SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Wagner, G�tterd�mmerung: (New production) Soloists, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Simone Young. Staatsoper Hamburg. 21.11.2010 (JPr)

Production by Claus Guth, Lighting by Michael Bauer, Sets and Costumes by Christian Schmidt.

 

For me - nearly a year to the day after Siegfried I returned to Hamburg to see how the new Ring Cycle ends. The programme book had quote after quote from philosophers and other significant figures that seem important to Claus Guth, the director, and his dramaturg, Hella Bartnig. Probably amongst them is the explanation for Guth's 'vision'  but as individually staged since 2008 there seems little to link the individual operas and his world ends with a whimper and not the bang it needs. Perhaps all will be revealed to those seeing the complete cycles early next year?

So, how does this G�tterd�mmerung connect with what had gone before? Well, I must admit I am not sure. In March 2008 there was a Das Rheingold hinting at the Golden years of German expressionist cinema with Wotan as a tyrannical film director. Die Walk�re followed later the same year with only a passing reference to that Rheingold and seemed to show an exercise in social-engineering. Part of it took place on a large artist's light box and later there seemed to be hints of the Jim Carrey film 'The Truman Show' where what his character assumes is his reality is just a big studio with cameras everywhere. In 2009 Siegfried's pivotal Act II was set in the tropical house of some East European botanical garden. At the very end Siegfried jabs Br�nnhilde's spear into a mirror above a washbasin and that cracked glass is still seen in their simple apartment at the beginning of this G�tterd�mmerung . However even these domestic arrangements are very similar to the seedy bedsit that Phyllida Lloyd had Siegfried and Mime living in for her abandoned Ring Cycle for English National Opera a few years ago.

Dominating this production was a starkly-lit, white, two-storied, multi-roomed dwelling with the unfinished appearance of those abandoned sun-bleached building projects frequently seen scattered over the Greek or Spanish countryside. Missing walls and doors meant that new characters could appear with each successive turn of this building and individuals could strikingly be shown moving from room to room, such as when Siegfried first arrives at the Gibichung Hall. It is also used quite convincingly after Siegfried's death at the culmination of the opera as we see Wotan and his 'family' awaiting the flames reaching them on the first floor as the fire is started down below. Alberich is a familiar bystander in this opera but Wotan, Fricka, Freia, and the rest are not often seen following the events as closely as they are here.

Overall, despite some excellent individual characterisations Guth has demythologised the Ring and reduced it here to the level of a kitchen-sink drama. The point of the unrelentingly dismal events they always depict is used to resonate with our hum-drum lives; to wake us all up, helping us to get out of a rut and see the wider world. What Guth gives us is Br�nnhilde  using Nothung to slit her wrist hoping for death to re-unite her with her 'husband'. The sword has a lot to answer for in this opera as Hagen had previously used it to despatch Siegfried. This weapon - which is part of Wotan'ss 'best laid plans' and is signalled in the music at the end of Rheingold - continues after Siegfried to be the instrument of his downfall in G�tterd�mmerung  .

Guth gives us a coda to the traditional ending of the story as Br�nnhilde is seen back in the apartment she shared with Siegfried - shown with his wounds - looking out of a window towards the light of a new dawn: she expires before she can get to him. The lack of a 'happy reunion' may be significant because there has been a doubt about the strength of the relationship between nephew and aunt since their parting in Act I. As Siegfried is sent off to do his heroic deeds armed with a sword and a map, Br�nnhilde goes back to bed. Siegfried looks out forlornly into the audience appealing to us to cheer him on his way. Also for Guth, Hagen's magic potion becomes nothing more than a means to an end and it barely touches Siegfried's lips before he forgets (and later remembers again) his love for Br�nnhilde. Throughout, Siegfried is portrayed as full of pent up anger, whilst Br�nnhilde seems resigned to her fate from her first appearance. The behaviour dynamics between them genuinely reflected the age difference between a nephew with their aunt, as much as that between the singers who were singing the roles, Christian Franz and Deborah Polaski.

As the evening went on the increasingly over-familiar single set began to represent a labyrinth in which the characters were like animals being experimented upon to see how they respond to various stimuli. Haunting the heart of this maze throughout most of opera was the bull-like Hagen impersonated by Sir John Tomlinson.

Christian Franz, who will sing both Siegmund and Siegfried in the complete cycles of this Ring production, sang with unflagging stamina throughout the long evening. His voice didn't have much warmth or lyricism but his stentorian delivery matched the character he was given to portray. It was a pleasure to be reacquainted with Deborah Polaski's Br�nnhilde which graced the Bayreuth stage from 1988 to 1998. Unlike Franz she always has been an intensely musical artist and generally hers was a noble, affecting and tender portrayal of the warrior maid. Because Polaski's voice is slightly dimmed by age there was rare intimacy to the way she sang, but I did miss some of the lacerating fury needed for her Act II betrayal or the Immolation Scene. If she was always rather cool, then this did play well against her more effusive sister, Waltraute, vividly acted and movingly sung by Petra Lang. She overcame her rather frumpy costume to be the most moving Waltraute I have heard in years.

Robert Bork and Anna Gabler sang well as Gunther and Gutrune; both the rope-less Norns (Deborah Humble, Cristina Damian and Katja Pieweck) and Rhinemaidens (Ha Young Lee, Maria Markina and Ann-Beth Solvang) were strong trios. Wolfgang Koch was impressive once again during his short appearance as Alberich and his dialogue with his son, Hagen, had great potency as he was clearly shown acting as the puppeteer during in their relationship. Hagen was inhabited by John Tomlinson - another very familiar portrayal - who dominated proceedings in his usual manner. His voice doesn't now really have the range from bottom to top that Hagen needs but this legendary singer remains unsurpassed in this role.

Simone Young's conducting lacked some of the expansiveness of a truly great performance but I still believe she is one of the better Wagner conductors of her generation. It was transcendent in parts, hurried in others and throughout she appeared to be at the service of the unromantic production when the balance should be in the other direction. It was possibly just my imagination but never before in the theatre has Siegfried seemed so quickly despatched on his Rhine Journey or to his funeral. Nevertheless she obtained some world class playing from all sections of the Hamburg Philharmonic and the chorus of Gibichungs sounded impressive.

Jim Pritchard

Pictures � Staatsoper Hamburg