This is the second appearance of Robert Lepage's set, consisting of 24 rotating slabs, that is used throughout the Met Ring Cycle. Again I am amazed with what he can do with these slabs, not least in the Ride of the Valkyries where, to the audience's delight, they become bucking broncos. It is difficult to imagine a more exciting ride than this unless someone tried it with real horses.
Before that we have Jonas Kaufman as Siegfried and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde. This is wonderfully sung, particularly by the silken voiced Kaufmann but I felt that this version of the incestuous siblings was not quite as erotic as some that I have seen. Then Deborah Voigt bounces onto the stage as the friskiest Brunnhilde ever. She is the poster girl for bariatric surgery and I mean that without a trace of irony. She really is a very sexy Brunnhilde. Sexy and Brunnhide are not words that you often see in the same sentence. Her flirting with her father, Wotan, is a joy. After his subdued performance in Das Rheingold, Bryn Terfel is at his full majesty in this second part. Terfel and Voigt make a thrilling couple, vocally and visually. Voigt looks positively petite next to the huge frame of her co-star.
The scene between Wotan and Stephanie Blythe's Fricka is not so successful. Blythe has a unique mezzo voice but her acting is wooden and static. Then we have the final confrontation between Wotan and Brunnhilde. Opera does not get more exciting than this. No-one can match Terfel for quiet menace, a quiet menace that can fill an opera house I might add. Voigt is coquettish, fragile and defiant in turn. I have not seen or heard anything like it since John Tomlinson and Anne Evans at Bayreuth in 1993. Finally Voigt is suspended upside down in the magic fire. Well, not quite, it is a fairly obvious body double.
I notice from my review of that 1993 production that I was very much preoccupied with Wagner's metaphysics. No longer: these days I am content to sit back and listen to the wonderful music and watch these stunning performances.
Before that we have Jonas Kaufman as Siegfried and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde. This is wonderfully sung, particularly by the silken voiced Kaufmann but I felt that this version of the incestuous siblings was not quite as erotic as some that I have seen. Then Deborah Voigt bounces onto the stage as the friskiest Brunnhilde ever. She is the poster girl for bariatric surgery and I mean that without a trace of irony. She really is a very sexy Brunnhilde. Sexy and Brunnhide are not words that you often see in the same sentence. Her flirting with her father, Wotan, is a joy. After his subdued performance in Das Rheingold, Bryn Terfel is at his full majesty in this second part. Terfel and Voigt make a thrilling couple, vocally and visually. Voigt looks positively petite next to the huge frame of her co-star.
The scene between Wotan and Stephanie Blythe's Fricka is not so successful. Blythe has a unique mezzo voice but her acting is wooden and static. Then we have the final confrontation between Wotan and Brunnhilde. Opera does not get more exciting than this. No-one can match Terfel for quiet menace, a quiet menace that can fill an opera house I might add. Voigt is coquettish, fragile and defiant in turn. I have not seen or heard anything like it since John Tomlinson and Anne Evans at Bayreuth in 1993. Finally Voigt is suspended upside down in the magic fire. Well, not quite, it is a fairly obvious body double.
I notice from my review of that 1993 production that I was very much preoccupied with Wagner's metaphysics. No longer: these days I am content to sit back and listen to the wonderful music and watch these stunning performances.