Receiving Free Music Updates: Sign up now to receive free daily updates about the latest music news from myFT Daily Digest email.
In the Royal Opera House’s new production of Wagner’s “Das Rheingold,” Rhinemaidens Katharina Konradi, Niamh O’Sullivan, and Marvic Monreal taunt Christopher Purves as Alberich. The advance publicity boasted a “bold new imagining,” but while it may not offer groundbreaking fresh insights, its strengths more than make up for it.
What distinguishes this Ring from others is its stripped-down and gritty approach. It is far from the extravagant theatrical spectacles of the 1970s Royal Opera Ring directed by Götz Friedrich, which would likely be too expensive to replicate today.
It seems safe to assume that this Rheingold production will set the style for the entire cycle. Director Barrie Kosky chooses to represent just one of Wagner’s many settings and symbols: the World Ash Tree. The tree occupies the entire stage, with gold oozing from its bark like sap. From the start, it is dying, and by the third scene, it is fixed to a piston to extract industrial quantities of gold.
Climate change takes center stage in this production. It is not just a trendy theme but one that Wagner himself was acutely aware of during the industrial revolution and that runs throughout the Ring. As a result, the earth goddess Erda, played by Rose Knox-Peebles and made up to look frightful, is present on stage throughout the entire evening. After all, if you’ve been around since the beginning of time, you’re bound to look a bit scary.
Where this Rheingold truly shines is in its tenacious hold on the drama. The characters are alive, their words clear, and the decision to cast relatively new singers in the Ring pays off with fresh and engaging performances.
Initially, it may have seemed that Christopher Maltman and Christopher Purves, as Wotan and Alberich, were cast in the wrong roles. Maltman, with his powerful and authoritative voice, seemed better suited to Alberich, while Purves’ warmer sound would fit Wotan. However, both deliver successful portrayals of their respective roles. Maltman’s vivid stage presence adds to his power, and Purves deserves credit for singing the role without resorting to shouting.
The cast delivers excellent performances overall, with standout singing from Insung Kim as Fasolt and Sean Panikkar as Loge, whose charismatic and debonair portrayal adds flair to the character. While it may be missed, their voices are rich and Wagnerian. Marina Prudenskaya’s Fricka and Wiebke Lehmkuhl as the voice of Erda deliver incisive performances. Brenton Ryan’s Mime is more than just a caricature of a put-upon dwarf, and Kiandra Howarth impresses as Freia, especially during her Goldfinger-like moment.
Antonio Pappano, in his final season as the Royal Opera’s Music Director, conducts each of the four parts of this Ring, with his successor, Jakub Hrůša, taking over for the first complete cycles. Pappano has increased the dramatic charge, pace, and intensity since his first Rheingold in 2004. He receives exceptional playing from the orchestra, which Wagner conductors in the last century would have envied.
The greatest compliment to this Rheingold is that the time, 140 minutes without an interval, seems to fly by. Everyone involved has worked hard to achieve this. It is definitely a production worth seeing.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Show runs until September 29th at roh.org.uk.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
