This morning when we went out on errands, I was tempted to take advantage of the incredible early-Autumn weather and go hiking in the park rather than listening to SIEGFRIED on WQXR. But the chance to hear the RING "live" (well, delayed) in sequence prevailed. There will be other Autumn days.
I used to keep this picture of Cosima framed on my wall starting with my 'Wagner Summer' (1983) when I listened only to his music all summer long. At the end of August that year I heard Hildegard Behrens sing the Wesendonck lieder at Tanglewood under Ozawa's baton, and afternoon I an still vividly remember today.
SIEGFRIED won me over to Thielemann's interpretation; the earlier operas had been perfectly fine but I thought today he and the orchestra achieved a much higher level.
Still dragging the cycle down, however, is some very uneven singing. Struckmann's Wanderer is workman-like rather than godly - he lacks majesty. In conversational passages, he's usually quite excellent but in the big purple passages you just want more steadiness and beauty of tone. Andrew Shore is a dramatically vivid but vocally tremulous Alberich. Linda Watson could be a superb Brangaene, Fricka or Cassandra in my estimation but the top for Brunnhilde (esp. the SIEGFRIED Brunnhilde) is just not there. She did some fine things, notably using more dynamic variety than we sometimes hear in this music. But the climactic high-C, which is built-up-to for 45 minutes, was flat as a pancake.
On the plus side were Mihoko Fujiwara's sombre, grave-toned Erda and a splendid Fafner from Jyrki Kohonen in the Matti Salminen mode. Robin Johannsen was a vivacious, lyrical Woodbird. Gerhard Siegel was a vastly annoying Mime - and annoyance is just what you want in this role.
Stephen Gould was the unknown quantity for me; in a brief interview the American tenor talked about singing something like 3,000 performances of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and finally discovering opera in his mid 30s. He spent three years preparing his voice for the demands of an operatic career, working with John Fiorito and meanwhile holding down a job in the financial sector. He didn't mention how he came to be Bayreuth's Siegfried, but he sure did a fine job. The voice is steady & stalwart, lacking neither stamina nor emotion. It doesn't ring, but it registers without bleating or barking. In the final duet, he still seemed reasonably fresh after the hellish demands of the earlier acts. As operatic roles go, this is the proverbial killer. He made a very strong impression.
During these weeks of the RING, I am re-reading George Marek's biography of Cosima Wagner. We use the word "fascinating" too often perhaps, but I think it really applies to Cosima. One of the most beautiful episodes in her long, event-filled life was her awakening at Triebschen on the morning of December 25, 1870, hearing the strains of the Siegfried Idyll floating up the stairway. Wagner had composed it as a 33rd birthday gift for her and organized a small orchestra to perform it at the villa. When one thinks of incredible gifts that have been given throughout history, this would rank very high - of the same beauty and meaning as white roses.
PHILLIP: No piece of music I know is a beautiful as Sig's idyll. I never tire of it, and will play it as soon as I sign off. I was too sick and tired to go to ABT last night, but I will make 11/2. JIM
Posted by: jimmattimore | October 27, 2006 at 01:56 PM
Jim, have you ever seen Paul Taylor's ROSES, set to the SIEGFRIED IDYLL?
I wonder if other choreographers have used this music?
Posted by: philip | October 27, 2006 at 06:40 PM