DIE WALKUERE, Rpyal Opera House, 19 October 2007

Cast
Siegmund.................................Placido Domingo
Sieglinde..................................Eva-Maria Westbroek
Hunding...................................Stephen Milling
Wotan.....................................John Tomlinson
Brunnhilde................................Susan Bullock
Fricka......................................Rosalind Plowright

Valkyries
Gerhilde.................Geraldine McGreevy
Ortlinde...................................Elaine McKrill
Waltraute................................Claire Powell
Schwertleite............................Rebecca de Pont Davies
Helmwige.................................Irene Theorin
Siegrune................................. Sarah Castle
Grimgerde................................Clare Shearer
Rossweise................................Elizabeth Sikora

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Concert Master........................Vasko Vassilev

Conductor..............................Antonio Pappano

Director..................................Keith Warner
Set Designs............................Stefanos Lazaridis

You were probably expecting to see the name of Lisa Gasteen as Brunnhilde in
the cast list, but she had to withdraw because of ill-health - fortunately
Susan Bullock was able to take over at very short notice, and was a more
than adequate replacement.

But I'll start at the beginning - during the first few minutes, the orchestra
sounded slightly 'muffled', the brass not having quite the piercing quality one
hopes for, but this soon improved, and the 'chamber music' quality of much of
the first act (the motifs that characterise the Volsungs and the growing
attraction between Siegmund and Sieglinde) was very sensitively played under Pappano's skilful conducting - in fact at some points I shut my eyes so that I could listen to the music in a more focussed way, it was so exquisite!

Domingo's Siegmund has lost none of its qualities over the years - his German is rotten, but who cares! He produced a really heroic ring with 'Waelse, Waelse, wo ist dein Schwert!', and great tenderness in 'Winterstuerme' - but
the greatest moments were reserved for the Todesverkuendigung, the quite
resolution with which he replies to Brunnhilde's announcement was amazing.
The music rises to a pitch of almost unbearable tension in the orchestra as
Siegmund asks, 'Begleitet den Bruder die braeutliche Schwester? Umfaengt
Siegmund Sieglinde dort?' and then the tension is broken with Brunnhilde's
quiet reply - delivered with calm dignity by Susan Bullock - she is an
experienced Brunnhilde, although this is the first time she has sung the role at Covent Garden. She has a clear voice with soaring top notes (I have heard
her before as Desdemona and as Isolde). I also liked the passionate Sieglinde
of Eva-Maria Westbroek.

John Tomlinson just IS Wotan!!! It's forty years since I first saw the RING, but
Wotan's Farewell still has me in tears, as it did yesterday. Wotan runs the
whole gamut of emotions in this opera, from hope - almost elation - to
despair, and this is one of the best and most convincing performances I've
seen in recent years. At the opening of Act II, he waves his spear about in
triumph, as he obviously thinks he has found the solution to his problem - of
course Fricka (Rosalind Plowright) disabuses him of this notion. When she
finally gets his promise, he kneels to kiss her hand, and she pats him on the
shoulder, as if to thank him. When I saw this production last year, with Terfel
as Wotan, he accepted her embrace - but Tomlinson flinched away from her,
which is perhaps more logical.
 

Something else which I found interesting - when
he leaves Brunnhilde and storms off in anger, the stage directions AND THE
MUSIC indicate that he should 'stride furiously away', but in fact he walked
very slowly and hesitantly off, while Brunnhilde follows him with his spear,
which he has forgotten - so, although this seems to be acting against the
music, it works as a way of showing Wotan's distress. Similarly at the end of
Act II, rather than storming off in pursuit of Brunnhilde, he returns and kneels
by the side of the dead Siegmund, wringing his hands in despair.

The staging has some attractive moments; for instance, when Spring bursts
into Hunding's hut, this in indicated by a burst of light, and a shower of rose
petals falling from the roof - Sieglinde lifts her face to receive them. On the
other hand, I could really do without the horses' skulls that the Valkyries
carry - I haven't yet met one member of the audience who DOES like this, and
I cannot understand what the point is - unless it's just to get a cheap laugh.
But it has to be said that at the crucial moments the director and stage
designer forget about the gimmicks and just let the cast sing and the
orchestra play - or perhaps it's just that the scene between Wotan and
Brunnhilde in Act III was so gripping that the audience forgot about the
production gimmicks.