A scene from the Canadian Opera Company production of Die
Walküre, 2015. Photo:
Michael Cooper
James Karas
Infidelity, incest, immorality, divine transgression and divine
retribution, lust for flesh and power, and the bodies of a few heroes strewn
around the stage is all in a day’s work for Wagner. Or 4 hours and 45 minutes,
to be more precise, which is how long the current production of Die
Walkűre by the Canadian Opera Company takes to give us all those events.
Atom Egoyan’s production has some brilliant touches and some takes that
leave you scratching your head.
The set by Michael Levine consists of a mass of steel girders and lights
at the top and on the sides of the stage that look like a scene under a bridge.
A corner of a stucco building is visible at the back but I could not make out
what it was supposed to represent. Is it Valhalla as viewed from under the
bridge that was constructed for the gods to enter their grand abode in Das Rheingold? In any event, with some
variations, the set serves for the whole opera from Hunding’s hut to the top of
the rock where Wotan puts Brűnhilde to sleep and surrounds her by fire. The set is the head scratcher. Asie from that, Egoyan's production is simply superb.
American tenor Clifton Forbes sang the role of Siegmund even though he
was indisposed. He struggled through the performance and deserves credit for
that but further comment is uncalled for.
American soprano Christine Goerke has a big, clarion voice and sang a
superb Brűnhilde. She dominated the scenes that she was in and was especially
effective with the Valkyries. When Brűnhilde approaches Siegmund to inform him of Wotan’s decision
that he must die, she raises a white sheet to her body and flames cover her
torso. It is marvelous touch by Egoyan that foreshadows Brűnhilde’s fate.
Clifton Forbis as Siegmund, Dimitry Ivashchenko as Hunding
and Heidi Melton as Sieglinde. Photo:
Michael Cooper
Danish baritone Johan Reuter did not make the ideal Wotan. His voice is
marvelous in the lower register but it tended to show strain in the upper notes.
Part of the problem is that his voice is simply not big enough to go over the
orchestra when it is playing at full force. Wotan needs to have an
over-powering voice befitting a god. Reuter did not manage those heights all
the time.
Russian bass Dimitry Ivashchenko made a superb Hunding. He was vocally
strong and resonant and physically threatening. He was well-matched with
American soprano Heidi Melton as Sieglinde. She has a big, lovely voice and she
showed fear, tenderness and courage as the wife of the boor Hunding and the
loving sister/wife of Siegmund.
At the end of the opera, Wotan punishes Brűnhilde for her defiance of
his orders to allow Hunding to kill Siegmund by placing her atop of a rock
surrounded by flames. She will sleep there until a hero rescues her. Wotan’s
Farwell to Brűnhilde is one of those great scenes in opera that one could wait
not four but forty hours to see it. In this production there is no rock and Brűnhilde
simply lies on the ground. But Wagner’s grand music played brilliantly by the
COC Orchestra conducted by Johannes Debus provides a brilliant moment. As the
scene winds up, the Valkyries descend of the stage carrying flaming torches.
They surround Brűnhilde as if paying homage to the great Valkyrie and place the
troches around her body. Brűnhilde is indeed protected from cowards until a
great hero comes to rescue her.
See this exceptional production and wait until next year for the sequel.
_________
Die Walküre by Richard Wagner opened
on January 31 and will be performed a total of seven times until February 22,
2015 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto,
Ontario. Tel: 416-363-6671. www.coc.ca
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