Vorabend: Das Rheingold
Monday night's Rheingold exceeded my high expectations.
Let me get through the negatives, so I can wallow in the positives with great abandon.
First: though he does a fine job with the text and is a good actor, Kobie van Rensburg's voice is just too delicate for Wagner, even as Loge which is frequently taken by lyric tenors. Secondly: Daniel Sumegi's Fafner doesn't match up to the malevolent roar of Gidon Saks's in 2005. Finally, the snake transformation in scene 3 is still lame.
Okay, negatives done.
Everyone is rightly raving about Stephanie Blythe who, as we all know, is spectacular. She is a force of nature as Fricka. And this is Rheingold, where she is barely a supporting part. One waits with anticipation for the meatier roles ahead of her in the cycle.
Four years ago, I had misgivings about Greer Grimsley's Wotan. I thought he was artificially darkening his voice. Well, in four years, he's really grown into the role and should rank as one of today's top exponents in the role.
My gold standards for Alberich have been Gustave Neidlinger and Ekkehard Wlaschiha. Time to add Richard Paul Fink to the list. Superlatives fail me: he is shatteringly good. He gives everything to the role.
Gordon Hawkins, Jason Collins, and Marie Plette are the minor gods, and not a weak link among them.
Dennis Petersen is an amazingly musical Mime. I can't wait to hear him on Thursday in Siegfried.
Marie Streijffert isn't Ewa Podles--who is?--but she sang beautifully and looked gorgeous in her cameo appearance as Erda.
Andrea Silvestrelli has a gorgeous dark bass--my only cavil with his Fasolt was sloppy pronunciation.
The Rheindaughter trio of Julianne Gearhart, Michele Losier and Jennifer Hines sounded beautiful and handled the text well: I recall the diction not being quite so clear in 2005.
Robert Spano maintained a nice balance between the pit and the singers. Some of the brass did sound a little slapdash (I heard the same sour note in the prelude that was also in Saturday's radio broadcast).
The production is "realistic" (if one could say such a thing about fantasy), but has plenty of interesting ideas--particularly that Fricka is a realist while Wotan is a bit of a fantasist. She can see the doom of the gods better than anyone else, but like Cassandra, she is ignored.
Looking forward to tomorrow evening: my first time hearing Stuart Skelton, plus the returns to Seattle of Janice Baird and Margaret Jane Wray.
Let me get through the negatives, so I can wallow in the positives with great abandon.
First: though he does a fine job with the text and is a good actor, Kobie van Rensburg's voice is just too delicate for Wagner, even as Loge which is frequently taken by lyric tenors. Secondly: Daniel Sumegi's Fafner doesn't match up to the malevolent roar of Gidon Saks's in 2005. Finally, the snake transformation in scene 3 is still lame.
Okay, negatives done.
Everyone is rightly raving about Stephanie Blythe who, as we all know, is spectacular. She is a force of nature as Fricka. And this is Rheingold, where she is barely a supporting part. One waits with anticipation for the meatier roles ahead of her in the cycle.
Four years ago, I had misgivings about Greer Grimsley's Wotan. I thought he was artificially darkening his voice. Well, in four years, he's really grown into the role and should rank as one of today's top exponents in the role.
My gold standards for Alberich have been Gustave Neidlinger and Ekkehard Wlaschiha. Time to add Richard Paul Fink to the list. Superlatives fail me: he is shatteringly good. He gives everything to the role.
Gordon Hawkins, Jason Collins, and Marie Plette are the minor gods, and not a weak link among them.
Dennis Petersen is an amazingly musical Mime. I can't wait to hear him on Thursday in Siegfried.
Marie Streijffert isn't Ewa Podles--who is?--but she sang beautifully and looked gorgeous in her cameo appearance as Erda.
Andrea Silvestrelli has a gorgeous dark bass--my only cavil with his Fasolt was sloppy pronunciation.
The Rheindaughter trio of Julianne Gearhart, Michele Losier and Jennifer Hines sounded beautiful and handled the text well: I recall the diction not being quite so clear in 2005.
Robert Spano maintained a nice balance between the pit and the singers. Some of the brass did sound a little slapdash (I heard the same sour note in the prelude that was also in Saturday's radio broadcast).
The production is "realistic" (if one could say such a thing about fantasy), but has plenty of interesting ideas--particularly that Fricka is a realist while Wotan is a bit of a fantasist. She can see the doom of the gods better than anyone else, but like Cassandra, she is ignored.
Looking forward to tomorrow evening: my first time hearing Stuart Skelton, plus the returns to Seattle of Janice Baird and Margaret Jane Wray.