tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post5646096982302473777..comments2023-12-27T09:38:56.562+01:00Comments on Opera Cake: Die Walküre ride in Paris: supreme singing in a wonderful production by Günter KrämerOpera Cakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-56847897919815229882010-06-20T20:40:00.138+02:002010-06-20T20:40:00.138+02:00Excellent review Cake. Agree pretty much complete...Excellent review Cake. Agree pretty much completely on the singers (not quite as wild about Merbeth but she was very good) and the orchestra. Don't know that I love the production but I am aware of and have seen much worse. (Incidentally, I don't think the Donna Del Lago production was as bade as you say - what little I could see of it from my seat - but the singers delivered. Superb across the board, but even so Joyce absolutely owned the show.marcillachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10890948953007381186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-28508873900742376292010-06-10T00:46:40.354+02:002010-06-10T00:46:40.354+02:00Hello, I saw it tonight (9 June) and didn´t really...Hello, I saw it tonight (9 June) and didn´t really like it either. As stated earlier, there is absolutely no drama to speak of and the whole psychology between Wotan and Siegmund and also Brünhilde is completely absent. I cannot understand why he is concentrating on the dead Siegmund when he is about to put Brünhilde to sleep? Why wasn´t he emotional when Siegmund got killed? At that point all stood still and the moment´s drama fizzled out.<br /><br />I also think the military aspect is well and truly used up for now. It´s in the Copenhagen Ring, the Covent Garden Ring and now here in Paris, too. <br /><br />The worst thing is the black curtain in the 3rd act where Brünhilde is separated from her sisters - bye bye to the emotions, let´s get on with the show. Nope, didn´t work fr me at all.<br /><br />I will never become a fan of Katarina Dalayman, she is far too mechanical for me. But Robert Dean Smith, Thomas J Mayer and (especially) Ricarda Merbeth were outstanding and worth every cent. During "Wääälse...." you could easily have gone out for a coffee and been back before RDS continued (LOL). Excellent.<br /> <br />Musically I can appreciate the overall quality of the orchestra - the horns were precise and not so uncertain of themselves as can be heard on the Copenhagen Ring. However, the tempo was drawn out of so many important places that you felt it needed to re-boot before we could go on and the strings were very subdued for most of the first act.<br /><br />I was also surprised that there were so many empty seats at the onset - and how they got filled up after the first act. How does it work? It said all sold out at the entrance?<br /><br />Thank you for a great and well-balanced blog.Soeren Bangnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-53919980123557832902010-06-10T00:32:54.035+02:002010-06-10T00:32:54.035+02:00thanks so much for your answer! Since a few days b...thanks so much for your answer! Since a few days before the Valkyrie, the protest outside was already going on, but nothing happened in the Hoffmann production I saw, I naively thought that it was part of the production. Silly me!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-71532221350738635812010-06-09T17:20:50.984+02:002010-06-09T17:20:50.984+02:00Too bad you didn't like it. I thought it was a...Too bad you didn't like it. I thought it was a very good production (although one may complain about Act-1), with a clear contact with Das Rheingold and very cleanly following libretto (too much maybe?!) <br /><br />I'll see it again when I'll post more of my impressions. <br /><br />As for your question, no - it's not part of the staging. It was some militant who thought it was a good idea to throw the fliers during the show... I guess you couldn't miss the calm protest of illegal immigrants in front of the<br />theater before the show?! Looking at it from inside the Bastille, it reminded me of Kusej's production of Der Fliegende Hollaender (which I blogged about earlier this year).Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-26195706790154251882010-06-09T15:01:19.118+02:002010-06-09T15:01:19.118+02:00Hello,
I saw this production last Saturday and I t...Hello,<br />I saw this production last Saturday and I thought it was really terrible with no sense of drama, brainy (Brunhilde collecting the apples was a purely ridiculous image; forced on the performer who obviously had to deliver the action as a chore and not as something organic to the representation), empty... <br />I have a question for you though: During the ride of the valkyries, flyers proclaming the Paris National Opera support of illegal immigrants in France in 4 different languages came down from the ceiling. I was wondering if this was part of the staging on the opening night or a simple eventuality of that day.<br />thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-87701638349129577872010-06-04T18:51:37.013+02:002010-06-04T18:51:37.013+02:00I agree: Ms Apthorp is a particularly bad - or rat...I agree: Ms Apthorp is a particularly bad - or rather good - example. The comparison you drew with the vacuous production at Aix struck me too. (I saw Siegfried and Götterdämmerung there, and reviewed the Walküre DVD, though I haven't seen the Rheingold.) It was all elegantly minimalist in design, almost as if it were trying to appeal to an offensive stereotype of 'French chic', without a coherent, thought-through idea to its name. <br /><br />When one thinks of probably the greatest and certainly the most influential Ring production of all time - Chéreau's - it all seems such a waste. When I overheard some audience member proclaim after the Aix Götterdämmerung that this was just what an opera production should be, I was incredulous. Not only did I not agree; I simply could not understand what would lead anyone to say such a thing. Wagner deserves better than to be treated as a branch of interior design...Mark Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693194967620507933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-79124171494526651562010-06-04T12:19:32.790+02:002010-06-04T12:19:32.790+02:00Hi Mei! I'm "sure" you'll enjoy ...Hi Mei! I'm "sure" you'll enjoy it. Still nothing on La Donna del Lago :( <br /><br />Thanks in advance Mark. I very much liked your review of Das Rheingold and hope the next one will be as good. ;)<br /> <br />What disappoints me the most with current reviewers is that laziness (particularly acute in France, but not only). Unwilling to scratch beneath the surface of what they see, they review an opera as if it was a 376'th episode of some TV show. There are notoriously bad reviewers in Germany and in Italy too. It doesn't matter whether I agree or not, but an effort and attempt to dig a bit deeper than commenting a dress the main actress wore on the stage... In the UK you have them too. Try and read what Shirley Apthorp writes for FT. I could swear she posts her kneejerkers as reviews without even checking the most basic facts...Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-63824775995296945502010-06-03T00:55:18.662+02:002010-06-03T00:55:18.662+02:00Yes, I'll be writing for 'The Wagner Journ...Yes, I'll be writing for 'The Wagner Journal' again on this. (I shall also see The Cunning Little Vixen, the night before.) If I remember correctly, the journal should be out earlyish this month, so I should be able to post the Rheingold review a few weeks after that. I shall let you know - and can in any case send you the Walkuere review privately beforehand.Mark Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693194967620507933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-19442827790644435992010-06-02T12:34:39.378+02:002010-06-02T12:34:39.378+02:00Looking forward to this production... It will be n...Looking forward to this production... It will be nice to hear Dalayman as Brünhilde...Meihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00716612124717913648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-30237734069918252662010-06-02T12:34:39.379+02:002010-06-02T12:34:39.379+02:00Looking forward to this production... It will be n...Looking forward to this production... It will be nice to hear Dalayman as Brünhilde...Meihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00716612124717913648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-29946426103792084652010-06-01T20:42:50.982+02:002010-06-01T20:42:50.982+02:00Mark, hope this will give you a good start, althou...Mark, hope this will give you a good start, although I should apologize if it kills a bit of the effect of surprise to you. On the other hand it's maybe also good as you could focus on the theatrical details and tension among multiple emotions that are omnipresent in this opera. And there Kramer did a really good job. I hope you'll enjoy that and if you come up with an article do let me know :) <br />When will you post you review of the Rheingold?<br /><br />John, LOL :) My rubbish of course! I was too tired and too excited. <br /><br />Ha Rameau! Non non, je ne suis pas d'accord. Il n'est pas nul ni ringard. Si tu dis qu'il est usé, on aurait de quoi parler -- quoique dans cet opéra il fait du théâtre construit sur les relations humaines. Est-ce que ca aurait pu/du être mieux? Oui, sans doute - mais c'est magnifiquement chanté, orchestré et humainement mis en scène. Ne pas aimer sa vision cruelle et pourtant très humaine -- je comprends bien, mais le huer et en même temps applaudir la Calisto -- je n'ai pas d'autre explication que celle que j'avance plus haut ;)Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-16652575416993678412010-06-01T12:34:56.168+02:002010-06-01T12:34:56.168+02:00Je n'ai vu que l'Or du Rhin pour le moment...Je n'ai vu que l'Or du Rhin pour le moment, mais franchement, attribuer les huées contre Krämer au conservatisme parisien (qui est une évidence), ça me paraît difficile à comprendre. Soit cette Walkyrie est meilleure que cet Or du Rhin imbécile et daté, soit il y a sans doute eu aussi beaucoup de huées de gens qui aiment le Regietheater aussi. Krämer est un nul et un ringard !Rameauhttp://musicasola.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-86093312029763543662010-06-01T08:57:36.275+02:002010-06-01T08:57:36.275+02:00I look forward to your further report, as I am goi...I look forward to your further report, as I am going in a couple of weeks time. I am undertaking an ad hoc Ring so this must be beter than the La Scala Rheingold. But a chorus in Walküre?Vecchio Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06667687814424223347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-54872313005007597392010-06-01T01:34:01.779+02:002010-06-01T01:34:01.779+02:00Looking forward to hearing more, especially about ...Looking forward to hearing more, especially about the production. I'll be seeing it at the end of June...Mark Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693194967620507933noreply@blogger.com