Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau passes

I was reading about Hans Hotter and Lotte Lehmann on Wikipedia before I decided to look up the famous baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau where upon I found out that he passed away just several days ago on May 18, 2012 in his sleep in southern Germany. I first heard him in Karl Richter's 1958 recording of Bach's St Matthew Passion which is one of my favorite recordings of the work. There he sang the bass arias. But I had not listened to him for quite some time until I became interested in Wagner's Ring in 2010. The clip above shows him singing Gunther in Solti's famous 1960s studio recording of the Ring. Sometimes I think singers can over think their characters and then the feeling becomes artificial; but here I feel Fischer-Dieskau really gave Gunther the depth he was meant to have.

My roommate in college loved his Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin song cycle recording with Gerald Moore. The jaunty song Das Wandern begins the song cycle with the line Wandering is the miller's joy and ends with the stanza

Oh, wandering, wandering, my joy,
Oh, wandering!
Oh, master and mistress,
Let me continue in peace,
And wander!

Donna Summer passes

Donna Summer passes away at age 63. My favorite song of hers as a kid was She Works Hard For Her Money. But after college, I rediscovered music from the disco era from where her song "Last Dance" is best known. Above is a clip from her appearance on the Midnight Special show in 1978. The video doesn't have the outrageous clothing and dancing of that era (which I love btw; you can see her in the 1978 movie Thank God It's Friday performing at a disco). But I only knew her by her songs so it was nice to hear her speak.

MET Götterdämmerung

Ok, so I tried to sell my ticket for May 12th performance but got no buyer. I decided to stay for Act 1. I thought Dalayman would be singing Brünnhilde but it turned out Deborah Voigt will be singing Brünnhilde. I had watched the HD Live performance earlier this year.

1. The Norns (Maria Radner, Elizabeth Bishop, Heidi Melton). I enjoyed their singing especially Radner and Melton; big voices.
   
2. Siegfried (Stephen Gould). Jay Hunter Morris sang this in the HD Live performance. I really liked Gould in Siegfried and I still like him here. He even did a pretty good imitation of Gunther in the abduction scene.
   
3. Brünnhilde (Deborah Voigt). Her voice sounded much better today than on Monday. Today, she managed to keep the "granny" sound to a minimum, and her voice seemed bigger. Her voice doesn't have warmth so the love duet was somewhat meh. But she gave us a nice big high C at the end of the duet. It sounded far better than those hojotoho she gave us in Die Walküre.
       The Waltraute scene is Voigt's launching pad. Here she is getting into her element; Voigt's voice shines for fury, fear, and despair. Her confrontation with Siegfried was very exciting. When she curses Wotan for her situation, it was very convincing; and that scream she delivered when Siegfried seizes her ring was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately Act 1 ends and I had to leave. I wish I could have stayed because in the HD Live performance Voigt was even more impressive in Act 2.
       I have not heard Dalayman in Götterdämmerung but I'm not sure she could do better than Voigt here. Though Voigt's voice is not as stable as Dalayman's, I feel Voigt is more expressive.
   
4. Hagen (Hans-Peter König). Big voice and reliable as usual.
   
5. Gunther (Iain Paterson). I didn't think much of his acting in the HD Live performance. But in the opera house his body language was surprisingly good.
   
6. Gutrune (Wendy Bryn Harmer). Her singing is convincing.
   
7. Waltraute (Karen Cargill). Waltraud Meier sang this in the HD Live performance. Not sure if the choreography changed but it seems better this time around; perhaps because there were no closeups shots to disorient me. I thought she sang very well.
   

John Keenan was the conductor. The opera started at 11am. I think it might have been too early for some of the brass players. There were more odd sounds coming from there than I heard before. I also thought some of the section were slow; should have picked up the tempo a little.

As in Das Rheingold, the Machine was better in house than on the theatre screen. The colors were all more vivid. Also I complained about the gloominess of the cliff scene in the theatre but it is nicely brighter in the opera house. The Gibichung wood pattern on the skirt looked pretty good too. When the magic fire flare to yellow in the abduction scene, I don't recall noticing in the theatre. The purple patterns shown during orchestral breaks are more complicated than I remember and I actually thought they were blue not purple in the theatre. But they used the same purple pattern twice. Couldn't they change the colors or patterns for each orchestral break?

So I said I vowed never to see Siegfried or Götterdämmerung again until a worthy Brünnhilde comes along. I take my words back. I will correct myself and restrict my vow to Siegfried because Brünnhilde is the big payoff in that opera. All in all, I wish I had watched the whole thing because it started off pretty well.

(Image from 101Thing's blog entry on Open Salon. However I believe Siegfried in that image is Morris not Gould)

MET Siegfried

I attended the performance of Siegfried on May 9th. Unfortunately I arrived late and had to watch Act 1 on a TV in Liszt Hall. Although I had a decent recollection of the dialogue, it would have been nice to have subtitles. The speaker sound was terribly 1-dimensional; I wondered if it was in mono. I had previously watched the HD Live performance in the autumn of 2011.

• Siegfried (Stephen Gould). Jay Hunter Morris sang this in the HD Live performance. Morris has a brighter timbre but Gould's was still very pleasing. For such a difficult role, Gould made it sound easy.
  
• The Wanderer (Bryn Terfel). I have to give Terfel credit. He has sung so reliably in all three operas. He and Hans-Peter König were the pillars for this Ring Cycle.
  
• Mime (Robert Brubaker). Gerhard Siegel sang this in the HD Liver performance. I liked Brubaker in Das Rheingold and I liked him here. His big voice matches Siegfried's.
  
• Alberich (Richard Paul Fink). Eric Owens sang this in the HD Live performance. Fink does a good job but Owens has a darker timbre.
  
• Fafner (Hans-Peter König). I wished that during his fight scene with Siegfried that he would growl. Otherwise it's just seems plain silly with all that silence. It's a monster! It's supposed to growl while fighting.
  
• Woodbird (Erin Morley). She did a fine job though I wish she sounded sweeter.
  
• Erda (Patricia Bardon). Wagner is a bit cruel here with this role. Erda spends most of her time singing at the bottom of the clef including a bunch of B3, A3, and G3s. Then he forces her to sing a naked A♭-5. She managed to sing all these notes with respectable volume. In the theatre, her dress shimmered beautifully; however in the opera house, it was mostly dull and black with only occasional shimmer.
  
• Brünnhilde (Katarina Dalayman). Deborah Voigt sang this in the HD Live performance. Dalayman certainly has a bigger voice than Voigt. But those top notes do not come easily. And that constant giant wobble became tiresome after the first minute. However when the tempo quickened 1.5 minutes before the end, the wobble was reined in and suddenly the smog cleared. She opted for the C5 instead of the opera-ending money shot C6 but that's forgivable. Compared to Voigt's, Dalayman's performance was definitely better but still it was rather unsatisfying.
  

The conductor was Derrick Inouye. I felt the performance Inouye conjured up from the orchestra was the best that I've heard these three nights.

The scenery in Act 1 was just beautiful. The projection of water onto the skirt of the stage was pretty cool. But starting in Act 2, the production value started to drop a bit. Fafner's dragon looked like a larger version of the snake in a can. In Act 3, the rotisserie fire is less than magical. When Siegfried releases Brünnhilde from her sleep, I expected some more special effects. I think here more than any place, something special should happen. But nothing changes; the sky is still almost pitch black yet the sun is supposed to be shining. They seriously need to lighten up the scenery here and in Götterdämmerung.

For me, the last 30 minutes of Siegfried should be the climax of our 4 hour journey: the sound of Brünnhilde's voice piercing the male dominated soundscape like the sun after a storm. It wouldn't be so bad if the Siegfrieds weren't so good. But Dalayman and Voigt's Brünnhilde stand in stark contrast to Morris and Gould's Siegfried: the men have clear tones and display control over the technical demands of their roles, while the females have persistent ugly wobbles and struggle with the technical demands. I refrain from thinking about the magical Brünnhildes of Birgit Nilsson and Kirsten Flagstad because doing so would make me more angry. I vow never to attend another Siegfried or Götterdämmerung ever again until a Brünnhilde emerges who can sing the role at a level close to the men who sing Wotan and Siegfried.

MET Die Walküre

I attended the May 7th performance of Die Walküre from the Family Circle area. I had previously seen the HD Live performance in the spring of 2011.

• Siegmund (Stuart Skelton) In the HD Live performance, Jonas Kaufmann sang Siegmund. Kaufmann has a dark timbre while Skelton has a light one. I thought both Kaufmann and Skelton were both surprisingly spectacular. Skelton has a big voice and I especially liked his Winterstürme.
  
• Sieglinde (Eva-Maria Westbroek). I did not think much of Westbroek in the HD Live performance nor in a recent radio broadcast. But at the opera house, I was blown away by her. Her voice is large and magnificent. Her singing in Act 3 (where she tells Brunnhilde to let her die and when made aware that she is pregnant thanks her) was powerfully heart-wrenching.
  
• Wotan (Bryn Terfel). Terfel did a great job as Wotan. His entire Act 3 was terrific for the most part. I felt he did a better job here than in the HD Live performance. As he bids farewell to his daughter Brünnhilde in Leb Wohl, he produced his most beautiful, sweetest tone although he couldn't sustain it.
  
• Fricka (Stephanie Blythe). A highly reliable Fricka who can produce full notes from top to bottom. In the HD Live performance, there were criticism that all she did was sing from her throne. So here, the director had her get up from her seat a couple times during her singing. However, I felt she stood up one too many times.
  
• Hunding (Hans-Peter König). König seems to be the MET's Wagnerian bass of choice; he also sings Fafner in Das Rheingold, Fafner in Siegfried, and Hagen in Götterdämmerung. Unfortunately from Family Circle, it is not possible to see actual facial expressions without the use of binoculars. But I recall from the HD Live performance, among all his roles, I feel he does his best acting here as Hunding.
  
• Brünnhilde (Deborah Voigt). Voigt is very beautiful and she has some wonderful acting. However her voice is surprisingly smaller than the rest of the cast leads. But more importantly her timbre is not at all beautiful nor youthful; every note seems to have a creaky wobble "granny" tone to it. Her low notes bordered on inaudible. Though she was able to produce those high B5s and C6s in her opening Hojotoho, they were tainted with this wobble and verged on being shrieks. Her best singing comes in Act 2 where the notes lay low but are relatively less demanding.
  
• The Valkyries (Gerhilde (Kelly Cae Hogan), Helmwige (Molly Fillmore), Waltraute (Marjorie Elinor Dix), Schwertleite (Mary Phillips), Ortlinde (Wendy Bryn Harmer), Siegrune (Eve Gigliotti), Grimgerde (Mary Ann McCormick), Rossweisse (Lindsay Ammann)). Great singing although Helmwige's famous opening B5 was more dramatic in the HD Live performance. Listening to these Valkyries, I wished Brünnhilde actually sounded more like them.
  

The orchestra was conducted by Fabio Luisi. The playing was especially atmospheric at the end of Act 3.

I was generally pleased with the whole staging but I want to comment on four scenes. At the beginning of Act 2 when Brünnhilde greets her father Wotan, the scene has been made more dignified. At the HD Live showing, Wotan whacks her rearend with his spear. I'm glad that's been edited out.

In Act 2, the fight scene between Siegmund and Hunding is not as effective as in 2011. In that version, Wotan severs Siegmund's sword as he raises his sword to deliver a fatal blow to Hunding. With Siegmund's sword broken, Hunding thrusts his spear into Siegmund. Now that was dramatic. But in this version, Wotan severs the sword while it is pointed down. Hunding is at no time threatened. In addition, I think Sieglinde should scream when Siegmund is killed. But here as in the HD Live version, she remains silent although I could hear her sob in the opera house. I think Luisi should have been more flexible in tempo and timing. The timing was a bit too slow here. The tempo should have matched Brünnhilde's anxiousness to get Sieglinde the heck out of there before Wotan erupts like a volcano.

I think using the planks of the Machine as horses for the Flight of the Valkyries was a good idea. But everything was so drab and gray. Project clouds or fog or sunlight or something onto them. It doesn't matter if the projection ends up on the singers themselves; they are in flight after all.

Finally, at the end of Act 3, the interaction between Wotan and Brünnhilde was slightly reworked. It is more intimate and powerful now. Especially when Wotan laments about never again seeing her eyes nor again kissing her.

The Machine's tree imaginary is still haunting and impressive. The Machine in Act 3 was a bit dull in the theatre. But here, I can appreciate the geometric shape and patterns. The final machine formation was a bit underwhelming in the theatre but in the opera house, it was rather satisfying. But what I didn't like then and still don't like now is the "magic fire" which looks more like blood than magic fire.

In summary, it was a great production. The highlights for me were the fantastic singing from Skelton and Westbroek, and the entire Act 3.

(Image from New York Times article "Met’s ‘Ring’ Machine Finishes the Spin Cycle")

MET Das Rheingold

I attended the MET production of Das Rheingold on May 5th.  I had already seen it in HD Live in 2010.  Here is my review and what I felt were different between the two.

Singers

• Wotan (Bryn Terfel). My favorite Wotan aria comes at the end of the opera. Terfel did a decent job.
  
• Loge (Adam Klein). In the HD Live version, Richard Croft sang this part. I read that his voice was tiny although in the HD broadcast, his voice came through. Klein's voice was smaller than say König's and Terfel's but it was still good volume.  I thought he sang really well and I thoroughly enjoyed his body language. I also thought the projection of fire onto him looked absolutely fantastic.
  
• Freia (Wendy Bryn Harmer), Fricka (Stephanie Blythe). Great singing, both have big voices.
  
• Alberich (Richard Paul Fink).  In the HD Live version, Eric Owens sang this part.  I felt Fink did a good job but Owens was more expressive.
  
• Mime (Robert Brubaker).  In the HD Live version,  Gerhard Siegel sang this part.  I couldn't get into his Mime because I felt his timbre and style was too tame. I think Brubaker did a great job here; his voice was surprisingly large.  His Mime is much closer to the lowly groveling dwarf that I'm accustomed to. 
  
• Fasolt (Franz-Josef Selig), Fafner (Hans-Peter König).  Of the two giants, König had the bigger and more penetrating voice.  But both sang well. Selig gives the audience a treat after his demise.
  
• Donner (Dwayne Croft), Froh (Adam Diegel). Nothing to complain about. The cloud effect around Donner for his aria Hedo! Heda! was cool in the theatre but even cooler in the opera house.
  
• Rhinemaidens (Eric Morley, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Tamara Mumford). In the HD Live version, Lisette Oropesa sang the role of Woglinde. I read their voices were tiny so I was quite taken back when I heard how loud they were in the opera house. Great singing.
  
• Erda (Patricia Bardon). I've read that her low notes were soft, but I heard her just fine. Her lowest notes were C4s and they were all clearly produced.
  

The conductor was Fabio Luisi. The HD Live was James Levine. It is difficult to compare the two since (1) the sound was so different between the theatre and opera house and (2) I'm not that familiar with the orchestral parts. I did enjoy both. However there was one point that I didn't like from Luisi. Looking at the score and hearing other recordings, the orchestra is supposed to play softly and gradually crescendo as the Rhinemaidens sing their last (dramatic) notes. But on this occasion, the Rhinemaidens were pummeled with a giant fortissimo from the orchestra.

Experience

• The brass and woodwind droning begins the opera and when the cellos enter, the beauty of it made me shiver. I did not feel this in the theatre.
  
• The theatre is 2D and the opera house is 3D. Duh, this is obvious I guess but there were parts where the contrast was large. The most dramatic difference came as the Rhinemaidens make their appearance. At the theatre it looked as if they were simply lifted up from above. But in the opera house, you can see in fact that the Rhinemaidens were attached to the bottom half of the planks of the Machine on the side facing the back of the stage. As the planks rotate 180 degrees upwards, the Rhinemaidens appear suspended. It was quite dramatic to me. I thought it was awesome.
  
• Projections onto the Machine are more vivid in the opera house.
  
• At the theatre, the voices are far more prominent than the orchestra and the orchestral sound was very one dimensional. In the opera house, both voices and orchestra were more vivid and more balanced although I think it slightly leans towards the orchestra. I was high up in the Family Circle (ie 5th floor).
  
• One thing in favor of the theatre was the orchestral balance. From where I was in the opera house, the orchestral sound was brass heavy and the brass was in my face. I prefer the sound of brass at a distance; as if emanating from the heavens or from the valley. The ending of Das Rheingold was where this problem was most prominent. The strings had less presence where I was positioned. So for example, at the theatre the opening droning was more like that in a recording while the at the opera house it sounded odd.
  

Even for the HD Live presentation, I thought Das Rheingold presented the Machine in the best light. It seemed worth the expense here. Bravo to the Machine. Overall I had a wonderful experience. The opera house experience truly is best.

(Image from the Associated Press article "Lepage 'Ring' comes full cycle at Met" in the Times Union)