Germany Bayreuth Festival 2022 – Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra / Cornelius Meister (conductor). Recorded (directed by Michael Beyer and Jule Geissler) on the Bayreuth Festspielhaus and out there on STAGE+ till 14.11.2047. (JPr)
Production:
Director – Valentin Schwarz
Designs – Andrea Cozzi
Costumes – Andy Besuch
Lighting – Reinhard Traub
Video – Luis August Krawen
Dramaturgy – Konrad Kuhn
Cast:
Siegmund – Klaus Florian Vogt
Sieglinde – Lise Davidsen
Hunding – Georg Zeppenfeld
Wotan – Tomasz Konieczny
Brünnhilde – Iréne Theorin
Fricka / Schwertleite – Christa Mayer
Helmwige – Daniela Köhler
Gerhilde – Kelly God
Ortlinde – Brit-Tone Müllertz
Waltraute – Stéphanie Müther
Siegrune – Stephanie Houtzeel
Rossweisse – Katie Stevenson
Grimgerde – Marie-Henriette Reinhold
Grane – Igor Schwab (silent)
Having eradicated all of Wagner’s gods and dwarves – and every part else you may anticipate to see – from his Das Rheingold (assessment click on right here) and introducing us to a dysfunctional household recognisable from US cleaning soap operas (equivalent to, Dallas or Dynasty) or that of a former US president (Donald Trump), Valentin Schwarz’s Die Walküre begins slightly extra historically. A tree – sure, an precise tree! – has crashed into Hunding and Sieglinde’s slightly shabby house. The gun-toting Hunding may – as with Dmitri Tcherniakov extra lately in Berlin – work in safety for Wotan, or he is perhaps an electrician since he busies himself on the fuse field attempting to get the lights on. Siegmund enters sporting a wolf’s masks and lays down by an electrical fireplace (which characters then appear to neglect is on and can put their arms on high of it or sit on it). Sieglinde hobbles in sporting her dressing robe and truly provides Siegmund some water (as within the libretto). Sieglinde can’t drink the mead as a result of she is closely pregnant: is the kid Hunding’s, or worse nonetheless, Wotan’s? (Too usually Lise Davidsen, as Sieglinde, will neglect to waddle throughout her efficiency.)
It just isn’t a cheerful marriage as Sieglinde rapidly turns over her marriage ceremony picture on the wall. Hunding returns and replaces a fuse and mistreats Sieglinde threatening to hit her earlier than pushing her to the ground. Hunding sits up ingesting as Siegmund sings ‘Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater’ and his promised sword right here is the knife Sieglinde has put within the pocket of his trench coat. Sieglinde is on the ground above holding a black field with glowing pyramid inside it. Hunding is asleep (it’s unclear how or if he was drugged) and as reminiscences are rekindled for Siegmund and Sieglinde we see them as faceless kids of their wood-panelled bedrooms with toy horses in cabinets. Sieglinde screws up a drawing of a Wagnerian horn-helmeted head and Siegmund claims a gun from the field with the pyramid. As the twins recognise the images of their youthful selves (we first noticed in Das Rheingold) they are going to unite them over their heads because the set recedes and we’re again in Hunding’s house as he threatens Siegmund with a wrench.
Act II begins with Wotan in a yellow go well with and he has the field again (or are there two?). Blinged-up Valkyries with their designer purses are mourners at Freia’s funeral which is being held within the mansion. Possibly as a result of she was affected by Stockholm syndrome Freia will need to have shot herself on the finish of Rheingold. Wotan and Brünnhilde (who appears to be like like a rock chick) are being filmed for social media by their manservant ‘Grane’ as Wotan places a gold medallion – maybe representing the legal guidelines and treaties on which his energy rests – spherical Brünnhilde’s neck. Fricka in black is available in with Hunding to petition Wotan and leaves happy having received what she wants from him. Brünnhilde has been seen sheltering in what appears to be like like a big vivarium to the facet of an entrance to a cave. I suspected the presence of some plastic chairs would imply they’d get thrown round which Wotan does in his anger earlier than he goes to an higher ground and is proven with an old school fireplace extinguisher. The Rubik’s Cube reappears and will get performed with by each Wotan and Brünnhilde. She may have a tantrum when ordered to let Siegmund die. At this level Fricka brings in a darkish navy go well with (as dry cleansing) for Brünnhilde.
Sieglinde is available in and appears about to provide start and slumps on some stairs. Maids are available for some tidying up as Sieglinde will get out her knitting, however it’s the needles she must threaten the infant in her womb earlier than Siegmund grabs them off her. For the Todesverkündigung (‘Annunciation of Death’) Fricka and Wotan are protecting a detailed eye on Brünnhilde however Wotan storms out as she disobeys him, leaving her exultant with a funeral wreath round her neck. Siegmund put the picture of his and Sieglinde’s youthful selves on Brünnhilde’s bump earlier than he heads out to combat Hunding. At this level the weirdest factor we have now seen to date occurs. Lise Davidsen loses all dignity as Wotan pulls down Sieglinde’s underwear and molests her. During the combat Hunding simply stands round and Wotan shoots Siegmund instantly after he has recognised his father. Grane goes off with Brünnhilde and Sieglinde into the cave (or is it a mineshaft?) as at ‘Geh’ hin, Knecht!’ Hunding simply walks away.
Act III opens within the former classroom from Rheingold now with an enormous rear mirror. Maids are tidying up and serving tea. It has the looks of an all-white lounge at a surgical procedure specialising in beauty enhancement. The faces of the Valkyries are bandaged however they nonetheless have their bling and purses. Helmwige is in a wheelchair and Siegrune has had her breasts enlarged. Selfies are being taken and champagne is being served. Grane enters with Sieglinde who has blood down her legs and clearly has given start; although this isn’t what you hear being sung. Grane will maintain the infant Sieglinde initially appears to reject. The late-nineteenth century e book Walhall: Germanische Götter und Heldensagen by Felix and Therese Dahn is consulted by Schwertleite. Once she accepts her motherhood Sieglinde goes off with Grane. Wotan and Brünnhilde confront one another sitting on a sofa and he rips off her medallion after which they step out onto a naked stage as he begins roaming round. Grane returns with a (horse?) blanket that Wotan and Brünnhilde quickly get wrapped in and after he throws bandages at his errant daughter Grane protects her. Wotan kisses Brünnhilde because the set recedes and together with Grane she retreats in the direction of a pyramid on the again.
A tearful Wotan is a damaged man as a steel display screen comes down behind him suggesting Schwarz is already working out of concepts. Fricka trundles on a drinks trolley hoping to have a good time her victory and brings Wotan a black fedora so he’s all set for Siegfried. Fricka clinks two glasses as Loge is summoned (‘Loge! Loge! Hierher!’) although there may be solely a single candlestick on the trolley. The sad Wotan drops his marriage ceremony band in Fricka’s glass earlier than he wanders (sorry!) off and she or he goes within the different route because the opera ends.
The singing (as heard by means of loudspeakers) was at one other stage in comparison with Rheingold. Tomasz Konieczny was a formidable Wotan, nearly – if not fairly – the equal of Michael Volle in Berlin. Konieczny’s nuanced use of the textual content, splendidly conveyed his character’s common sense of world-weariness and conflicted emotional nature attributable to his lust for energy. Georg Zeppenfeld’s dark-hued bass made for a flawlessly threatening Hunding, and Lise Davidsen solely really unleashed her highly effective, searing soprano voice for an ecstatic concluding ‘O hehrstes Wunder!’ Elsewhere, Davidsen sounded as downtrodden as her character and restrained considerably by all of the indignities Schwarz has Sieglinde endure. I’m a long-time admirer of Klaus Florian Vogt, significantly as Lohengrin, however I wasn’t satisfied by his wide-eyed Siegmund and the unvaried, bleached tone of his singing and I longed to a hear one thing extra heroic and ringing. Mezzo-soprano Christa Mayer was stern and assertive when haranguing and harassing Wotan and likewise sang Schwertleite within the positive octet of Valkyries. Iréne Theorin acted Brünnhilde very nicely certainly, nonetheless, whereas some notes are nonetheless there for her, some aren’t, and her soprano voice often lacked help and have become slightly screechy beneath stress.
From what I might hear the orchestra responded nicely to Cornelius Meister’s persuasive route. His Die Walküre sounded rigorously balanced and had all the eagerness and power one in every of Wagner’s most ecstatic scores required; even when what we heard didn’t at all times match what we noticed.
Jim Pritchard