par la projection des indications scéniques à la manière d’un générique, laissant la musique terminer ce dernier épisode, conçu et mise en scène d’une main de maître. Comme dans les volets précédents, sans être époustouflants, les différents protagonistes campent leur personnage d’une fort belle manière. Deux bémols toutefois: Ronald Bracht, Hagen globalement excellent, mais qui semble à bout de souffle lors de la convocation de ses vassaux et la Brünnhilde de Luana DeVol dont le vibrato noie trop souvent la ligne et les notes.

Le seul élément permanent de la production est l’orchestre de l’opéra de Stuttgart, dirigé par Lothar Zagrosek. Celui-ci exécute cette partition avec une maîtrise et un talent sans failles, dans une approche semblable à celle de Janowski. L’orchestre délivre quant à lui une pâte sonore très unie et de superbes nuances. On salue la précision des registres, et les qualités wagnériennes du chef.

Ce Ring de Stuttgart propose en définitive une lecture originale et éminemment intéressante de la tétralogie. Le résultat est probant, passionnant, parfois très beau. Il ne s’agit pourtant en aucun cas d’une nouvelle référence, parce que les visions qui l’habitent sont trop orientées, difficiles d’accès, et qu’aucune unité ne les relie, puisque même les distributions sont différentes. On ne le recommande pas comme première expérience de l’oeuvre. Nous sommes ici en présence d’une sorte de grand laboratoire, dont ressortent des expériences de premier ordre, qui savent à la fois faire relire certaines lignes profondes du drame et en souligner certains aspects particuliers, afin d’offrir, au final, de nouvelles perspectives à cette oeuvre infinie.

Christophe Schuwey | 23 Décembre 2008

Rating
(3/10)
User Rating
(1.5/5)
Media Type/Label
TDK, EuroArts
EuroArts
Technical Specifications
1920×1080, 10.5 Mbit/s, 66.7 GByte, 5.1 ch (MPEG-4)
Remarks
Telecast
A production by Joachim Schlömer (R), Christoph Nel (W), Jossi Wieler (S) and Peter Konwitschny (G)