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)

Encyclopedia Britannica: last printing

The Encyclopedia Britannica will no longer be printed. The last edition published was in 2010 of which 4000 copies remain to be sold. They retail for $1400 per set.

As a kid Encyclopedia Britannica was my favorite encyclopedia because it was the most comprehensive and least watered down compared to all others. But ever since Wikipedia was born (and to some extent Google), the encyclopedia has been losing its share of the market. $1400 is not pocket change and as an adult knowledge worker, the ability to contribute to Wikipedia and to keep it current provides some measure of pleasure that a printed encyclopedia could not possibly provide. Though I still think there is a market for privately published encyclopedias: they are able to maintain a more consistent language suitable for children and young adults than Wikipedia.

Wagner's Götterdämmerung Review

I saw the HD Live performance on Feb 11 at a theatre. I hesitated going because I was so disappointed in the Brunnhilde of the prior opera Siegfried, but I felt I had to see the last installment of the Ring. And I'm glad I did.

Brunnhilde (Deborah Voigt) Siegfried (Jay Hunter Morris). Voigt had some serious issues in the prior opera Siegfried. The singing was simply awful. However, she redeemed herself in Götterdämmerung. The love duet in Act 1 between Siegfried and Brunnhilde was ok. It did sound like Voigt was in reach of the high C. What I didn't like was the stage direction. Brunnhilde came out swinging the sword Nothung when in Wagner's direction, it is Siegfried who should be fully armed. If the director wanted Brunnhilde to come out with Nothung, he should have her admiring the sword forged by her father Wotan, found by Siegmund whom she attempted to rescue, and reforged by Siegfried who awakened her. Instead she is just playing around with it like a child. Over all, the scene was more playful than I had wanted; both singers were too fidgety. After their intimate encounter, they should both be engulfed in a peaceful afterglow; not act as if they had just gulped several shots of expressos. In contrast to the love scene, the acting in the abduction scene was exciting. Voigt really was struggling with Morris, and Morris really seemed possessed and terrifying.

Act 2 was where Voigt totally knocked it out of the ball park. Her acting and singing was a huge delight. Her voice is well suited to fury. I was so happy with Act 2 that I started to clap before the curtains fell. Morris's singing and acting was good as well.

In Act 3, Morris delivers a charming Siegfried when he runs into the Rhinemaidens. And even when found by Hagen's party, he seemed totally unaware of his fate. Great acting. I like Morris but when he is paired with Voigt, his voice seems somewhat small. Voigt's finale segment was fine but didn't have warmth and she started to cast doubt on her own singing.

Alberich (Eric Owens), Hagen (Hans-Peter König): König sung and acted well. However he did not sound evil or menacing enough. He pretty much was similar to Hundig from Das Rheingold. The best scene probably was the sleep sequence in Act 1 when his father Alberich appears to him. Owens delivers an Alberich who is in his own twilight. Although I've read that they have big voices, I was not at the MET so this advantage disappears.

Gunther (Iain Paterson), Gutrune (Wendy Byrn Harmer): The Gibichung brother and sister pair. Paterson did a good job though it was a bit straightforward. If Gunther was portrayed as more indecisive, then the ending would have fit a little better. Harmer did a wonderful job as Gutrune. I absolutely loved her screams (I wish Sieglinde had screamed in Walküre and Fafner had roared in Siegfried). During the intermission she had mentioned that she had been singing Wagner since age 25 (or 27?) and that she hoped to one day sing Sieglinde. I completely endorse her as Sieglinde. She has stage presence and a strong voice; she stood out as Freia in Das Rheingold and as a Valkyrie in Die Walküre.

Waltraute (Waltraud Meier)

Norns (Maria Radner (I), Elizabeth Bishop (II), Heidi Melton (III))

Rhine maidens: Woglinde, Wellgunde, Flosshilde (Erin Morley, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Tamara Mumford)

Because of the score, Waltraute needs to find something to do while Brunnhilde is singing. Unfortunately the stage direction was not so good here.

The Norns weave the threads of fate which transmit the knowledge of their mother Erda. Gotterdammerung's first note is sung by Norn I (Radner) who has a strong full range contralto voice that exceeds her mother Erda from the prior opera Siegfried. Wonderful singing all around. But I felt the camera angles were bad because there were too many closeups and not enough full tree of rope.

The Rhine maidens had to run up and slide down the platform repeatedly as well as sing. It seemed silly at first but it actually sort of worked as their poses were seductive. They did a great job singing.

The men from the Metropolitan Opera chorus took the part of Gibichung vassals and did a great job.

Concerning the costumes, they were alright. I understand they wanted the human costumes to look mostly like peasantware. The exotic costumes were saved for the Norns, the Rhine maidens, and Waltraute. The only costume that felt underdone was Alberich's; his clothing should have looked more disheveled and less human.

The staging was actually traditional. If you look at these drawings by early 20-th century artist, Arthur Rackham, you will recognize them in this production of the Ring. Honestly, those artistic people couldn't be more original for their production? Brunnhilde in this production has her arms out almost exactly as this drawing!

I think the most successful scene setup were the Norns', Siegfried's journey on the Rhine, the Gibichung hall (I actually liked the circular patterns), and the Gibichung hall after Siegfried's death (it really gave the impression of evening). I was disappointed in the cliffside where Siegfried and Brunnhilde emerged because it was too dark. I wanted glorious sunshine not dark skies. The scenes depicted during the orchestral transitions were dreadfully dull and repetitive. The same dark palettes and patterns were used over and over again; rather annoying. I also found the post-immolation scene was quite a let down as well. Basically, BBQ pit fire is projected on the platforms, the statues of the gods are shown crumbling lamely, and finally the platforms start undulating like the Rhine with the background lit dark blue. Couldn't the MET bring back the gods from Das Rheingold and have them appear lifeless instead? Also the overused dark blue background didn't make much sense to me; it should have been yellow or red or white to represent the love of Siegfried and Brunnhilde. Should have been a new beginning rather than twilight imho.

Overall I was pleased with the performance. But in Götterdämmerung, the mechanical platform gave very little bang for the buck.

[Photo sources: Arthur Rackham illustrations (Wikipedia entry on Gotterdammerung), Norns (LA Splash), the vassals (Likely Impossibilities Blog), title photo (Chicago on the Aisle), all other photos Minnesota Public Radio]

Davie Jones from the Monkees has passed

The Monkees' lead singer Davy Jones has passed at age 66. I used to watch their TV series as a kid. Davy and Micky Dolenz were the big standouts on the show but I always liked the quiet one Michael Nesmith. I can't honestly say that they were one of my favorite bands, but their song "Daydream Believer" has a wonderful timeless melody.

Whitney Houston has passed

Whitney Houston has died at age 48. Her body was found at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. She was such a talented singer but she married to a (well-endowed, as insinuated on a bad MTV reality tv show) low-life Bobby Brown who destroyed her and her voice and her career. For those of us who remember the 1988 Olympics, this video of her singing live at the Grammies is extra touching.

Gingrich on Elitist Subway Riders

Newt Gingrich insinuates that New Yorkers who ride the subway are elitist. While addressing an Ohio crowd, Gingrich told them

"Those who, you know, live in high-rise apartment buildings writing for fancy newspapers in the middle of town after they ride the metro, who don't understand that for most Americans the ability to buy a home, to have their own property, to have a sense of belonging is one of the greatest achievements of their life, and it makes them feel like they are good solid citizens."

This coming from a man who had a $500,000 credit line at Tiffany's. Yeah sure, Newt, subway riders are elitists. At $2.25 per ride, the subway is a luxury only the elitists can afford. Uh huh. Here are some choice comments from Huffington Post: This one is from "Huffpost Super User" pdxbuckeye:

It is the prime directive of the Republican playbook.

If I am guilty of it I must accuse my opponent of it. The more guilty I am the louder I must level the charge against my opponent.

Pretty much down the line, if a Republican levels a charge, epithet or any other characteri­zation at someone it is actually that Republican that is guilty of it.

This also applies to social policy. Decry the breakdown of the family, probably divorced 3 times or soliciting prostitute­s at the least. Decry homosexual­ity, soliciting gay sex in airport bathrooms, draft legislatio­n regarding use of electronic devices to solicit minors and be the one soliciting young page's yourself. The examples of this type of hypocrisy is so abundant it can not be simply an accident, it is a strategy.

Yeah I've noticed this too. Republicans are an endless source of hypocrisy.

From Blayzen:

Yeah, I'm sure the guy adjacent to me, having a debate with himself about brands of cat food is an elitist. I should interrupt him and ask.

In Newt Country, cat food is dog food is pig food is human food. Being picky is elitist. Ok?

And finally from thundarthelibrarian on Gothamist:

When I read this in the dining car of the R train this morning, my monocle popped right out of my eye and into my truffle and caviar omelet.

I would not be surprised if some Little Newt finds this quote and uses it as evidence.