Der Ring des Nibelungen 3:
Siegfried. Wagner Days MUPA Budapest
June 15th 2019
As this cycle unfolds, it’s fascinating to see how each stage has certain central strengths and characteristics within the overall production scheme concept. With Rheingold I felt that there was too much hi-tech business on the stage – there was never a pause from the constant variety of sensory impressions. With Walkure on the other hand, there was I felt, too little; there were major swathes where the music demanded some sort of visual commentary to enhance what we were hearing.
Siegfried on the other hand, seemed to get it just right. While the production (rightly) did not try to illustrate every detail specified there was enough to imaginatively suggest that was happening which, with the superb musical performances, was more than enough for the experience to be approaching the ‘total art work’ experience. I think too that had Wagner been alive today he would totally have embraced all aspects of modern technology to help him tell the story – whether it would have been literal or symbolic is another matter of course. It was not really until the early part of the 20th century, I think that theatre productions moved away from dramatic literalism to start to convey inner feelings and moods (the Freud effect and the ‘discovery’ of the subconscious, was it?). I suppose Adolf Appia was one of the first. I also like the way in which at the end of every act there is a very sudden and dramatic ‘cut to black’
In Act 1 the climactic sword forging was very well done with the imagery used on the screen – flashing sparks culminating in the final screen-filling image of a massive glinting Nothung although we rarely saw this as an actual prop – like the Tarnhelm. Rightly the key parts of the forging process were indicated imaginatively and it was left at that. This showed a welcome confidence in the music to do its work and whatwas added did enhance and not try to substitute for I’m not sure if there is any consistency in which props we see and which we didn’t. Obviously Wotan’s spear is central but the Tarnhelm, particularly in Act 2 is surely equally significant…
I was puzzled by the extra character in the first Act, a silent figure with whom, puzzlingly, Mime interacted a few times and who struck the anvil (on Mime’s behalf, in the first part of the act) but his constant presence was rather baffling – but perhaps I am missing something.
In Act 2 the re-appearance of the dog-like Nibelung hordes with Alberich was welcome but the most imaginative aspect of the staging this act was the use of a crude puppet-figure by Mime to speak his inner thoughts which he does not realise Siegfried, having tasted the dragon’s blood, can now understand. l loved the way that when Siegfried reacted to make it clear that he knew what mime was thinking, he whipped the puppet away and hid it guiltily behind him. The appearance of the dragon though was distinctly underwhelming – the drawn image unfolding on the screen just did not have the emotional and grim dramatic power that was being suggested by the music. They should have taken some ideas from Game of Thrones as to how to show a truly threatening and awesome dragon! The spreading of the blood after the killing was good though – and interestingly, the way Fafner was killed by an upward thrust through the mouth, is, I think, exactly as described in the score.
Act three approached transcendence –with the combination of music and stagecraft and the use of the image of speeding through black space with flashes of twinkling light to show stars and galaxies was wonderful and truly matched the music. This was a marvellous example where the technology really enhanced and added to
what was already very clearly conveyed by the music. This was emphatically NOT the case with the appearnce of the maddening dancing Loki; honestly who saw this and thought yes this is really good and truly enhance was what we are seeing and hearing. When he appeared during the climactic bars of the end of Act 3 I was definitely wanting to do a Morecambe and Wise and ‘yell ‘Get off! You’re rubbish!” I have a horrible feeling that he may appear in the dying moments of Gotterdamerung tonight… there is a way in which his appearance at stages through the cycle could work as he is someone who is detached from the rest of the world of the gods – as he says in Rheingold he is only half-god. If he was used as a detached commentator on key moments o of the action, as I seem to recall he was in the ENO Ring, then that would work. Bringing him on with moves that are supposedly representative of flickering flames shows a great lack of faith in the music – and in almost all of the entire cycle, the one element that does not need a visual enhancement is the fire music – in fact, to be honest, if there was virtually no additional stage effects for this, then the power and impact just of the music would be almost as good as it can be. But it’s the awful dancing that so distracts –and last night there were some VERY silly little twiddly and ridiculous moves that almost ruined the emotional climaxes.
Nut enough of the staging; on to the singing and musical performances. These were wonderful but the most remarkable one was Stefan Vinke. His voice is freakishly good. He was a glowing and powerful and at ease in the final notes of the duet in Act 3 as we was from the start of Act 1. The Forging Song was as well done as it could be I think. There was a tremendous sweet tone and power and throughout all the evening he painted the words effectively. He was more than a match for Alison Oakes who lived up to my expectations having seen her in Wagner in Berlin where she made an equally powerful impact with an unforcedly powerful and sweet voice that encompassed all aspects of Brunnhilde in this remarkable scene. The staging of the scene was superbly done too. She did not actually appear (from behind one of the screens) until she actually sang. Prior to that we saw a white outlined figure lying on a table-like structure but at some stage, this image on the screen became a sold three-dimensional one and we saw Brunnhilde’s figure move, get up and step forward. Very cleverly done. The journey to the top of the mountain through the fire was very evocatively some with superb and magnificently sustained visual fire effects and the ‘travelling through space’ effect – this reminded me very strongly of the final images of that classic 50’s film The Incredible Shrinking Man.
All other characters were excellently sung – although as Erda, Erika Gal seemed a little underpowered. Eszter Zemlenyi was a beautiful Woodbird while Mime (Gerhard Siegel) Alberich (Peter Kalman) and the Wanderer (Tomasz Konieczny) had the voices and acting abilities to fully satisfy everything demanded by Wagner.
So, the climax approaches…